The Worker Thread

[GoCubsGo]

It's a bean-counter thing.

My question is, why can't the company just be like "Don't sweat it. Get well, and don't worry about not having PTO."

It's an HR (or maybe in some cases lawyer) thing. Companies hate to have to make decisions, judgement in gray areas and risk somebody claiming discrimination or favouritism. Depends, too, in some companies if the employees are exempt salaried or hourly. If they're hourly, the bean counters like to count the value of PTO as additional pay since no work was done.

If I were running the company, I'd be more adaptive.

Okay, that makes sense. Especially about the potential favoritism accusations.It's not as dystopian as I thought.

I actually got called about a lawsuit at my Chicago company about PTO two years or so after I moved to NC. One of my coworkers was out for an extended period with a hospital stay, exhausted his sick and vacation time (and I think the company might've actually helped him with a loan but had no knowledge of it).

Another guy in a different department claimed he hurt his back (not job related) and was suing because he thought the company covered the first guy but not him.

[O Really]

And they have to consider the FMLA, other paid/unpaid leave policies, state requirements (thought I don't think there are any in SC). Making individual and somewhat arbitrary decisions on who can get paid above and beyond the policy and who can't is a hornet's nest. The key is to develop good policies to start with.

[Vrede too]

Okay, that makes sense. Especially about the potential favoritism accusations.It's not as dystopian as I thought.

Requests for PTO donations were common at the hospital I worked at. I got the sense that it's usual in the corporate world. I worked "as needed" for the freedom it afforded. So, I had no PTO to give . . . or receive knock-on-wood.

[Vrede too]

Union boss who spoke at the RNC blasts Trump over Elon Musk interview
Sean O’Brien, who became the first Teamsters president ever to speak at the Republican convention, said Trump’s suggestion that striking workers ought to be fired is “economic terrorism.”

[Vrede too]

Satisfying Videos Of Highly Creative Workers Doing Their doing Their Job Perfectly | You Can't stop!

[Vrede too]

4 days after Arizona bank worker died, her body discovered in work cubicle

"Several workers in the building had smelled a foul odor but thought it was bad plumbing."



Where were:
Janitors?
Security?
Her supervisor?

[O Really]

Yeah, that's strange. I can see her checking in Friday and maybe everybody around her was off, working remotely, whatever, and maybe she typically worked late and she was still there when they left. Not finding her at least on Monday seems beyond reason, though. Wish they had said what her actual job was.

[Vrede too]

Yeah, that's strange. I can see her checking in Friday and maybe everybody around her was off, working remotely, whatever, and maybe she typically worked late and she was still there when they left. Not finding her at least on Monday seems beyond reason, though. Wish they had said what her actual job was.

Processing deadbeat loans

Yep, scanned in Friday, found on Tuesday.

[Vrede too]

Harris-Walz’s Campaign Slams Trump For Being MIA on Labor Day

... “Donald Trump is ditching workers on Labor Day because he is an anti-worker, anti-union extremist who will sell out working families for his billionaire donors if he takes power,” Harris campaign spokesperson Joseph Costello said in a statement. “Vice President Harris is the only candidate for president who stands firmly on the side of labor and working Americans, and she is fighting to build up the middle class by cutting taxes, lowering costs, and creating opportunity.”...

Ouch.

[Vrede too]

Meet one of America’s newest union leaders: Brooke Shields

president, Actors' Equity Association (stage actors)

Good for her, I've always liked Shields. I hope she and the union do well.

[Vrede too]

...

Have you seen this?

Trump Judge Sides With Employer Arguing Labor Board Is Unconstitutional
Labor advocates have described such cases as a major threat to workers' rights.

[O Really]

...

Have you seen this?

Trump Judge Sides With Employer Arguing Labor Board Is Unconstitutional
Labor advocates have described such cases as a major threat to workers' rights.

Yeah, ordinarily that would be just another right wing fart, but legally deficient, logically unsound cases have won occasionally in Trump's legal world, and who knows what the current crop of SC justices might make up next.

[Vrede too]

Yeah, ordinarily that would be just another right wing fart, but legally deficient, logically unsound cases have won occasionally in Trump's legal world, and who knows what the current crop of SC justices might make up next.

It's sad.

From fake labor "law" to fake "labor":

Some Supporters At Detroit MAGA Rally Were Frauds, Report Says
We've seen this kind of thing before, haven't we?

Many of the people who wore “Auto Workers for Trump” shirts at a Republican rally in Detroit on Tuesday were reportedly not autoworkers at all.

At the event, headlined by vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, more than a dozen attendees could be seen wearing the T-shirts. Some of them were stationed in a featured spot behind Vance as he spoke. However, six fessed up that while they did support Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, they were not actually autoworkers, The Detroit News reported....

A similar deception was perpetrated during Trump’s speech to autoworkers in September 2023. Some in the crowd were shills carrying signs like “Union Members for Trump” and “Auto Workers for Trump” when they were nothing of the sort.

The United Auto Workers union has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, for president.

[Vrede too]

Yet another whiny Dolt .45 lie exposed:

Data shows migrants aren’t taking jobs from Black or Hispanic people, despite what Trump says

Not that factual data matters Ignorant bigotry will win.

[Vrede too]

A Massachusetts pizza shop owner is sentenced to more than 8 years for forced labor and threats of deportation

The owner of two Boston-area pizza shops has been sentenced to more than eight years in prison for subjecting employees to years of violence and intimidation, according to prosecutors.

Stavros Papantoniadis was sentenced in federal court to 102 months in prison on Friday, along with one year of supervised release and a $35,000 fine, according to a news release from the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.

Papantoniadis coerced or attempted to force six victims — five men and one woman — into working under harsh conditions at his Stash’s Pizza locations, prosecutors said, as well as employing violent tactics and threats of deportation to ensure compliance with demands.

In June, he was convicted on three counts of forced labor and three counts of attempted forced labor.

CNN has reached out to Papantoniadis’ attorney for comment.

“Labor trafficking exploits the vulnerable through fear and intimidation, all in pursuit of the almighty buck,” said Acting US Attorney Joshua Levy in the news release. “That is what Stavros Papantoniadis did when he violated the rights of the people working in his restaurants.”

Locked him up. Of course, it's really the violence that sets this bad boss apart. Many (most?) undocumented workers have their rights violated and all of them fear deportation, whether the threats are tacit or overt.

Papantoniadis “exploited and abused his employees, denying them the basic dignity every person deserves,” Michael J. Krol, a Homeland Security Investigations special agent in charge, said in the release. “Today’s significant sentence sends a message to employers — employees deserve to work in safety, free from harassment and abuse.”

So, with its left hand DHS defends undocumented workers, while with its right hand (ICE) it harasses and abuses them, "denying them the basic dignity every person deserves". Weird.

[Vrede too]

Missouri Proposition A. Raises the minimum wage and requires paid sick leave.
Yes 57.6% 1,679,972
No 42.4% 1,238,633
AP estimate: 99% of votes in • Winner called: Nov. 6, 2024 at 2:18 a.m. ET.

GoMOGo

[Vrede too]

Arizona Proposition 138. Allows tipped workers to be paid 25% below minimum wage.
No 74.5% 1,734,082
Yes 25.5% 592,490
AP estimate: 68% of votes in • Winner called: Nov. 5, 2024 at 10:22 p.m. ET.

GoAZGo

[Vrede too]

Truck Driver Wins $34 Million After Walmart Falsely Accused Him Of Fraud And Fired Him While On Medical Leave
After an accident injured the driver, Walmart accused him of workers comp fraud and fired him.

Comments:

Good. Fuck Walmart.

Hard.

With a dry corn cob.

on the end of a rhino’s horn

A bit Trumpy of Walmart, don’t you think?

Walmart screws over their workers every single chance they get. Fuck em’.

They fired Jesus? Where are all the churches complaining and picketing, oh Mexican Jesus, that’s okay

Modern Christians would ABSOLUTELY crucify Jesus again if they got the chance.

The only Christians I know that actually try to live a Christlike life definitely didn’t vote for Cheetolini.

He would be so super liberal and brown they would despise him

Very very few supportive of Walmart or even neutral towards it.

[O Really]

WalMart has about 3 floors full of lawyers who mostly manage hundreds of outside lawyers they hire for various matters. Somebody should have known better than this, because they did pretty much everything wrong they could have. Even if you think a claim is fraudulent, the correct procedure is to temporarily deny benefits and give the claimant an opportunity to prove the validity of the claim. Looks to me like some transpo manager wanted to get rid of this guy and railroaded him, probably without giving the WalMart lawyers accurate or complete information. Then it was too late and they're in court in a losing cause but WalMart's general strategy is to not settle because they think they'll just attract more lawsuits if they do. Good for the court - WalMart will howl about the award, but then somebody will probably remind them that it's maybe 2/3 of the revenue of one store.