My Complaint.com » Jokes

Fired worker awarded damages

admin — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 19:46:36 +0000

Got a new boss? After many years of good performance ratings, are you suddenly receiving warning letters about your performance?

Are they telling you if things do not improve you may be disciplined or terminated?

Many people in this situation assume that if their employers write enough letters to them, they can let them go without a severance package.

That is rarely true.

If you’re not in a union, the employer can certainly let you go. They don’t need a good reason or any reason.

But unless you are being terminated for “just cause” you are going to be entitled to a severance package based on your age, seniority and level of responsibility.

What many people don’t understand is that, especially for long-serving employees, it is extremely, and I mean extremely difficult for an employer to establish just cause for the termination.

A severance package will have to be provided.

It is impossible in a few words to describe what just cause is and is not.

My first question to an employee who thinks that he may have been fired for just cause is “Did you kill somebody or steal something?” Nobody has yet told me that he killed anyone and the ones who are willing to admit they stole something don’t usually spend the money to talk to me.

I then tell them that while it would be an exaggeration to say that you had to kill somebody or steal something for there to be just cause, it is not much of an exaggeration.

In order for there to be just cause for the termination of your employment so that the employer can let you go without any kind of severance pay, the behaviour has to be very serious and wilful or extremely reckless.

Let’s take the case of a woman we will call Ashley. Ashley had worked at a factory in Stratford, Ont., for 14 years when she decided to ask for a transfer to a new department. The employer agreed to the transfer.

Ashley was working on three different machines in the new job that helped grind metal products the company made. Within a few weeks the company, which prides itself on its quality control, discovered that there had been a quality control issue with Ashley’s production.

Ashley admitted that she forgot to check a certain gauge that she was supposed to check. She received disciplinary warning No. 1.

Later that month it was discovered that there was another quality issue with parts produced by Ashley and another employee who worked the same machine on a different shift. They both received disciplinary warnings.

In the next month, the employer got a complaint from a client that one of 4,000 parts delivered did not meet specifications.

It was discovered after investigation that there were actually 825 out of more than 14,000 parts that were under or oversized. All of these parts were produced by either Ashley or two other employees. All three of them received a disciplinary warning.

Because this was Ashley’s third disciplinary warning she received a two-day suspension without pay.

Not long after she returned from her suspension, it was discovered that there were more problems with the parts created by her machine.

There were three people who worked on the machine on different shifts and they all received disciplinary notices including Ashley.

Unfortunately for Ashley this was her fourth disciplinary notice and the employee handbook said that if you received four disciplinary notices within 12 months you were out.

Ashley was fired and the employer, after her 14 years of service, refused to give her a severance package. Ashley sued and the matter went to trial. The employer claimed there was just cause for Ashley’s termination.

The judge noted that no consideration was given to providing Ashley with extra training on the machine she was using. She had obviously been a very satisfactory employee for 14 years and if she was suddenly having problems it was not likely because she wasn’t trying.

The judge also noted that no consideration was given to transferring Ashley back to her old machine that she worked well on.

The judge noted that when dealing with long-service employees, the misconduct must be more serious in order to justify a dismissal for cause (without pay in lieu of notice).

The judge wrote, “A fair and reasonable employer should be expected to investigate the cause of the problem and to attempt to assist the employee to improve her performance rather than marching inexorably and resolutely towards dismissal.”

Ashley was awarded 10 months lost wages plus legal costs.

In Ashley’s case, the employer was very organized and regimented.

It did lots of paperwork and wrote lots of memos.

Just because the file is thick does not mean the piper doesn’t have to be paid.

Bosses

admin — Sat, 24 May 2008 02:15:38 +0000

Bosses seem to be depicted as a having many different faults and flaws in movies and film.
One flaw i hate most is that bosses and authority figures tend to think they know everything, and they even think they know every little detail about your life. Also, they don’t care what is goingon in your personal life.

Once again

admin — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 00:52:55 +0000

Okay so I guess your sister is part of you, genetics stuff like that. I for one think that that’s where the similarities stop, my sister and I NEVER get along…okay well we do have our moments but their not long enough to out number the fights, arguments, and punches. I guess I should be patient, whatever there comes a point you have to count to ten before really trying to be calm around her, I mean COME ON please grow up, k thanks. My parents think I hate her or whatever and I know I don’t, but she does annoy the hell out of me, and I will never hide that, why should I? the worst thing is my mom treats her like the little angel that she’s not. I don’t know when the day is going to come when we’ll go through a whole day without fighting. Even when I felt like I was dying when I had the worst case of chicken pox she found a way to annoy me and I found a way to scream at her, the worst part? my mom thought she was being so adorable staying with me in my room in my moments of pain. Its funny, she’s a smart girl she has my parents(especially my mom) right where she wants them, but I’m the bad person and she’s the victim. boo-hoo.I can’t wait until she grows out of the whole let’s-annoy-my-sister-until-she-cracks stage.

Complains about us?

admin — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 05:05:28 +0000

Type your complaint in here:

Complaints collection 1

admin — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 04:54:14 +0000

The following are real extracts from actual complaint letters sent to various councils and housing associations

1. "I want some repairs done to my cooker as it has backfired and burnt my knob off."
2. "I wish to complain that my father hurt his ankle very badly when he put his foot in the hole in his back passage, and their 18 year old son is continually banging his balls against my fence."
3. "I wish to report that tiles are missing from the outside toilet roof. I think it was bad wind the other night that blew them off."
4. "My lavatory seat is cracked, where do I stand."
5. "I am writing on behalf of my sink, which is coming away from the wall."
"6. Will you please send someone to mend the garden path. My wife tripped and fell on it yesterday and now she is pregnant. We are getting married in September and we would like it in the garden before we move into the house."
7. "I request permission to remove my drawers in the kitchen."
8. "50% of the walls are damp, 50% have crumbling plaster and the rest are plain filthy."
9. "I am still having problems with smoke in my new drawers."
10. "The toilet is blocked and we cannot bath the children until it is cleared."
11. "Will you please send a man to look at my water, it is a funny colour and not fit to drink."
12. "Our lavatory seat is broken in half and is now in three pieces."
13. "Would you please send a man to repair my spout. I am an old age pensioner and need it badly."
14. "I want to complain about the farmer across the road; every morning at 6am his cock wakes me up, and its now getting too much for me."
15. "The man next door has a large erection in the back garden, which is unsightly and dangerous."
16. "Our kitchen floor is damp. We have two children and would like a third so please send someone round to do something about it."
17. "I am a single woman living in a downstairs flat and would you please do something about the noise made by the man I have on top of me every night."
18. "Please send a man with the right tool to finish the job and satisfy my wife."
19. "I have had the clerk of the works down on the floor six times but I still have no satisfaction."
20. "This is to let you know that our lavatory seat is broken and we can’t get BBC2."
21. "My bush is really overgrown round the front and my back passage has fungus growing in it,…"
22. "… and he’s got this huge tool that vibrates the whole house and I just can’t take it anymore."
23. "… that is his excuse for dogs mess that I find hard to swallow."

Noah’s Ark

admin — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 04:32:04 +0000

The Lord spoke to Noah and said, “In six months I am going to make it rain until the whole world is covered with water and all the evil things are destroyed. But, I want to save a few good people and two of every living thing on the planet. I am ordering you to build an ark.” And, in a flash of lightning, he delivered the specifications for the ark. “OK,” Noah said, trembling with fear and fumbling with the blueprints, “I’m your man.”

Six months passed, the sky began to cloud up, and the rain began to fall in torrents. The Lord looked down and saw Noah sitting in his yard, weeping, and there was no ark.

“Noah!” shouted the Lord, “Where is My ark?” A lightning bolt crashed into the ground right beside Noah.

“Lord, please forgive me!” begged Noah. “I did my best, but there were some big problems. First, I had to get a building permit for the ark’s construction, but Your plans did not meet their code. So, I had to hire an engineer to redo the plans, only to get into a long argument with him about whether to include a sprinkler system.

“My neighbors objected, claiming that I was violating zoning ordinances by building the ark in my front yard, so I had to get a variance from the city planning board.

Then, I had a big problem getting enough wood for the ark, because there was a ban on cutting trees to save the spotted owl. I tried to convince the environmentalists and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that I needed the wood to save the owls, but they wouldn’t let me catch them, so no owls.

“Next, I started gathering up the animals but got sued by an animal rights group that objected to me taking along only two of each kind.

“Just when the suit got dismissed, the EPA notified me that I couldn’t complete the ark without filling out an environmental impact statement on Your proposed flood. They didn’t take kindly to the idea that they had no jurisdiction over the Supreme Being. Then, the Corps of Engineers wanted a map of the proposed flood plan. I sent them a globe!

“Right now, I’m still trying to resolve a complaint with the Equal Opportunities Commission over how many minorities I’m supposed to hire. The IRS has seized all my assets claiming that I am trying to leave the country, and I just got a notice from the state that I owe some kind of use tax. Really, I don’t think I can finish the ark in less than five years.”

With that, the sky cleared, the sun began to shine, and a rainbow arched across the sky. Noah looked up and smiled. “You mean you are not going to destroy the world?” he asked hopefully.

“No,” said the Lord. “The government already has.”

The Elephant, the Jiraffe and the hen

admin — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 04:27:15 +0000

It seems that God received a delegation of animals complaining of their lot. They were an elephant, a giraffe, and a hen.

The elephant complained, “Lord, I HATE THIS TRUNK YOU have given me. It gets in the way, and makes me look like a fool!”

The Lord said, “Don’t complain. It lets you pick up food, drink water, etc. without getting wet!”

Next the giraffe complained, “Lord, I HATE THIS LONG NECK! It makes me top heavy, I get terrible neck pains, and people laugh at me!”

The Lord said, “Don’t complain. It lets you pick the best fruit and leaves from the high branches, and allows you to see a distance.”

The hen spoke up, “Lord, I don’t want to complain, but either let me have a bigger hole or smaller eggs.”

British Complaint Letter

admin — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 21:54:09 +0000

This is a supposed "real" letter of complaint to NTL that has been doing the rounds on the internet for a few years now.

Dear Cretins, I have been an NTL customer since 9th July 2001, when I signed up for your four-in-one deal for cable TV, cable modem, telephone, and alarm monitoring. During this three-month period I have encountered inadequacy of service which I had not previously considered possible, as well as ignorance and stupidity of monolithic proportions. Please allow me to provide specific details, so that you can either pursue your professional prerogative and seek to rectify these difficulties — or more likely (I suspect) so that you can have some entertaining reading material as you while away the working day smoking, and drinking vendor-coffee on the bog in your office. My initial installation was cancelled without warning, resulting in my spending an entire Saturday sitting on my arse waiting for your technician to arrive. When he did not arrive, I spent a further 57 minutes listening to your infuriating hold music, and the even more annoying Scottish robot woman telling me to look at your helpful website. HOW? I alleviated the boredom by playing with my testicles for a few minutes — an activity at which you are no doubt both familiar and highly adept. The rescheduled installation then took place some two weeks later, although the technician did forget to bring a number of vital tools — such as a drill-bit, and his cerebrum. Two weeks later, my cable modem had still not arrived. After 15 telephone calls over four weeks my modem arrived, six weeks after I had requested, and begun to pay for it. I estimate your internet server's downtime is roughly 35% — the hours between about 6pm and midnight, Monday through Friday, and most of the weekend. I am still waiting for my telephone connection. I have made nine calls on my mobile to your no-help line, and have been unhelpfully transferred to a variety of disinterested individuals who are, it seems, also highly skilled bollock jugglers. I have been informed that a telephone line is available (and someone will call me back); that I will be transferred to someone who knows whether or not a telephone line is available (and then been cut off); that I will be transferred to someone (and then been redirected to an answering machine informing me that your office is closed); that I will be transferred to someone and then been redirected to the irritating Scottish robot woman, and several other variations on this theme. Doubtless you are no longer reading this letter, as you have at least a thousand other dissatisfied customers to ignore, and also another one of those crucially important testicle moments to attend to. Frankly I don't care. It's far more satisfying as a customer to voice my frustrations in print than to shout them at your unending hold music. Forgive me, therefore, if I continue. I truly thought British Telecom was crap, and they had attained the holy piss-pot of god-awful customer relations; and that no one, anywhere, ever, could be more disinterested, less helpful or more obstructive to delivering service to their customers. That's why I chose NTL, and because, well, there isn't anyone else is there? How surprised I therefore was, when I discovered to my considerable dissatisfaction and disappointment what a useless shower of bastards you truly are. You are sputum-filled pieces of distended rectum incompetents of the highest order. BT — wankers though they are — shine like brilliant beacons of success in the filthy mire of your seemingly limitless inadequacy. Suffice to say that I have now given up on my futile and foolhardy quest to receive any kind of service from you. I suggest that you cease any potential future attempts to extort payment from me for the services which you have so pointedly and catastrophically failed to deliver. Any such activity will be greeted initially with hilarity and disbelief and will quickly be replaced by derision, and even perhaps bemused rage. I enclose two small deposits, selected with great care from my cat's litter tray, as an expression of my utter and complete contempt for both you and your pointless company. I sincerely hope that they have not become desiccated during transit — they were satisfyingly moist at the time of posting, and I would feel considerable disappointment if you did not experience both their rich aroma and delicate texture. Consider them the very embodiment of my feelings towards NTL, and its worthless employees. Have a nice day. May it be the last in your miserable short lives, you irritatingly incompetent and infuriatingly unhelpful bunch of twats.

Read on Feedback and suggestion boxes

admin — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 21:51:58 +0000

Forest Service Feedback

“Escalators would help on steep uphill sections.”
“A small deer came into my camp and stole my bag of pickles. Is there a way I can get reimbursed? Please call.”
“Instead of a permit system or regulations, the Forest Service needs to reduce worldwide population growth to limit the number of visitors to wilderness.”
“Trails need to be wider so people can walk while holding hands.”
“Ban walking sticks in wilderness. Hikers that use walking sticks are more likely to chase animals.”
“Trails need to be reconstructed. Please avoid building trails that go uphill.”
“Too many bugs and leeches and spiders and spider webs. Please spray the wilderness to rid the area of these pests.”
“Chairlifts need to be in some places so that we can get to wonderful views without having to hike to them.”
“The coyotes made too much noise last night and kept me awake. Please eradicate these annoying animals.”
“Reflectors need to be placed on trees every 50 feet so people can hike at night with flashlights.”
“A McDonald’s would be nice at the trailhead.”
“The places where trails do not exist are not well marked.”
“Too many rocks in the mountains.”

What did you say???

admin — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 19:51:09 +0000

Extracted from real complaints:

“…It’s the dogs mess that I find hard to swallow”.
“My bush is really overgrown round the front and my back passage has fungus growing in it….”
“…He’s got this huge tool that vibrates the whole house and I just can’t take it anymore.”
I want some repairs done to my cooker as it has backfired and burnt my knob off…”
“I wish to complain that my father hurt his ankle very badly when he put his foot in the hole in his back passage…”
“…. and their 18-year-old son is continually banging his balls against my fence.”
“I wish to report that tiles are missing from the outside toilet roof.I think it was the bad wind the other night that blew them off…”
“My lavatory seat is cracked, where do I stand?”
“I am writing on behalf of my sink, which is coming away from the wall.”
“Will you please send someone to mend the garden path. My wife tripped and fell on it yesterday, and she is now pregnant.”
“I request permission to remove my drawers in the kitchen, 50% of the walls are damp, 50% have crumbling plaster, and 50% are plain filthy…”
“…I am still having problems with smoke in my new drawers.”
“The toilet is blocked and we cannot bath the children until it is cleared.”
“…Will you please send a man to look at my water.It is a funny colour and not fit to drink.”
“Our lavatory seat is broken in half and is now in three pieces.”
“I want to complain about the farm across the road; every morning at 6am his cock wakes me up, and its getting too much for me.”
“The man next door has a large erection in the back garden which is unsightly and dangerous.”
“Our kitchen floor is damp.We have two children and would like a third, so please send someone round to do something about it.”
“I am a single woman living in a downstairs flat, and would you please do something about the noise made by the man on top of me every night.”
“Please send a man with the right tool to finish the job and satisfy my wife.”
“I have had the Clerk of works down on the floor six times, but I still have no satisfaction.”
“…This is to let you know that our lavatory seat is broken and we can’t get BBC2″
“In accordance with your instructions, I have given birth to twins in the enclosed envelope.”
“This is to let you know that there is a smell coming from the man next door.”
“Can you please tell me when our repairs are going to be done as my wife is about to become an expectant mother.”