Accident?

[averageguy]

Alright gotta' quick question,

To make it short:

I just hit a fence, the woman called it in and they told me to see management when I got back. I get in, talk to my Sup, and he says to come in the morning. I'm sure this counts as an accident, but will it get me fired?

 

[dilligaf]

Was this backing? Have you had any accidents in the past 9 months? More than likely it will be merely a warning letter but do not go into the meeting in the morning without your steward. If the steward is not present request the steward to be present. If they argue in anyway tell them they are violating your Weingarten Rights. This is federal law, they cannot deny you a steward. Any accident could be cause for disciplinary action, this is why you want a steward present.

 

[Re-Raise]

The woman called it in? Did you not report it when it happened? That could be bad if you left the scene and didn't say anything about it until she called it in.

Failure to report an accident is serious.

 

[averageguy]

Yes it was backing, and no I haven't had any in the last 9 months this was my first one. And would it be easier to just call ahead of time to request the steward, or ask on the spot at the time of the meeting?

 

[averageguy]

The woman called it in? Did you not report it when it happened? That could be bad if you left the scene and didn't say anything about it until she called it in.

Failure to report an accident is serious.

I honestly didn't know that I hit it, I could have sworn up and down that I didn't but I went back to check tonight and there was one cracked pickett. But telling management that doesn't even matter because an accident is an accident that I understand, I just wish I would have gotten out to double check myself. I didn't even hear anything when I backed but such is life I suppose.

 

[dilligaf]

Ask for your steward at the time of the meeting. Not reporting an accident is serious but it is not life shattering. Talk to your steward first. Explain what happened. Since you have not had any priors, that should help.

 

[3 done 3 to go]

Did you check and see if your bumper height is the same as the cracked picket? I've had a customer accuse me of a similar situation. Turns out the wife hit the post and tried to blame it on me. Also look for brown paint.

 

[DS]

Having an accident is bad enough,having a customer call it in before you do is worse.
If you have a clean record,you may get off relatively easy.Inform them before the meeting you request a steward.
Everyone makes mistakes,I have made many over the years,I got a week suspension for not reporting an accident
years ago.Don't be a smartass,let them know how much you regret your negligence,and take your lumps.

 

[Re-Raise]

I believe you. They seem to fire people for anything at my center and then it always seems to get reduced to a few days off. I have never been to panel or anything so I am sure others on here will have better advice for you if it gets to that point.

From one driver to another I am sorry you have this hanging over your head for a stupid fence picket. Best of luck.

 

[Northshoredriver]

Did she see you hit the fence? Is there any mark paint on your bumper
?..If she didn't see you hit it then you should def fight that.

 

[AKCoverMan]

The accident itself is not enough to get you fired, unless you have had a bunch in the past nine months. It's the failure to report they might hound you on. If the damage to the fence was mininal and the damage to the PC non existant than your story that you did not know you had had an accident is believable. (I believe you, I'm just trying to speak from an objective standpoint.)

I was once fired for a backing accident.. I nicked a tree and the property owner thought the tree had to come down so it was a Tier 1 accident. However, in the prior nine months a teenage girl chatting on her cell phone tried to pass me on the right side as I was backing into a driveway on the left and she hit me on the passenger side of the PC. It was ruled an avoidable backing accident so since this was my 2nd in nine months they "fired" me.

Except they didn't. They gave me a letter that said (I swear to God!) that I was fired, and if I did it again I would be....wait for it....fired! I could not help laughing.

The union grieved it and the company agreed to change it to a warning letter which I never received. I never lost a day of work.

As the Brown Box Turns....

 

[brown bomber]

Management major screw ups = business as usual

hourly minor mistakes= termination

 

[Cementups]

a good management team will do a real investigation and make sure if it was a package car that caused the accident or not before they just go around throwing blame. We have a pretty good team here but I know that is not the case everywhere. Good luck.

 

[UPSGUY72]

When you went back I hope you took a picture of the damage with you phone to compare with that of you management team gets when they go out to do there investigation.

Customers will blame UPS for anything and everything. Maybe the Fed Ex guy hit the fence, or the lady herself and doesn't want her husband to find out. Maybe you hit the fence however if your following the back rules you should know if you did or not. It one thing to hit something and know it and another thing to hit something so lightly and not realize it.

 

[Raw]

I honestly didn't know that I hit it, I could have sworn up and down that I didn't but I went back to check tonight and there was one cracked pickett. But telling management that doesn't even matter because an accident is an accident that I understand, I just wish I would have gotten out to double check myself. I didn't even hear anything when I backed but such is life I suppose.

There is your answer, if you didn`t know you hit the fence you would not report it. Stick with that.

 

[Indecisi0n]

I was blamed for backing into a women gate and bending it. She said she saw me back into the gate. They pulled my telematics which showed i hadn't backed at all (i walk most stuff off). UPS said they weren't paying and she never called back.

 

[cooper]

Would be interested to find out. I'm fighting for my job as I write this. All I hit was someones bumped some scrapes and a cracked headlight, I have 3 scratches on my bumper - I'm getting nailed for a non-reporting accident. Sad thing is I have a clean record and I don't recall hitting anything that day. Good luck.!!

 

[tfinnegan]

Deny, Deny, deny!

 

[averageguy]

Well I got back in today and they basically gave me a ride along with a supervisor and a 10 question quiz on space and visibility at the end of the day. Since I'm a reg' temp I asked my supervisor if this would basically bar me from going full-time in the future. He said he wasn't sure so now I guess I'll just play the waiting game.. Or if anyone here knows the answer to that question it'd be nice.

Anyway I know the odds of making it are low and what not, been lurking on the forum for a while as well as being with ups for a couple years so I gotta' good grasp of the eligibility and all that. I'm just mad at the fact that I was the one to bar myself from going full-time and not the standard "wait until you're next due to seniority" game.

Anyway thanks for the quick responses ppl, yall' are like the best advice pool for upsers.

 

[cooper]

minor accident , traffic violation or ticket cannot hold you back from gainning full-time status. Its in our contract!!