On Topic: UPS attempting to terminate newer driver after filing grievances

OrlandoCitySC

Well-Known Member
Hello all:

Unfortunately this is about the horrible side of the job. Harassment, intimidation, petty disciplinary measures etc. I'm a newer driver who hasn't been with the company a year yet. After qualifying and becoming a full-fledged employee and union member everything was fantastic for about 6 months.

But then one of the on-car supervisors began getting hostile with me, harassing and intimidating me because I was not performing well enough on a route in his opinion I was covering that was under his supervision and not my own on-car supervisor's. This continued for a couple weeks at least before I asked my union shop steward if there was anything we could do. This was in June. So my shop steward suggested we have a meeting with the Center Manager to discuss the conduct of the On-Car Supervisor who was harassing me. We had said conversation with the Center Manager and end result of that meeting was Center Manager said this On-Car Sup would not be allowed to meet with me anymore without a shop steward present as well as any other On-Car Sup and that if I continued to have any problems with this guy to let the Center Manager know right away.

Ever since then, this On-Car Sup had it out for me continuing to harass me and after discussing with me shop steward again and my union, we decided I should file a grievance for harassment. So I did. Then he left me alone for a little while and all was fine. But then he started targeting me again and trying to nail me for every little thing he could and anything he could. Even riding along with me to supposedly show me where I could improve on that route I was covering but all that happened with that was he helped me all day long and we only got done in time by mere minutes but in order to do so he made me skip my breaks to get the NDA back in time for the day. So that further proved I was being way over-dispatched, which is what I was saying the entire time to begin with. The driver who owned the route I was covering would go out with about 50 stops and had several years worth of area knowledge on that route and they were sending me out with over 100 stops almost daily and sometime up to 130 stops.

Fast forward a couple months into August of this year and he's still harassing me and now even following me around on routes I'd be covering every single day to try and nail me on anything he could. During all this I decided okay, beforehand I had never filed any grievances whatsoever and it wasn't until he became really hostile and nasty with me that I finally decided to file the harassment grievance. But now after more conversations with my union rep and shop steward we decided I should try to opt-in and get on the 9.5 list at my Center because another thing they were doing to me is piling so many stops on me for junk routes and the like that I was having to work 14-hour days almost everyday and by the end of the week always putting the max hours we're allowed.

It took about a month but I was finally able to opt-in. Prior to this I didn't know for sure all the rules about signing up to cover routes for guys on vacation and that if they pulled you off the route you still had 9.5 protection because you didn't volunteer and everything related to that because this same harassing supervisor lied straight to my face several times on covering routes so that he could pull me off the one they were trying to slam me on and assign to a few other drivers willing to run all day and skip their breaks to get those 130 stops or so done.

So now we're into September and I've opted in and am on the 9.5 list so at least they can't make me eat dinner at midnight five days per week because I wouldn't get off until 11pm after an 8:45am start time. So I was feeling like a had a little bit more control over how much they could screw me. But all the while this same supervisor is still trying to find ways to harass me.

So on 9/28/16 this supervisor brings me into the office and tells me he was following me around the previous day on the route I was covering and said he observed me clocked out for lunch but still inside the place I was at for lunch five more minutes after I showed myself punched back in. All I did was take a piss after I finished eating and headed back out to my truck. In said meeting he told me I was to be clocked out while using the restroom. I've never been asked to clock out to use the restroom for any job I've ever had in my entire life. Not to mention it is illegal. Afterward, I asked my shop steward who was in the meeting and my union rep afterward to give me some advice and both said to either go deliver a few more stops and then stop somewhere different to use the restroom or to use the restroom before my lunch and then clocking out immediately afterward or if I had to go bad enough to go while still on break and make it a part of my lunch.

So I never did use the bathroom after my break ever again but did sometimes used it before my lunch and clocking out which still I thought to be fine because having to use the bathroom is just a part of everyday life. And I never abused it nor could it ever be construed that way. In my opinion it was better to do it that way than to be miles away from a bathroom and needing to go and then having to drive way out of my way and stop delivering to go to a gas station or something to use the restroom, which would take way longer than trying to hold it until I was at a reasonable stopping point at go just before lunch. Like during all of our childhoods when your mother would call out it's time for dinner so go get washed up and use the bathroom if you need to before you come to the table. Made perfect sense to me anyway and like I said it's not like I was abusing bathroom usage by any stretch of the imagination. I thought I was doing them a favor saving them time, money and fuel not driving way out of my way and abandoning my route to go find a restroom and go and then going way back out to where I was and continuing my route.

So this past Monday, I called in to see if I was working because I am a newer driver, still lower on the seniority list, and Monday's I am sometimes laid off for the day because it's slow and the volume is low. The office clerk gal answered the phone and said I was scheduled to work so to come on in. Upon arriving I went in the office and looked at the board and my name wasn't by any route and so I asked the same office clerk gal what route I was on and that's when my Center Manager and my own On-Car Supervisor (not the On-Car Sup who had been harassing me the whole time) swarmed around me and both stated I was NOT working but was needed in the Center Manager's office for a meeting immediately. And I was like great, here we go!

Before I went in though my shop steward (a great man) pulled me aside in private real quick and said they were going to try to terminate me for "stealing time." That's how they have to frame it, as theft, because you can't just come out and tell someone they have to clock out to use the bathroom. So my shop steward told me how the meeting would proceed and then we went in the Center Manager's office where my own On-Car Supervisor, the Center Manager, some Security Loss Prevention guy were waiting for us.

The meeting commences and the Security guy is doing all the talking and stated that him and my On-Car Supervisor were following me around Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of the previous week (week of October 10th, 2016) and that they observed me "stealing time" these three days which they explain as "discrepancies in my timecard activities." So the Security guy is doing the questioning and he says on Tuesday we observed you going into Taco Bell at 2:20pm, yet you did not clock out until 2:30pm, can you explain this discrepancy in your timecard? To which I would say yes, there is no discrepancy in my timecard I was taking a :censored2:. Is that alright? The exact same line of questioning continued for the three days in question.

The HUGE kicker is that the week prior to when they were following me around (the week of October 3rd, 2016) they pulled me off the route I signed up for all week long and also ignored my 9.5 rights everyday so I ended up filing four grievances for seniority violations for pulling me off the route since I was the only one who signed up to cover the route in question for a driver on vacation and then I filed three more grievances for the three days I was forced to work more than 9.5 hours. So a total of seven grievances I filed and turned in on 10/10/16 at around 5pm. I came in in street clothes and turned them in because I was laid off that Monday. Then, less than 24 hours later, Tuesday 10/11/16 when I was working, this Security Loss Prevention guy and my On-Car Supervisor "randomly" decide to start following me around for the week to look for any wrongdoing? Yeah right!! This is so crystal clear that this is just continued intimidation, harassment and more retaliation.

But the meeting concludes with my Center Manager saying he is taking me out of service for "stealing time" and I will be issued a termination letter, which I will receive in the mail, and that I will have to turn in my browns.

So now I'm waiting for said termination letter and then the next step is a Center level hearing, followed by almost 100% sure another hearing in Seattle the 2nd week of November. I have complete confidence in my union rep and his ability to punch thousands of holes in their BS attempts to fire me but I'm still shocked at UPS' behavior.

I've never had a job where harassment, intimidation and retaliation was so blatant and sadistic. Any advice welcome.
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
Huge wall of text but I think I know what is going on here.

Technically they are correct in that if you stop at a place of business open to the public for the sole purpose of using the restroom that you need to do so either while on one of your paid breaks or during your unpaid lunch break.

Technically the termination appears to be justified.

Is it retaliation? Absolutely.

You put a huge target on your back and they hit the bulls eye.
 

dookie stain

Cornfed whiteboy
Huge wall of text but I think I know what is going on here.

Technically they are correct in that if you stop at a place of business open to the public for the sole purpose of using the restroom that you need to do so either while on one of your paid breaks or during your unpaid lunch break.

Technically the termination appears to be justified.

Is it retaliation? Absolutely.

You put a huge target on your back and they hit the bulls eye.
Uh what? So if you pee behind a bush you don't have to clock out? No company can prevent you from taking a leak
 

Brownslave688

You want a toe? I can get you a toe.
Huge wall of text but I think I know what is going on here.

Technically they are correct in that if you stop at a place of business open to the public for the sole purpose of using the restroom that you need to do so either while on one of your paid breaks or during your unpaid lunch break.

Technically the termination appears to be justified.

Is it retaliation? Absolutely.

You put a huge target on your back and they hit the bulls eye.


Absolutely not!!!!!!
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
Does anyone actually punch out to use the bathroom? Never heard of that...

Because most of the time the employee in question is not being nitpicked.

Technically if you stop at Taco Bell just to take a leak you are supposed to either be on a paid break or unpaid meal break. If you make a delivery there and stop to take a leak you can do so on the clock.
 

Brownslave688

You want a toe? I can get you a toe.
Does anyone actually punch out to use the bathroom? Never heard of that...
If you're already on break or getting ready to take break its kind of stupid to add that time onto the beginning or end and have it be paid for. You're asking for trouble. Which is what the op seemed to be doing.


However if I have to piss or take a quick dump no way I'm taking any break. If it's going to be over 5 minutes which I find a bit excessive then I'll take some break.
 

Brownslave688

You want a toe? I can get you a toe.
Because most of the time the employee in question is not being nitpicked.

Technically if you stop at Taco Bell just to take a leak you are supposed to either be on a paid break or unpaid meal break. If you make a delivery there and stop to take a leak you can do so on the clock.
Technically?


Where is this rule at?


What if you've already taken your full hour?


It's stupid to clock out for 2-3 minutes to use the restroom.
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
If you're already on break or getting ready to take break its kind of stupid to add that time onto the beginning or end and have it be paid for. You're asking for trouble. Which is what the op seemed to be doing.


However if I have to piss or take a quick dump no way I'm taking any break. If it's going to be over 5 minutes which I find a bit excessive then I'll take some break.

Bingo!

He was taking his full hour and then using the rest room which is technically stealing time.
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
Technically?


Where is this rule at?


What if you've already taken your full hour?


It's stupid to clock out for 2-3 minutes to use the restroom.

So you sit down at Taco Bell and enjoy your lunch when at the 59:00 mark you suddenly realize that you have to take a leak?

Yes, it is ticky tack, but the company was technically right.
 
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