Jhernandez
New Member
Well first i would like to say that I am new to this forum and I am happy to be part of it. I also noticed there are alot of "Wal-Mart" Related Terminations in here and stories so sorry for bringing another story to this forum but i hope you guys can give me legal advice. So that said here is my story.
I have been working for Wal-Mart in my town located in Kansas for almost 2 years now. I started in July of 2008 as a cashier. Well i always was complimented by management and the CSM staff since day 1 about how good of a worker I was and how they were impressed because of how fast I learned my job. I had 3 year Management expierience at a restaurant so i had good communication skills with other employees and of course customers.
I know how to treat customers well and how to satisfy them as well as take orders from my supervisors, follow policy's and procedures etc.
Lets jump to the case, I worked as a cashier for about a year and was transferred to the Automotive department about 9 months ago. I am a car guy and always wanted to work in the Tire And Lube Express(TLE) shop as a tech. Well the problem is that I had a "D" Day(Decision day)...Basically you get 3 coachings and then your final chance is a Decision day where walmart pays you to stay home and think about what your goin to do to keep your job and avoid anymore problems. The reason i had coachings was because of attendance issues. I was going to school and my schedule with them and my school schedule didnt exactly work out. I told my manager numerous times that i couldnt work earlier than 5 PM. So i was late alot because of this. Basically every 3rd tardy gets you 1 unexcused absense...i had 11 unexcused absences from being tardy not once did i call in. well i got a D day november of 2008 and it didnt fall off untill november of 2009. Well in august i was transferred to automotive as a service writer. Worked there for a while and my manager told me that when my D-day fell of i could be a Technician.
My D-day fell off november of last year and my manager had promised me the tech position. He said as soon as he got hours open he would promote me. Well he wasnt a man of his word and he hired a bunch of other guys before me. He told me that he did this because he didnt have enough service writers and needed me to cover missing shifts. Well now we are in april and he kept making up excuses and hiring people in front of me. By now i was upset and decided to talke to my store manager last week. She was upset about what my department manager was doing and immediatly gave me a secondary Tech spot for now. I was barly starting to get hours and 2 days after i got the tech spot my department manager called me in for a personal discussion because of a sick day that i called in. he tells me that one more day of callin in and i will be back to coaching process. Well 3 days later(Today) he pulls me in again and tells me that i am being terminated for stealing 24 minutes of company time!???
I was confused at first. He then reminds me of last saturday and tells me that i was 24 minutes late but that the computer shows that i did a time adjustment where i changed my time that i clocked in at 7:00AM. Well he is correct but here is why i changed my time.
On Saturday, April 4th 2010 i was scheduled to work 7AM until 4PM. I got to work at around 7:02 AM and realized i didnt have my badge to clock in. I came into the Grocery side parking lot(Where all employees usually park) relized i didnt have my badge and ran home really quick to get it. Well when i came back i went and parked in the TLE automotive side because my vehicle needed some work done. I got back 24 minutes late so i went inside clocked in and went to the computer to do the time adjustment. On the screen it asked me reason for time adjustment and there are options you can choose for example: Forgot Badge, Performed customer service, Time clock not working etc. I chose "Forgot Badge" option. And i had done this before many times because i thought thats what we were supposed to do. Well i changed my punch from 7:24AM to 7:00AM. I then went to the shop and had my car written up for a tire mount. Well today(April 7th) i was on break and he poked his head in the door to the break room and asked me to step in the office when i was done.
Well i went in and he tells me im being terminated for stealing 24 minutes of company time. I told him that i didnt mean to do it and that i thought thats what we were supposed to do if we forgot our badge. He said no and told me that what i did was equivalant to me stealing product from the comany. I apologized and told him that it was an accident and that i wasnt aware of that. He said that they had gotten me on camera entering the store through the automotive side at approx. 7:24. I told him yes and i asked him if they checked the grocery side cameras and he said that they did and they never saw me come in and well of course they didnt i never came in i just pulled in the parking lot...realized i didnt have my badge and left back homw to get it. He repeatedly said that this was the part of his job he really hated and that he felt bad for letting me go but that this was orders from the district manager. I then asked him "Why is there a Forgot Badge function on the time adjust clock then?" "I am really confused because i thought thats what we were supposed to do". He started stuttering and you could tell he was having a hard time having a good explaination for that. He said that thats only when u loose your badge. Well to me Lost and forgotten are 2 differennt meanings. I said well shouldnt it say lost badge instead of "Forgot Badge" His mouth just opened and words didnt come out. he then said "Im sorry i know its a stupid reason to terminate. Im just following policys and orders." "I tried my 100% to defend you but the district managers voted against me. So i have to terminate you." WTF??? This just doesnt make sense to me. I feel like he was just waiting for a little screw up to fire me because i went against him on the tech spot thing and im pretty sure he got in trouble from the store manager. And i feel like this is his way of payback. I talked to The assistant store manager and he felt bad and also agreed it was stupid. He gave me the district managers number and told me to talk to them. He said if he could he would reverse the termination because he said that he thought i was a really good employee and also didnt think it was fair. I am not a theif...I would never steal from my employer. This gives me a bad name to future employers especially me being Hispanic.
So that said What do you guys think? Was this termination fair or unfair? Sorry for the long book i wrote but i like to be detailed. Thanks alot.
Jorge Hernandez
I have been working for Wal-Mart in my town located in Kansas for almost 2 years now. I started in July of 2008 as a cashier. Well i always was complimented by management and the CSM staff since day 1 about how good of a worker I was and how they were impressed because of how fast I learned my job. I had 3 year Management expierience at a restaurant so i had good communication skills with other employees and of course customers.
I know how to treat customers well and how to satisfy them as well as take orders from my supervisors, follow policy's and procedures etc.
Lets jump to the case, I worked as a cashier for about a year and was transferred to the Automotive department about 9 months ago. I am a car guy and always wanted to work in the Tire And Lube Express(TLE) shop as a tech. Well the problem is that I had a "D" Day(Decision day)...Basically you get 3 coachings and then your final chance is a Decision day where walmart pays you to stay home and think about what your goin to do to keep your job and avoid anymore problems. The reason i had coachings was because of attendance issues. I was going to school and my schedule with them and my school schedule didnt exactly work out. I told my manager numerous times that i couldnt work earlier than 5 PM. So i was late alot because of this. Basically every 3rd tardy gets you 1 unexcused absense...i had 11 unexcused absences from being tardy not once did i call in. well i got a D day november of 2008 and it didnt fall off untill november of 2009. Well in august i was transferred to automotive as a service writer. Worked there for a while and my manager told me that when my D-day fell of i could be a Technician.
My D-day fell off november of last year and my manager had promised me the tech position. He said as soon as he got hours open he would promote me. Well he wasnt a man of his word and he hired a bunch of other guys before me. He told me that he did this because he didnt have enough service writers and needed me to cover missing shifts. Well now we are in april and he kept making up excuses and hiring people in front of me. By now i was upset and decided to talke to my store manager last week. She was upset about what my department manager was doing and immediatly gave me a secondary Tech spot for now. I was barly starting to get hours and 2 days after i got the tech spot my department manager called me in for a personal discussion because of a sick day that i called in. he tells me that one more day of callin in and i will be back to coaching process. Well 3 days later(Today) he pulls me in again and tells me that i am being terminated for stealing 24 minutes of company time!???
I was confused at first. He then reminds me of last saturday and tells me that i was 24 minutes late but that the computer shows that i did a time adjustment where i changed my time that i clocked in at 7:00AM. Well he is correct but here is why i changed my time.
On Saturday, April 4th 2010 i was scheduled to work 7AM until 4PM. I got to work at around 7:02 AM and realized i didnt have my badge to clock in. I came into the Grocery side parking lot(Where all employees usually park) relized i didnt have my badge and ran home really quick to get it. Well when i came back i went and parked in the TLE automotive side because my vehicle needed some work done. I got back 24 minutes late so i went inside clocked in and went to the computer to do the time adjustment. On the screen it asked me reason for time adjustment and there are options you can choose for example: Forgot Badge, Performed customer service, Time clock not working etc. I chose "Forgot Badge" option. And i had done this before many times because i thought thats what we were supposed to do. Well i changed my punch from 7:24AM to 7:00AM. I then went to the shop and had my car written up for a tire mount. Well today(April 7th) i was on break and he poked his head in the door to the break room and asked me to step in the office when i was done.
Well i went in and he tells me im being terminated for stealing 24 minutes of company time. I told him that i didnt mean to do it and that i thought thats what we were supposed to do if we forgot our badge. He said no and told me that what i did was equivalant to me stealing product from the comany. I apologized and told him that it was an accident and that i wasnt aware of that. He said that they had gotten me on camera entering the store through the automotive side at approx. 7:24. I told him yes and i asked him if they checked the grocery side cameras and he said that they did and they never saw me come in and well of course they didnt i never came in i just pulled in the parking lot...realized i didnt have my badge and left back homw to get it. He repeatedly said that this was the part of his job he really hated and that he felt bad for letting me go but that this was orders from the district manager. I then asked him "Why is there a Forgot Badge function on the time adjust clock then?" "I am really confused because i thought thats what we were supposed to do". He started stuttering and you could tell he was having a hard time having a good explaination for that. He said that thats only when u loose your badge. Well to me Lost and forgotten are 2 differennt meanings. I said well shouldnt it say lost badge instead of "Forgot Badge" His mouth just opened and words didnt come out. he then said "Im sorry i know its a stupid reason to terminate. Im just following policys and orders." "I tried my 100% to defend you but the district managers voted against me. So i have to terminate you." WTF??? This just doesnt make sense to me. I feel like he was just waiting for a little screw up to fire me because i went against him on the tech spot thing and im pretty sure he got in trouble from the store manager. And i feel like this is his way of payback. I talked to The assistant store manager and he felt bad and also agreed it was stupid. He gave me the district managers number and told me to talk to them. He said if he could he would reverse the termination because he said that he thought i was a really good employee and also didnt think it was fair. I am not a theif...I would never steal from my employer. This gives me a bad name to future employers especially me being Hispanic.
So that said What do you guys think? Was this termination fair or unfair? Sorry for the long book i wrote but i like to be detailed. Thanks alot.
Jorge Hernandez
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