Woman Says Disney Fired Her After Taking Time To Grieve Husband's Death

[DisneySaint]

But, let's be realistic. The $300 is probably take home. If so, it's closer to $400/wk paycheck before taxes/benefits/ins/etc. That's about $10/hr for custodial for 40 hours per week. That does not seem outside the norm.

Custodial workers start out at at $7/hr at Disney with a very small percentile raise every year.

 

[Eyorefan]

I agree with you, but Disney told her to take as long as she needed...seems to me the real issue is that there was no deadline established prior to this situation. "Taking as long as you need" is just too ambiguous.

Either way, firing her the day she returns seems pretty tactless. Bad form.

I don't know, there are two sides to every story. I feel for her lose.

I work in labor and employment law and have seen situations stories like this. Break down in communication leads to a person losing their job. Just note, if you are ever gone from your job for any reason for a good period of time, its smart to always keep in touch with the office.

 

[llrain]

I cant put a dollar figure really.. For me personally it would mean a dollar amount that i could live down there without robbing peter to pay paul....
I havent really given it thought because it would probably be more that what Disney would ever pay someone which really stinks because alot of us with the talent are dying to get down there at one point in our lives...

Fair enough...

So, what do you think would be the pay necessary for you to make that move?

 

[jakeman]

I don't know, there are two sides to every story. I feel for her lose.

I work in labor and employment law and have seen situations stories like this. Break down in communication leads to a person losing their job. Just note, if you are ever gone from your job for any reason for a good period of time, its smart to always keep in touch with the office.

...amd make sure what ever arrangement is made is documented clearly in writing!

 

[The Mom]

I don't know, there are two sides to every story. I feel for her lose.

I work in labor and employment law and have seen situations stories like this. Break down in communication leads to a person losing their job. Just note, if you are ever gone from your job for any reason for a good period of time, its smart to always keep in touch with the office.

We're only hearing one side.

She said "Disney" told her to take as much time as she needed. Who, exactly, is "Disney?" Did whoever said this really have the authority to do so, or was it her direct supervisor, who might not have had permission?

So that's the first question.

Then, what is their usual policy? I'm sure she is not the first to lose a spouse, so there must be some precedent. Just as not all people are ready to go back to work following surgery, not all people recover from grief in the same amount of time. But there has to be some standard, or they could have people still recovering a year later, or be like my grandmother, who still broke down when thinking of my grandfather decades after his death.

I know when my husband was moving to another country to do a fellowship, I applied for a 6 month leave of absence, which was the maximum amount of time that they would keep your position open. (Unless you were drafted or called up for military service) I know that many employees applied for this after the death of a spouse or child, then shortened it if they felt better sooner.

Does WDW have a similar policy? :shrug: It doesn't appear so, but I don't know.

I also don't know her cultural background. Some cultures expect you to keep everything inside, and feel that you should suck it up and just get back to "normal" ASAP, while others would be horrified if you weren't expressing outward expressions of grief for weeks or months afterward. I myself went on with a big celebration a week after my mother's death, and knew someone who held their wedding as planned two weeks after their father's unexpected death. (he was younger than I at the time)

 

[uklad79]

This sound's nice an awful thing to happen to the poor woman. It seems that it was most likely a breakdown in communications and a HR dept. that didn't bother to fully look into the case and just issued an order to get rid of her. $300 a week is awful! What amount of holiday did she take off? I was chatting to Taxi driver for Mears who said the company only give 2 weeks paid holiday a year!(no wonder the Americans plan Disney trips like military operations with so little time for fun) Is Disney this bad? In the UK most places give 5 days for grieving and allow you to take your paid holidays too which is usually a minimum of 25 days plus unpaid leave if you need it.

 

[DMC-12]

Where's the Pixie dust here Disney ???

Not in her paycheck, apparently.

 

[TubaGeek]

I just don't know how CMs manage to make a living on that pay. I've seriously considered moving down there and working as a CM, but ultimately decided that that would basically be suicide. Right now I'm making 138% of what I think would at WDW in a town that has only 85% the cost of living. It just wouldn't be responsible.

Though it's still just so darn tempting...

 

[llrain]

thats exactly how I feel too Tubageek.
Its been my dream since i was a kid to work in one of the resorts..I can still feel the dream and want to but its suicide...
I know they say always follow your dreams and do what you want to get out
of life ..but i cant commit suicide like that...

Often times when we chit chat with cast memebers, mostly the boat drivers
because they have the time...they basically all say the same thing though...
ya the pay isnt that great but i love living down here...I have yet to ask them how do they survive but hold back because i dont want to get too personal with them....

I just don't know how CMs manage to make a living on that pay. I've seriously considered moving down there and working as a CM, but ultimately decided that that would basically be suicide. Right now I'm making 138% of what I think would at WDW in a town that has only 85% the cost of living. It just wouldn't be responsible.

Though it's still just so darn tempting...

 

[Mercy]

I was chatting to Taxi driver for Mears who said the company only give 2 weeks paid holiday a year!(no wonder the Americans plan Disney trips like military operations with so little time for fun) Is Disney this bad?

From what I've experienced, a lot of US companies start out with 1 week vacation after 1 year, 2 weeks vacation after 3 years tenure and 3 weeks vacation after 8 years tenure. The 3 day grief period seems to be the standard. Disney isn't any different from any other company, in that respect, but it's still a drag, in general.

The tally of the grief period in the article was 5 weeks, but the article also claimed she took all her 3 days grief, all her vacation time plus 30 days.

The 30 days, alone, would be 6 weeks.

 

[JustPlainBill]

I wouldn't take what anyone says until I heard both side of the story. I had an employee once ask for a leave due to pregnancy. She never came back to work, never provided any sort of confirmation of her condition or medical restrictions and she sued my company for firing her after being absent for three months. Turns out she was never even pregnant to begin with.
I don't know Disney but I know most manufacturing companies wouldn't have given this woman more than her bereavement and vacation. At the most a 30 day personal leave would be granted, anything more then your asking a company to set a precident for all it's workers that it would have to honor, there has to be a line drawn somewhere.

 

[phenom1307]

I don't know. I would think that if Disney paid its cast members well, there would be more incentive for those cast members to "work their magic" and enhance the Disney theme park experience.

why would they pay more when there are already CMs that do that for what they make now?

 

[Eyorefan]

We're only hearing one side.

She said "Disney" told her to take as much time as she needed. Who, exactly, is "Disney?" Did whoever said this really have the authority to do so, or was it her direct supervisor, who might not have had permission?

So that's the first question.

Then, what is their usual policy? I'm sure she is not the first to lose a spouse, so there must be some precedent. Just as not all people are ready to go back to work following surgery, not all people recover from grief in the same amount of time. But there has to be some standard, or they could have people still recovering a year later, or be like my grandmother, who still broke down when thinking of my grandfather decades after his death.

I know when my husband was moving to another country to do a fellowship, I applied for a 6 month leave of absence, which was the maximum amount of time that they would keep your position open. (Unless you were drafted or called up for military service) I know that many employees applied for this after the death of a spouse or child, then shortened it if they felt better sooner.

Does WDW have a similar policy? :shrug: It doesn't appear so, but I don't know.

I also don't know her cultural background. Some cultures expect you to keep everything inside, and feel that you should suck it up and just get back to "normal" ASAP, while others would be horrified if you weren't expressing outward expressions of grief for weeks or months afterward. I myself went on with a big celebration a week after my mother's death, and knew someone who held their wedding as planned two weeks after their father's unexpected death. (he was younger than I at the time)

I agree with what you are saying. I think there was communication break down/misunderstanding of expectations on both sides of this.

Like I said, we don't have both sides of this story, but I would guess that her manager said "take all the time you need", Meaning, "take the 3 grief days and let me know if you want to use some of your vacation time." But the employee heard, "take all the time you need."

If she really just didn't show up or communicate with them for 30 days they had ever right to fire her. Its probably more complicated than that though.

 

[mkt]

Sadly us CMs do not get paid a lot. I chock it up to the fact Disney keeps it low on purpose, that way the people who work there do it because they want to, not because it pays well. Be kind to your CMs, I often work 70+ hours a week but because I love it...

The Disney Truth.

Nope. They do it because they can. Simple as that. Why pay more if people will work for less? That's how they see it.
Nevermind the simple logic that if they paid more they would get and keep a better level of CM. They seem to overlook that.

The Real Truth.

Where's the Pixie dust here Disney ???

There isn't any. The Pixie Dust is a facade for the fact that in the core, they're just another evil company

 

[Eyorefan]

What amount of holiday did she take off? I was chatting to Taxi driver for Mears who said the company only give 2 weeks paid holiday a year!(no wonder the Americans plan Disney trips like military operations with so little time for fun) Is Disney this bad? In the UK most places give 5 days for grieving and allow you to take your paid holidays too which is usually a minimum of 25 days plus unpaid leave if you need it.

It depends on who you are, but 2 weeks with 3 days for grieving is pretty standard in the US. I know to get 3 weeks vacation I had to work at the same place for 5 years, after 10 years I'll get 4! Oh and I get 1 day if someone in my family dies, for the rest I have to use vacation, or personal time.

 

[The Mom]

The story says that she came back to work after two weeks, but couldn't make it through her shift because she "broke down." According to the story, that was when she was told by "Disney?" to take as much time as she needed...her words.

The question is, who was "Disney" and did he/she have the authority to actually say it without checking with someone higher up. I realize I repeated this, but it is essential to the whole story.

When I took my leave, my supervisor did not have the authority to keep my position open; she had to go through someone higher up the chain. If I just needed a couple of days off to attend a funeral, she had that authority.

Again, it appears to be a communication breakdown, with a lot of information missing, especially about that "break down" on her first attempt back. Do we know what happened on both that, and her second attempt back, and whether that had something to do with her being fired?

People can react very irrationally when grief stricken.

 

[wannab@dis]

they're just another evil company

Bravo! Marx would be proud. :brick:

Now, let's be realistic. Disney employs more than 50,000 people.... they annually give tens of MILLIONS to local charities... they directly contribute about a BILLION dollars of tax income to central Florida through the payment of their local taxes and the payment of sales taxes by guests.

Yeah, that evil, evil corporation. Get rid of them.

 

[Disney05]

Where I work, we have to use sick days for funerals!

 

[TOTGuy]

Bravo! Marx would be proud. :brick:

Now, let's be realistic. Disney employs more than 50,000 people.... they annually give tens of MILLIONS to local charities... they directly contribute about a BILLION dollars of tax income to central Florida through the payment of their local taxes and the payment of sales taxes by guests.

Yeah, that evil, evil corporation. Get rid of them.

LOL I agree.
Plus my managers beat me for not smiling. That's the Disney way. JKJK!
Disney is NOT and evil company, and I am saying that from the inside. Yes I don't always agree with the way things are done but you have to remember that in the end it is a COMPANY. If wages were increased prices would be increased. Then people would complain that Disney is robbing them blind. Unfortunately Disney has to do one or the other, and since the guests are what keeps the company in business they have to appease them. When I am in charge things are going to change. But I don't ever regret taking a $2/hour pay cut to work for Disney. If you enjoy your job, that's much more satisfying than being rich and miserable in your job.
Just my opinion...

 

[Chape19714]

Well, my Grandmother told me "Work at a job you love, money doesn't matter. If you love your job, the money will come later."

My 1st job was with a city government, making less than Disney pay, and with far fewer hours. As a Student, I'm thrilled I can work almost any hour I'm not in classes, as much or as little as I'd like.