Fired for mailing out a package on the company account (Sep.2005 entry)!

simplyfiredstories submitted 595 days ago

I had worked for this company for almost 8 years. The company was going thru some rough times and had started laying people off a couple of years ago. I had escaped the first couple of lay-offs, but could not escape the latest. The company offered me an alternate position in a different department. I needed the money so I took the offer. My previous job was computer tech support, now I'm doing data entry in the shipping department. It's a job, I'm thankful for that. I made a stupid mistake and decided to mail out a personal package using the company's UPS account....first mistake. Second mistake was that I denied knowledge of who the package belonged to, when asked by the manager. I had intended paying for the shipping charges the next day (I had to have the package out right away and wouldn't have time to get permission from the manager). The next day after I punched in I was pulled into the HR office by my supervisor and was told that I was being fired, that it was a 't rust issue'. I asked what happened to progressive method of discipline, and I was told to read the employee handbook about rules of conduct.....yeah, okay so it says that the company can terminate without prior warnings or suspensions. Okay, so you got me on that. It doesn't end there.....later in the day I get a phone call from my daughter (which happens to work for the same company as summer help), she is hysterical! They fired her also! Reasoning was that they didn't need summer help anymore. I have been at that company long enough to know that was a bunch of b.s. This was the end of July and they don't start getting rid of the summer help til at least Sept. I immediately call the plant supervisor (the one that fired her) and read him the riot act. I knew they fired her because of me and if they didn't hire her back, we would be contacting a lawyer.... she was told to finish the day and to call the following day....long story short, she was told to come back and she
was recently hired full-time. Catch is, I couldn't file for unemployment or hire a lawyer, the company would make her work life miserable. Talk about black mail..... oh well, I would do anything for her