Fired for writing a distasteful note? Continued…

by Brent

(Lewiston, ME)

I had written the following and really found your advice helpful. I was hoping I could update and maybe get some more help if possible…

Fired for writing a distasteful note?
by Brent
(Lewiston, ME)

Pardon the language…

I wrote a note that told my co-workers if they could “wipe their own a** then to stop leaving their s**t for the next guy to clean up”. Nobody was named and I didnt even sign it. There was nothing threatening about it either. I never recieved a warning about it and nobody ever talked to me about it. In almost 3 years of employment there, I never recieved a single warning or write up of any sort. Former and present employees had recieved warnings and write ups, even been sent home for MUCH worse including violent acts.

Thank you for any time you can spare.
Brent Clark

UPDATE…

I recieved my records and they indicate that this issue was considered “Workplace Violence”. This is an absolute joke. It also included an instance from June 08 about a verbal warning I was truly unaware of. I complained to my boss about an uncooporative co worker and the crew had a meeting about it. It was the other employee who was the reason for the meeting. I was never informed that I had gotten a verbal warning. For a meeting I asked for? To me it feels they are reaching, I have been doing A LOT of research and I really feel I deserve to get benefits. I never should have been fired in the first place. I had been attacked by this individual after this meeting and my employer did nothing. Myself and others worked in fear around this guy and he was allowed to continue on. He eventually quit over a year later. There is nothing in my file about when he attacked me, they never even talked to me about it after I told them. There was even a witness. This employee attacked another co-worker once, and used to throw items around the workplace, etc. Can I use all of this against them. Like you said they can fire me for whatever reason, but if they aren’t equally enforcing rules…

I also was recently diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and I am sure I was costing ther insurance company some money. The company renewal is always in March. It would be discrimination to fire me over this but I cant help but wonder if it could have played a role. This time of year is the slow season and they have always let somebody go each year around this time, I had been there the longest, made the most, had the most time off, etc… I feel like they wanted to get rid of me because I was costing them and now that the insurance plan doesnt include me they can maybe help their renewal. I feel like I should have quit but I NEEDED the benefits because of my illness. I was tired of feeling like my concerns were never taken seriously so, one time, I used poor judgement and wrote this note that I would have removed the following day if it were still were I left it.

I have a phone hearing on Feb 25th. I suppose its possible they dont fight this, it is manditory for the State to have this phone call in cases of discharge, but I highly doubt my employer wont try to deny benefits.

Your time is much obliged.

Brent,

I wouldn’t bother with the health insurance issue .. because it’s irrelevant to the point at hand .. unless you can prove it.

What you need is a witness to corroborate they don’t uniformly enforce the rules .. even when another employees behavior might actually be violent in nature .. it’s not that what you did can’t be seen as misconduct rising to a level that calls for immediate discharge .. it’s that presenting your case based on the employer condoning a violation of or ignoring one of their own rules and that enforcing it in your case created an atmosphere where you wouldn’t expect what happened to happen.

I think it’s your only hope .. along with the fact that it sounds like you had gone to the employer about the “problem” you were experiencing and they basically were the cause of the problem which pushed you into making a mistake .. because of the inaction of the employer to handle or address the underlying problem.

Your biggest problem .. is that if I were advising the employer .. I’d have that note in the record to prove what you did .. just don’t get riled.