What a crappy day!

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

I'm a shop steward and had to sit through a termination today. The person is 60 or 61, and I swear management was just out to get them. Then they have to the persons office to make sure they don't steal the freakin' stapler. :mad:

[femmocrat]

1. Can age discrimination be a factor?

Maybe the person has a discrimination case.

That's a shame. Another reason why we need national health care.

[happyslug]

2. Any grounds for the termination? Or is it illegal Age discrimination?

Tell them to file with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC, or whatever the state Calls its EEOC Commission). They are over age 50 so are in a "Protected class". I would recommend them to do so even if the company has just cause to fire them. At age 62 they can get early retirement Social Security, thus the company could have waited to see if they would take that option, but did not. File and lets see if the filing with the EEOC can stir things up.

I remember my father talking to his Shop Seward when the Seward had to go with another employee about being fired. My father told the Seward he had to go to protect the rights of not only the employees who were being fired but the rest of the employees, so the employer could not just fire them for no cause. Now my father worked for the Post Office and the employee had been caught stealing. The Seward and my father knew there was nothing the Union could do for them, for the employee had committed a crime, but just because the Post Office had the right to terminate the employee does NOT mean he is NOT entitled to some representation from the Union. Like a Defense attorney with a client who was caught red handed stealing, the Shop Seward had to go with the employee, even through there was no much he could do. It can be hard, but the Shop Seward did his job, as you did. Your job is to give support for the employee when the employee is being terminated. The termination may be justified or unjustified but the employee MUST still be represented to make sure it is justified.

People forget that the reason employers make sure they have the goods on an employee is because the Union Exists. Without a union, the Employers will go after anyone they wanted and each employee is on his or her own side alone. The Union gives you the support the employer has because he owns the business. A union makes the arrangement between employee and employer a bit more equal. In most such cases that is all the Union can do, and it is much more support then non-unionized employees get. In many ways that support is the main reason to belong to the union, to make dealing with management more equal.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

3. Thanks !

I'll pass that on to them. :)

[happyslug]

4. Remember they are members of a "Protected Class".

Under Federal Law, "Protected Classes of People" can be based on Race, National Origin, Sex, age (i.e. over age 50), disabilities and "Familial Status" i.e. (do they have children living with them?). Some states and cities have expanded this to includes homosexuals, but at present that is NOT a protected class under Federal Law and most State Laws (Check your state to be sure, Oregon I believe is such a State, but NOT Washington).

Any one in a "Protected Class" can file with the EEOC, and must do it within 180 days of the discrimination (i.e. do it NOW). Most states have web sites for their EEOC, tell them to go to it and file or give them the Phone Number.

Also tell them to check with nor only the local union but whatever National union the local is affiliated with. While the Local may have no one who knows anything about these cases, the National Union often does.

Also tell them to file for Unemployment. Unemployment Insurance is its own set of rules in many states. The Unemployment office can NOT force the employer to take the employee back, but they can ruled that the termination was without just cause (Check with your local Legal Aid Office for what is the rules for Unemployment insurance in your state) and once such a ruling is made, two things happens. First the employees gets Unemployment Insurance for up to a year (Unemployment is generally six months, but do to the recession it has been expanded to one year by Congress). Second, the employer is accessed a penalty for leaving someone off without just cause. This hurts the Employer by forcing them to pay a higher unemployment tax rate to the State. This "punishment" is designed into the Unemployment Insurance laws to minimize when employers can just lay off people just because the employer no longer want them on the payroll. Just because you are 62 does NOT make you ineligible for Unemployment. In Fact I would tell them to stay on Unemployment till long after they turn 62. The longer they stay off Social Security, the more they will get per month from Social Security.

Side note: I do NOT know what is the rule in your state, but most states require unemployed people to make weekly filing with the Unemployment Office that they are looking for work and where. Tell them to do this even if they are denied unemployment on the initial application. If they win their Unemployment on appeal and they had NOT made the weekly reporting (Or whatever your state calls it) the state will still deny them unemployment for those weeks. On the other hand if they do the reporting during the appeal period, they will get the money for those weeks even if they find a new job somewhere else in the meantime.

Remember you must be "Willing, Ready and Able" to work to get Unemployment, but not necessary every job out there. If they are willing to take jobs they believe they can do, that is sufficient to get unemployment (IF they are hospitalized then they can NOT get Unemployment for that time in the Hospital, but if that stay is only 3 or 4 days, they could have taken a job on the remember days of the week and thus still eligible.

Remember since the employees were Terminated, the employer has the burden of proof that the employer had "just cause" to terminate them. Make sure they apply for Unemployment in addition to any claim for EEOC claims.

Remember this, EEOC reflects Employment rights, that you are unemployed do to some illegal action of the employer. Unemployment Insurance is a right of the Employee unless the Employer had some good cause to terminate the Employee, for example "willful misconduct". "Good Cause" has to be something to do with keeping the employee do to the actions of the Employee NOT that the employer can no longer keep the employee (i.e. layoffs do to no work to be done is NOT "Just Cause" to be used as grounds to deny unemployment).