Tag: Worst Employer of 2020

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Vote for the Worst Employer of 2020

It’s officially election season for the Worst Employer of 2020.

Since it is 2020, however, this can’t be a normal Worst Employer election. This year we have two categories: Worst Employer, and Worst Employer COVID-19 Edition.

Here’s how voting will work. Each category has five nominees. You’ll rank each from 1 (worst) – 5 (least worst). Simply drag and drop into your preferred ranking. You should rank all five because positions count in the tabulation.

The nominee with the most points wins (or loses, depending on your perspective). Polls are open until 11:59 pm on December 15, at which point I’ll count the votes, certify the results, and announce the winners.

Follow this link for a refresher on this year’s 10 nominees.

The poll is available via this link, or via the embed below. Happy voting, and good luck to all of the nominees. May the worst employers win.

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The 12th nominee for the “Worst Employer of 2020” is … the Bad Bettor

Do you remember that scene from The Deer Hunter where Christopher Walken plays Russian roulette in a betting parlor, while the patrons place bets on whether he’ll live or die with every pull of the revolver’s trigger? That’s what I thought of as I read the allegations in Fernandez v. Tyson Foods, and not in a good way.

According to the lawsuit, while COVID-19 was running rampant through Tyson’s Waterloo, Iowa, facility, the Plant Manager “organized a cash buy-in, winner-take-all betting pool for supervisors and managers to wager how many employees would test positive for COVID-19.”

That’s just the tip of the iceberg of allegations in this wrongful death lawsuit, originally filed by the family of the late Isidro Fernandez, one of at least five employees who died of the virus. Indeed, according to their local health department, more than 1,000 workers at the plant, representing over one-third of the total workforce, contracted the virus. The lawsuit claims that Tyson Food demonstrated a “willful and wanton disregard for workplace safety.”
The recently filed amended complaint, which includes allegations concerning the betting pool, adds even more meat to the bone of these unsafe working conditions.
  • Despite the rampant spread of the virus within the plant, Tyson Foods required its employees to work long hours in cramped conditions without personal protective equipment and without following other workplace-safety measures.
  • In mid-April, just before the betting pool was created, the county sheriff visited the plant and reported that the working conditions inside “shook [him] to the core.”
  • An upper-level manager directed employees and supervisors to ignore COVID-19 symptoms, not to get tested, and to continue working, and supervisors falsely denied the existence of any confirmed cases or positive tests among the workforce.
  • Tyson paid $500 attendance bonuses, which actually incentivized sick employees to continue working.
  • All the while, managers avoided the plant floor for fear of contracting the virus, and executives lobbied Iowa’s governor for COVID-related liability protections.
For it’s part, Tyson Foods vehemently denies these allegations and suspended all managers accused of taking part in the betting pool (seven months after the fact).
If you place bets on which of your employees will contract a deadly virus, while you continue to take active steps that expose them to a greater risk of contracting that virus, you might be the Worst Employer of 2020. And thank you to all of my readers who sent me this very worthy nominee.
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The 10th nominee for the “Worst Employer of 2020” is … the Callous Car Dealer

COVID-19, coronavirus, public health crisis

I continue to shake my head at the callousness of employers during this pandemic. Consider this example from The Oregonian, which earns its spot as the 10th nominee for the Worst Employer of 2020.

A finance manager at a used car dealership in Portland was fired by his boss during a staff meeting for questioning the company’s alleged cover-up of a coronavirus cluster, a lawsuit claims.

McCrary contends his boss directed employees to conceal a COVID-19 outbreak to maintain business profits and customer visits to the showroom….

At least two workers tested positive and a general manager exhibited symptoms but refused to be tested, the lawsuit says. Two “significant others” of employees also tested positive, the suit says.…

His suit claims that Lapin didn’t require social distancing or take other safety measures at work in light of the coronavirus pandemic and had fired another sales representative who was worried in spring about coming into work.

Worst Employer of 2020 The lawsuit further alleges that the owner fired McCrary in an “alcohol and drug-induced rage” during an all-staff meeting after McCrary had raised health and safety concerns following the outbreak, screaming, “Everyone, everyone Shawn is fired – get the (expletive) out of my company!”
McCrary’s lawsuit also quotes this text message the owner sent after the staff became aware of the positive cases: “Keep this down please. Don’t share this information with anyone since we do not want to scare away business.”
A worthy nominee, indeed.
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The 6th nominee for the “Worst Employer of 2020” is … the Working Mom Sacker

remote workers, stressed out

Let this woman’s Instagram post sink in, and then let’s talk about why it’s wrong to fire a mom working from home (allegedly) because she has to spend some time tending to her children.

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

| 28 days ago I finally had enough of the 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 that my boss was giving me for him not being okay with hearing my kids in the background on calls.|😭😡😖💔 . He wanted me to figure out a way to keep the kids quiet 😣. I went to Human Resources with proof of what was going for the last 3 months and 7 days later AFTER that 𝗜 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱!!!! 😭 They told me that I should be happy that the outcome to my career there could have been worse. I’m crying as I type this…😭 I was told I had a bright future. That I was doing very well in my position! 💔💔💔😭💔😭 . The last 3 months I have worked around the clock from home while watching my two toddlers😭. I have met all the deadlines they have asked me for, even the unrealistic ones. The situation that I had endured the last 3 months is beyond stressful😭. How does a company that says that they understand and will work around the schedule of parents do the complete opposite with their actions? 😭 I’m devastated. I have poured hours, tears, sweats, delayed giving my child a snack when he wanted one because my boss needed me to do something right away. And what did I get in return? 𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗘𝗗!!! 😭😭😭😭😭 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 . They can keep the 𝗵𝘂𝘀𝗵 money they offered to not bring this up🚫🛑✋! No working mother should be discriminated against , especially during these times for not being able to keep my 𝟭 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗲𝘁 for a business call 😡For not being able to turn something around in 5 minutes when my baby wants a snack😡. We are in tough times right now. This situation would have been temporary. None of my clients had issues with my kids in the background. 𝗜’𝗺 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗺𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 ! 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝗸𝗮𝘆!!!💪. IT’S NOT OKAY to have to feel that your boss is making you pick your work over your kids during these times!!!𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗢𝗞𝗔𝗬!!! #justice

A post shared by Hi, I’m 𝗗𝗿𝗶𝘀| MODERN CALI MOM (@moderncalimom) on

10 News San Diego fills in the details:

A San Diego mother says working from home during the coronavirus pandemic cost her her job. She claims she was fired because her kids were making noises in the background of her teleconference calls …

Like many parents, Rios was unable to find childcare for her four-year-old daughter and one-year-old son. Despite juggling parenting and working from home, Rios claims she was able to complete all her tasks. She adds that her clients never complained about her kids being in the background of her conference calls. The only complaints, she says, came from her male, direct superior.

“I said, ‘Do you want me to lock my kids in the room? My one-year-old in the room? Do you want me to do that?’ And… he responded and said, ‘Figure it out.’” Rios said.

She says she tried to arrange calls to be during her children’s afternoon naptimes but claims her boss continued to ignore and demean her.

“He would purposely overlap schedules,” Rios said.

According to research conducted by Stanford economist Nicholas Bloom, 42 percent of the U.S. labor force is currently working from home full-time. It an ideal way to stay safe and promote physical distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s less than ideal for other reasons, especially if you have young children at home. For example, we’ve all seen more than one viral video of a child interrupting a Zoom meeting. (Personally, I had one interrupted by my dogs loudly fighting over a toy. After my apology, my clients said it was the best distraction they had all week.)

worst employer of 2020

Work from home calls for understanding, compassion, and flexibility, not hard lines in the sand, deceit, and termination. If an employee is working well from home, being productive and timely, and putting out a quality work product (as Ms. Rios says she was), let it be. There will come a time when everyone could return to the office, but now is not that time. Work from him is going to be the “new normal” for many for the foreseeable future. If we can’t work with it, we are going to lose too many good employees.
Moreover, it’s just plain illegal to fire a woman based on her parental responsibilities if you don’t hold similarly situated male employees to the same standard. As Suzanne Lucas writes at Inc.com: “If you enforce hours and quiet backgrounds for females but not for males, you’ll violate sex discrimination laws. So, you can’t call it cute when Joe’s baby shows up on film but unprofessional when Caroline’s toddler shows up. It’s all or nothing.”
No working mother should be discriminated against. That’s called sex discrimination. It’s also flat-out wrong to fire an employee in these circumstances, and it might just make you the worst employer of 2020.
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The 4th nominee for the Worst Employer of 2020 is … the Perverted Peking-duck Purveyor

sexual harassment prevention requirements

worst employer of 2020 trophy Every year I worry about how I’m going to fill my annual list of worst employers. I’ve yet to be disappointed.

The EEOC recently filed suit against a Medford, Oregon, Chinese restaurant after its middle-aged night-shift manager repeatedly sexually harassed young female employees.

The allegations are horrific. The manager is accused of the following.

  • Repeatedly making sexual comments, sexual innuendos, and remarks to female employees.
  • Repeatedly touching female employees’ backs, shoulders, waist, hip/crotch area, buttocks, rubbing his body up against female employees’ bodies, and standing close behind female employees and staring at them.
  • Repeatedly touching the breasts of female employees including putting his hand under a female employee’s shirt and bra.
  • Pulling on the shirt and bra of a female employee to expose her nipple.
  • Asking a 15-year-old female employee to send him naked photos of herself.

Yet, those allegations, as awful as they are, aren’t what earned this employer its nomination. It’s what happened after the victims complained that placed this employer on this year’s list.

According to the EEOC—

Even after the manager … was arrested at work and booked for sexual abuse of the restaurant’s minor employee, he was permitted to return to work.… Despite repeated employee complaints and the manager’s guilty plea to misdemeanor harassment, the restaurant failed to stop his behavior or discharge him. Instead, New China fired one female employee soon after she reported his inappropriate conduct and another female employee felt she had no choice but to resign.

If you enable your 50-something manager to sexually harass your teenage workforce, even after employees complain and he’s arrested for and convicted of harassment, you might be the worst employer of 2020.

Previous nominees:

The 1st Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2020 Is … the Repeat, Repeat Offender

The 2nd nominee for Worst Employer of 2020 is … the Uncaring Chief

The 3rd nominee for the Worst Employer of 2020 is … the Arresting Retaliator

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The 2nd Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2020 Is… the Uncaring Chief

Jon Hyman The Practical Employer

Three posts into 2020 and we already have our second nominee for the year’s worst employer. And this one is just plain awful.

From Salt Lake City’s Fox 13 News:

A mother is filing a lawsuit against a Salt Lake City-based company after she claims they fired her once they learned her son had cancer.

Becky Claussen has worked for a Salt Lake City Company called The Summit Group for 13 years.

Working remotely in Virginia, Claussen said things changed after her 10-year-old son Cameron was diagnosed with Leukemia in April.…

Claussen took paid time off and when she went back to work, she said her job assignment changed and she received an email saying, “I think we both know you can’t perform the account manager position adequately under the new circumstances.”

In July, Claussen said her boss flew from Utah to Virginia to meet up.

“I went down to the hospital lobby and I met with him,” said Claussen. “That’s where he told me they were ending the business relationship.”

In that moment, Claussen said her boss fired her.

Returning to Cameron’s hospital room, Claussen explained what had happened—he then turned to her and said, “I’m sorry I got cancer cause it made you lose your job.”

If you fly across the country to fire an employee while she is in the hospital with her child battling Leukemia, you might be the worst employer of 2020.
*Silver lining: after five rounds of chemotherapy, the cancer is in remission.
**The company fully denies the allegations, stating, in part: “We are saddened about this situation. The allegation that we let someone go because of a family health situation is categorically untrue. We have been a small business operating in Utah for nearly 40 years and have countless examples of supporting both our employees and their families in the midst of various life trials. We also took reasonable steps to try to accommodate Becky, by granting all of her requests for time off and her request to be relieved of some of her job duties. We provided a flexible working schedule for her at her request. Becky confirmed to me via email that ‘you guys did what works for my family.’”
Other Nominees: