Fired for being married.

[The Doctor.]

I just got off the phone with a friend of mine in the Buffalo area who was just fired because the employer found out that he and his wife both worked there. They had only worked there for one day... until the employer found out they were a married couple.

The excuse the employer gave was that 'if one calls in sick - they both do'.

The place is Medco in Buffalo.

Anyone else see bullshit here?

[FSogol]

1. My company...

has anti-nepotism rules. Once one of the engineers married a tech writer and one of them had to resign.

[The Doctor.]

5. They fired both of them.

Although I do understand there can be problems, I don't see why they had to let them both go.

[FSogol]

10. Yeah, that sounds like bs.

What type of company?

[The Doctor.]

15. They fill medical supply orders...

It's a phonebank.

Basically cubicles and operators.

[Solon]

18. True, however...

As far as I know, most of those rules apply to managment(salaried) relationships with hourly employees. In other words, you can't date the boss, or marry them, or be married to them. Neither can you be a relative of a boss, through marriage or blood. Usually employees do not really care if two hourly employees are dating or married, as long as one doesn't have the power to give a raise to said person, or fire them. As far as I know this applies to most companies, thought others may have more draconian rules.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

2. Well if it's true they both call in sick together...

Yeah, there's a good case that they're probably just playing hookie.

[salin]

29. they had only worked there for one day

the statement of absenses was the company's excuse to for their policy (ie they are making the presupposition that this would happen - but not based on any behavior of either of the couple.)

[WillowTree]

3. That's not all that uncommon.

I've worked several places where there were rules against spouses. Too many entanglements and employers just don't want to have to deal with that kind of thing.

[question everything]

12. Yes, I can see that one has to leave but both?

[spooky3]

22. co. may be worried about gender discrimination claims

if they fire the man but not the woman, or vice versa. So they take the CYA route of saying both must leave.

[beyurslf]

4. An upside for us gay couples is that we can't marry and those rules

don't apply to us :)

[The Doctor.]

7. LOL! always a silver lining eh? n/t

[beyurslf]

9. Gotta look on the upside.... Like my friend who quit his job to go to

school full time. He doesn't have to claim his partner's income which supports him fully because they are not married. He qualifies for grants to pay for all of school. Maybe it is cheating a little bit, but that is what theyget for being hateful bastards.

[The Doctor.]

11. He he he he... well isn't that an interesting angle?

"We must put a stop to homoseksuals abusing the system by living together! They must be compelled to register as partners, or encouraged to marry!" Rep. Mort Fundie, (R)-Redstate, Anymonth 2008.

They can either allow marriage or spend gawdawful amounts of money harassing roommates/housemates all over the country.

This could be fun to make an issue of.

[beyurslf]

21. Well, the 1 or 2 benefits of NOT being married are far outweighed by the

1200 or so benefits of being married.

[The Doctor.]

25. I wouldn't suggest they are, but...

If we bring the example of your friend's arrangement to the attention of the right fiscal conservatives, they might well lead the fight for gay marriage. It would amuse me to no end to see homophobic Rethugs fighting for gay marriage in order to curb the rising tide of 'Welfare Queers'.

Either that or watching them go on costly witch hunts and making fools of themselves.

[Tux]

6. Stupid rule

But not illegal. Working with a spouce is a bad idea anyways but hey, why limit a person's right to marry?

[mcscajun]

8. Well, they could have been fired for lying on their applications.

If the company has a policy against spouses working together, and this couple omitted or falsified their marital status on their employment applications, the lie is sufficient reason for dismissal.

[The Doctor.]

13. Check one of the following boxes;

<> married

<> single

<> married to another employee working for this company

[mcscajun]

17. Good one!

:)

[question everything]

14. Try to find out whether it is a violation of state or federal law

I would contact the Dept. of Labor in the State to ask for help. Perhaps start with the consumers aid - often part of the state DA office.

Also contact your state representative for assistance in who is the best dept to handle this.

As you said - it is understandable if one has to leave, but both?

[MissB]

16. Is it an at-will state?

Yeah, it is bullshit, but there may not be anything they can do.

[The Doctor.]

20. I believe New York is 'employment-at-will'.

So, yeah - they're S.O.L.

[bleedingheart]

19. It is not an unknown practice

I have heard of many companies having the same policy, but typically they just tell one of them to resign.

I married my hubby while we worked for the same company and the VP told me that technically one of us should not be there but since we worked in different departments he wasn't going to exercise that option.

I quit two years later and then they worried my hubby would follow. He did.

[Shell Beau]

23. ?

:wtf:

[kerry-is-my-prez]

24. Did it ask in the job application & was it in the employee handbook?

AND had the employee had a chance to read the handbook AND sign off on something saying that they read the handbook.

When I was in Human Resources - that's what we usually looked at.

Although - normally for the first three months/probationary period a employee can be fired for pretty much no reason. If someone lied on their application or to management - that could be grounds for termination.

[RandomKoolzip]

26. Most restaurants can fire you for any reason.

I don't know about any one else's line of work, but the food service places I've worked for can terminate you at any time, for any reason.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

28. restaurants are a different thing.

n/t

[Modem Butterfly]

27. Fairly common

Although immediate dismissal isn't usually the first remedy.

[Debbi801]

30. When I worked for MCI, this was the policy...

if two people who worked there decided to get married, one of them would have to quit the company. It may be that they fired both of them for not disclosing that they were married. :shrug:

Where I work now, the only rule is that one spouse cannot directly manage the other. We have a lot of married couples in my company.

Debbi

[The Doctor.]

31. And things work Ok there?

[Debbi801]

32. Surprisingly, yes....

You never see both the husband and wife calling out sick at the same time, you don't see them congregating at each other's desks, etc.

I would imagine it would be harder to schedule vacation time, but I could be wrong.