Most blatant injustice you have seen/experienced in the workplace?

Lenn Brennan

cabledude wrote: »

I could tell ye all some hilarious stories about a former workplace, but this is one of the best.

So, one Monday morning, one of the team leaders never showed in to work. His boss tried to call his mobile but, it was switched off. He tried ringing the landline, but, it rang out. This was Monday morning now remember. Come Wednesday morning, there was still no sign of the boyo. He had vanished off the face of the planet. The boss went to the Operations Manager and they had a serious meeting about the issue of a staff member going AWOL. They decided that the guy would be facing serious disciplinary action whenever he returned to work.

Over the few days no fewer than 50 calls had been made to the landline and countless others to the mobile. Then on the following Sunday evening, the boss was talking to his OH. He told her that one of the members of staff had gone AWOL and that he was in serious difficulty whenever he returned to work. Termination of employment was on the cards.

The OH turned around and told the boss that the staff member had met them both in the pub on the previous Friday night. He had explained to the boss that a family member had died in France that same afternoon and that he would not be in next week. The boss lashed into the pints and had totally forgotten the conversation.

The staff member arrived home on the Monday morning from France and noticed 50 missed calls on the landline. He called the boss and asked WTF was going on. The sheepish boss had to explain that he had 'forgotten' about their conversation in the pub and had presumed that the staff member had booked a sun holiday.

A public apology had to be issued.

How is that an injustice then?

Pawwed Rig

Was told that a girl would not be considered for promotion as she had a baby during the year.

Forced to clock out at 9pm as a 17 year old but worked till 10.

Bullies using the HR process to make individuals lives a misery.

Bullies using health and safety rules to make individuals lives a misery.

Managers refusing to train employees and then hammering them during their appraisal.

Employee fired for failing an (extremely difficult) exam.

Little Hitler of a supermarket manager not allowing me to leave on time the week of my leaving cert. Why I didn't tell him to go f*** himself I will never know.

The One Doctor

Friend of mine was hired for a contract job but was accidentally given a permanent contract to sign (and was countersigned by manager). He pointed out that he was a permanent employee when the time came for the 'contract' to end and was told to eff off as they didn't mean to give him the permanent contract.

Fairly sure that's illegal.

the_monkey

I worked in a horrible tech support place once (PM me if you want the name of the company so you can avoid at all costs)

The manager was a complete unreasonable bully.

He would accuse people of faking doctors notes - but then laugh it off as he was just joking - but of course the intimidation is done allready.

Once I was out sick for a day, next day with the note he said "You've been sick a lot lately ...." I told him I didn't think so, I contacted HR to see when my last sick day was - it was more then 7 months previously :O

I forwarded him their response in a friendly FYI email.

He used to not let people take time off to take their kids to the doctors - totally illegal.

We would have 50/60 issues EACH and he would be on our backs for any late actions on the issues, when trying to explain that it was WAYYY to much work (these issues were complex issues - not casual user issues, we had contracts with other companies and the product we supported was quite complex )

He would argue we just needed to manage our time better, so it be like giving 5 mins a day to each issue - ridiculous .

Out of 30 engineers he fired roughly 10 in the first year.

I was eventually too - biggest relief ever, they gave us nice payoffs, as the reasons were complete horse****e, one guy was French and the reason they gave us was " We have too many french speakers" :S :S :S


Disgusting company to work for ...

Mr. CooL ICE

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

Was told that a girl would not be considered for promotion as she had a baby during the year.

Forced to clock out at 9pm as a 17 year old but worked till 10.

Bullies using the HR process to make individuals lives a misery.

Bullies using health and safety rules to make individuals lives a misery.

Managers refusing to train employees and then hammering them during their appraisal.

Employee fired for failing an (extremely difficult) exam.

Little Hitler of a supermarket manager not allowing me to leave on time the week of my leaving cert. Why I didn't tell him to go f*** himself I will never know.

Dunnes?

Pawwed Rig

No not Dunnes. I won't name the store but they were recently taken over by Super Valu and Feargal Quinn used to come in at Christmas for a chinwag with the great unwashed.

Boombastic

they asked me to work an extra 3 hours a year, the cheek

Lou.m

Wanderer2010 wrote: »

What is the one thing you have seen in your workplace that is definitely unfair or unequal, to the point where you actually considered complaining or making a fuss? Im not talking about someone who is a bit late now and then or someone who gets away with the odd mistake, Im talking about a practice or hiring policy etc that really gets on your nerves..

Im in an open plan office and we have to be back from lunch at 2pm sharp, because some of our clients expect reports etc at that time. No problem, but there are 3 women in particular who head down to the local cafe for lunch regularly and they swan in laughing and joking at 20 past 2 every single time they go to that cafe. We are a quiet office so the boss man usually pops out his head if there are raised voices to see whats up. When he sees the women, he just goes straight back to his work. However, if any of the lads (long term or newbies) are even 2 mins late, he will head up to him , take him aside and remind them work starts at 2pm not after and if it happens again he "will have to consider a warning".

I was caught with traffic today and arrived at 5 past 2. He walked over and said "we have to be back at 2pm" to which I said "well how come Mary, Siobhan and Edel (false names) can swan in 3 times a week at nearly half past and nothing is said to them?". I admit i was angry so i may not have been that professional about it but he just looked at me like i was crazy, like i was mad for saying such a thing, rolled his eyes and walked away. I mean, man up, surely that is nothing but a pure wimp of a man. I hasten to add none of the women are there that long or related to him, its just him being a coward :mad::mad:

Not being paid for ten weeks straight.

the_monkey

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

Was told that a girl would not be considered for promotion as she had a baby during the year.

Forced to clock out at 9pm as a 17 year old but worked till 10.

Bullies using the HR process to make individuals lives a misery.

Bullies using health and safety rules to make individuals lives a misery.

Managers refusing to train employees and then hammering them during their appraisal.

Employee fired for failing an (extremely difficult) exam.

Little Hitler of a supermarket manager not allowing me to leave on time the week of my leaving cert. Why I didn't tell him to go f*** himself I will never know.

I think a special type of cúnt is reserved for those jobs

Pawwed Rig

the_monkey wrote: »

I think a special type of cúnt is reserved for those jobs

There was one little botox who I will never forget. He took exception to the fact that I had long hair and tried to make my life a misery because of it. Brave man bullying a 17 year old.:mad: Getting angry now just thinking of the little prick. Ultimate small man syndrome. Have seen it alot over the years.

Cantona's Collars

Used to contract to a certain company who were named in the Satellite forums,a shower of cnuts from the bottom to the top.Nepotism,one-upmanship bullying, you name it.
They hired in foreign workers & found a way to pay them foreign rates.We educated some of the lads on the basics of employment law.They were told that if they left for another job that €3k would be taken from them as a levy for finding them employment & accomodation in Ireland.Eventually one guy went to SIPTU's head office.The rest of the lads downed tools.That bit got sorted but the other sh1te continued.Thankfully quite a few found employment elsewhere.

The worst I saw was the GAMA workers from Turkey,they were being paid an average of €2.50 an hour after 'deductions'.The ordinary workers were treated like second class citizens.

the_monkey

zerks wrote: »

Used to contract to a certain company who were named in the Satellite forums,a shower of cnuts from the bottom to the top.Nepotism,one-upmanship bullying, you name it.
They hired in foreign workers & found a way to pay them foreign rates.We educated some of the lads on the basics of employment law.They were told that if they left for another job that €3k would be taken from them as a levy for finding them employment & accomodation in Ireland.Eventually one guy went to SIPTU's head office.The rest of the lads downed tools.That bit got sorted but the other sh1te continued.Thankfully quite a few found employment elsewhere.

The worst I saw was the GAMA workers from Turkey,they were being paid an average of €2.50 an hour after 'deductions'.The ordinary workers were treated like second class citizens.

Disgusting all right, that it can still go on in 2014 ...

I once worked in a well-known Irish supermarket when I was fresh out of college. It was one of the worst job experiences of my life so far.

- the managers did not respect staff at all. We'd get insulted on a regular basis.
- When I was doing a stint in the Home Delivery section, the person in charge of the deliveries themselves had an awful temper. Once or twice he would kick empty trolleys at me.

From that point on I have had nothing but sympathy for people that were employed in that company and other supermarkets. I know exactly how badly they can be treated.

MyPeopleDrankTheSoup

the_monkey wrote: »

He used to not let people take time off to take their kids to the doctors - totally illegal.

definitely shitty behaviour, but is it actually illegal?

Davarus Walrus

The floor management in Dunnes Stores and Tesco always come across as being right asshats to other workers. It's very off-putting to be perusing the shelves deciding on what to buy, only to have some little shortarse in a cheap suit hectoring and berating an employee for doing something wrong. Often a little gimp in his late 20's giving out to a middle-aged woman. Supermarket management appears to attract a certain type of person.

Gomer Pyle

zerks wrote: »

The worst I saw was the GAMA workers from Turkey,they were being paid an average of €2.50 an hour after 'deductions'.The ordinary workers were treated like second class citizens.

Iirc they were somehow exempt from employers PRSI also.

Pinch Flat

Worked in a government agency and one of the CEO's buddies was to be promoted, but lacked the qualifications for the job. No problem - job spec rewritten and job re-advertised. The qualifications necessary for the position bore no resemblance to the job as originally advertised. Colleague who was vastly more qualified had to re-interview for this, then saw the crony promoted above him.

cabledude

Lenn Brennan wrote: »

How is that an injustice then?

Because the boss couldn't hold his urine. He told a few of the motor mouths in the place what was going on.

And, only gor the bosses OH was present when he was told by the staff member that he needed to go to the funeral in France, this guy would have lost his job.

How would you feel if you came home from funeral to see 50+ missed calls on your landline all because your boss had gone on the lash after you telling him that you would not be in work next week. He then forgot and you came close to loosing your job?

Ah yea, no injustice there.

geddylee

geddylee wrote: »

The worst injustices in the work place I have seen is when bullies start getting on with supervisors ,team leaders and office staff,and union reps....it's unbelievable the worst offenders for aggressive behaviour that seem to get popular with everyone else because they are afraid of them,the more intimidating you are, the more respect you get.

Hard to know. Like the saying goes the Squeaky wheels get the grease but sometimes the wheel gets replaced altogether.

Kimbot

Ive regurally seen people taking 1hr + breaks and even going on a second break so they can go for a walk down the road with their mates.

People abusing the clock in system such as arriving at about 8a.m clocking in then heading off and coming back in at 10a.m.

People arriving to work, clocking in and then going for a long shower before heading to do some work.

Lenn Brennan

cabledude wrote: »

Because the boss couldn't hold his urine. He told a few of the motor mouths in the place what was going on.

And, only gor the bosses OH was present when he was told by the staff member that he needed to go to the funeral in France, this guy would have lost his job.

How would you feel if you came home from funeral to see 50+ missed calls on your landline all because your boss had gone on the lash after you telling him that you would not be in work next week. He then forgot and you came close to loosing your job?

Ah yea, no injustice there.

Fair enough, the boss was an idiot but you said a public apology was made and the employee didn't lose his job, idiot boss admits he was wrong publicly, i'd call that justice

pauliebdub

I once had a manager who behaved fine to us but was extremely rude to any support staff that he dealt with, whether they were receptionists/post room guys/IT technicians/cleaners. He would not only be rude to them but create drama and make complaints about them to their managers. Same ****e when we went for staff outings to pubs, restaurants or events, there was always drama and agression. It was cringeworthy and awful to witness.

Cantona's Collars

jonny24ie wrote: »

Ive regurally seen people taking 1hr + breaks and even going on a second break so they can go for a walk down the road with their mates.

People abusing the clock in system such as arriving at about 8a.m clocking in then heading off and coming back in at 10a.m.

People arriving to work, clocking in and then going for a long shower before heading to do some work.

Weak management there,of course employees are going to take the piss if they know they can get away with it.

Kimbot

zerks wrote: »

Weak management there,of course employees are going to take the piss if they know they can get away with it.

Thing is most the offenders were of a specific gender, when it was raised with bosses they just shrugged it off. Normally the bosses were good dealing with that kind of stuff.

Birneybau

woodoo wrote: »

A youngish girl in a company i used to work in was given an acting up roll which would have involved an increase in pay. There was informal interviews for the position and she got it. However a number of witches objected and went round the office with a petition to get the younger girl removed. I wouldn't sign the petition and didn't expect it to go anywhere. But it did and the cowardly bosses withdrew the acting offer from her and they brought someone from another department to fill the roll temporarily. I thought it was scandalous.

Was it a deli?

Wanderer2010

jonny24ie wrote: »

Thing is most the offenders were of a specific gender, when it was raised with bosses they just shrugged it off. Normally the bosses were good dealing with that kind of stuff.

If a woman can take the p!ss with clock ins and taking long breaks etc, then a man should be able to do the same. .But i agree with the previous poster- men arent expected to act like that and therefore get pulled up more than women on such things, makes my blood boil. You can spot a weak (usually male) manager a mile away when they stare at their feet if you complain about a female co workers behavior (gossip, timekeeping etc) but when a man is doing the same they are all guns blazing trying to throw their weight around, whats all that about???