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

[JennyTablina]

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

One questions what your doing on a Disney forum if you think they are just an evil company?

Regardless I can understand your feelings for Disney considering how they treated you for Tapestry of Nations. But no company is "evil" , it's sort of the same way people claim Wal-Mart, Microsoft, Apple ect. is "evil". When your a big company theres anyways gonna be a certain amount of Skeletons in the closet.

I always thought the low CM pay was more a deteerent to keep any ol joe just applying, instead making it more likely to get people that really want to do the job. Though I wouldnt be surprised if it is a cost cutting process as well.

You just have to be a little realistic if you think about working for the mouse, they are as infallable as any other company IMO. As long as thats beared in mind you can still get the ol Pixie dust

 

[The Mom]

BTW, I have heard some horror stories about the way WDW treats employees, but I have also heard some examples of them going out of their way for them, too.

As with people, it's very rare to find someone who is all good or all bad. (But I did have an aunt who must have kept any skeletons well hidden, as I never heard a bad word said about her, nor did I ever hear her say anything bad about anyone, nor did she ever lose her temper. :lol: Even when she had to take care of her crotchety FIL in her home until he died because no one else could stand him.)

 

[FootballFigment]

LOL I agree.
If you enjoy your job, that's much more satisfying than being rich and miserable in your job.
Just my opinion...

I am going to be taking a job roofing and trust me i do not like roofing. I will, however, make a lot more money then I would at a job like Disney (which I would love to do) and this will provide money for my future wife and kids, retirement, toys, house, etc. I am all for those who love their job even with little pay but money is a necessity in todays society and a job that provides good pay maight make life a little easier. Now being a Disney Exec. well there is a job for me

 

[JustPlainBill]

Some people will never understand what it is to manage a company, department or people in general. It's funny as I look back when I was promoted off the line to my first supervisory position, I was so green. I trusted everybody and thought as long as I kept my workers happy and protect them they would do their jobs and maybe a little extra. There were those exceptional few that appreciated what I was doing for them but there were a lot more that tried to take advantage of me to get even more and use my kindness against me. I was burned more than once, but soon I realized how very important it was to follow the rule book to the letter. You can treat workers as individuals only to a point. I've been to court myself numerous times over people I've terminated, I've been through the wringer. It is amazing how much effort and money is put forth to protect workers that don't work. Supervisors have bosses too and they gripe about unfairness like the rest. There's no job out there that is going to take care of you cradle to grave. Even the best workers lose their jobs for reasons beyond their control, it's not fair but it is what it is. I can suppose the workers in China don't get bereavement, and that's where my last job went to.

 

[uklad79]

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.

Wow now I see why so many people are tense and angry at Disney and why American company's are reporting such huge profits at the expense of workers. If this is the American dream I think I will stick to 4 weeks of visits every year. Someone else said they worked 70 hours a week! It seems people are being worked to death, where is the time to live?
I can now see why people like Fastpass, Dining Plans, and other such planning tools. After working so much people just can not relax and be carefree and fun and want to pack as much into a small time frame as possible instead of trying to just relax.
I feel so lazy with my 37 hour working week and 40 days off a year (Including national holidays that can be taken when I want). :lookaroun

 

[Kamikaze]

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.

Would you be willing to pay that cost in your tickets? Say, $20 more a day?

Most people aren't.

 

[uklad79]

Would you be willing to pay that cost in your tickets? Say, $20 more a day?

Most people aren't.

There should be no need to add $20 to a ticket CM's are low wages because Disney became greedy and only shared the wealth with the Shareholders and Execs who have been living the dream while the magic makers live in borderline poverty by the sounds of things. If Disney had kept wage increases at a decent percentage while it was increasing ticket prices and all other prices since the 80's then CM's would be on a livable wage.

 

[Eyorefan]

Wow now I see why so many people are tense and angry at Disney and why American company's are reporting such huge profits at the expense of workers. If this is the American dream I think I will stick to 4 weeks of visits every year. Someone else said they worked 70 hours a week! It seems people are being worked to death, where is the time to live?
I can now see why people like Fastpass, Dining Plans, and other such planning tools. After working so much people just can not relax and be carefree and fun and want to pack as much into a small time frame as possible instead of trying to just relax.
I feel so lazy with my 37 hour working week and 40 days off a year (Including national holidays that can be taken when I want). :lookaroun

40 days off a year??? I want to move to the UK!

 

[uklad79]

40 days off a year??? I want to move to the UK!

That's including Public Holidays. I used to work in the Civil Service and it was even better as we had 6 days flextime we could build up to take on top of holidays! I usually could work 3 months off a year with playing around with my Flexitime. Oh happy days! Don't forget our free healthcare too But I think we do pay higher taxes 20-40% income and 17.5VAT (like sales tax)

 

[TravisMT81]

There is so much more to this story but the Slantinel never gets both sides. You do get 5 days of paid bereavment. And if approved you can take up to a 30 day personal leave.

You also receive 3 weeks of vacation(after 5 years of service), 4 Personal Holidays, and 48 hours of sick pay a year. Not to shabby in my book.

 

[uklad79]

There is so much more to this story but the Slantinel never gets both sides. We do get 5 days of paid bereavment. And if approved you can take up to a 30 day personal leave.

You also received 3 weeks of vacation, 4 Personal Holidays, and 48 hours of sick pay a year. Not to shabby in my book.

That sounds a bit better 5 days off should be the standard. Does everyone get 3 weeks? I take it thats 15 working days?
It sounds like this woman took the 30 days and this must have OKed with someone or surely they would have been on the phone asking where she was for her shift? If she was off they would have arranged cover etc and no one does that without checking where the member of staff is first. It seems there is some useless management in her dept that should have been fired instead.

 

[TravisMT81]

3 weeks is after 5 years. And the 30 days can be a personal nonpaid leave if you have no vacation available to you.

 

[jakeman]

There should be no need to add $20 to a ticket CM's are low wages because Disney became greedy and only shared the wealth with the Shareholders and Execs who have been living the dream while the magic makers live in borderline poverty by the sounds of things. If Disney had kept wage increases at a decent percentage while it was increasing ticket prices and all other prices since the 80's then CM's would be on a livable wage.

:ROFLOL::ROFLOL:

I'm a shareholder (one baby!). I don't even cash my $0.32 check every year.

I think one thing that is missing from the equation here are the benefits you get from working at Disney. I'm not knowledgable about most of them, but I do know last time I looked Disney covers most infertility treatments and most adoption expenses. These can total into the tens of thousands of dollars by themselves and I actually know of people that will get a job at Disney just for that benefit alone

This is the only one I can think of off the top of my head, but I'm sure there is others that we are not aware of.

I'm also not speaking of discouts that put money back into Disney (free admission, cruise discounts, etc.) but the actual cost of benefits.

An employees cost to their employer is not just base wages.

You also have to remember that a bulk (not all) of these jobs are entry level positions that requires little to no advanced training.

 

[mkt]

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.

Obviously you didn't see the smiley at the end of my post :hammer: I was being S A R C A S T I C

One questions what your doing on a Disney forum if you think they are just an evil company?

Regardless I can understand your feelings for Disney considering how they treated you for Tapestry of Nations. But no company is "evil" , it's sort of the same way people claim Wal-Mart, Microsoft, Apple ect. is "evil". When your a big company theres anyways gonna be a certain amount of Skeletons in the closet.

I always thought the low CM pay was more a deteerent to keep any ol joe just applying, instead making it more likely to get people that really want to do the job. Though I wouldnt be surprised if it is a cost cutting process as well.

You just have to be a little realistic if you think about working for the mouse, they are as infallable as any other company IMO. As long as thats beared in mind you can still get the ol Pixie dust

:brick: Please read above this quote

Oh Rob you know you are going to get blasted for this one...That's why I have been keeping my mouth shout in this thread.

Because I have no ties to the mouse, I'm going to tell it like it is, and if my sarcasm goes unnoticed, then those replying perhaps need to widen their perception :goodnevil

 

[Kamikaze]

There should be no need to add $20 to a ticket CM's are low wages because Disney became greedy and only shared the wealth with the Shareholders and Execs who have been living the dream while the magic makers live in borderline poverty by the sounds of things. If Disney had kept wage increases at a decent percentage while it was increasing ticket prices and all other prices since the 80's then CM's would be on a livable wage.

So thats a no.

 

[wannab@dis]

Obviously you didn't see the smiley at the end of my post :hammer: I was being S A R C A S T I C



:brick: Please read above this quote



Because I have no ties to the mouse, I'm going to tell it like it is, and if my sarcasm goes unnoticed, then those replying perhaps need to widen their perception :goodnevil

Nah, given your past posting history, signature lines, and the content of your post (sans smiley)... I doubt sarcasm was the original intent. If so, my apologies.

 

[mrerk]

:ROFLOL::ROFLOL:

I'm a shareholder (one baby!). I don't even cash my $0.32 check every year.

You should check out the Dividend Reinvestment Program. Instead of sending you a check which you aren't going to cash they purchase you a fraction of a share with your dividend. This also saves the company the cost of printing, mailing and carrying that $0.32 uncashed check on the books. Maybe in a hundred years you will have 2 shares!

 

[Wilt Dasney]

I see a lot of people saying that Disney would have to raise prices to raise wages. I think the truth is more like they WOULD raise prices in that case, but to protect their profit margins, not out of necessity. The company rakes in enough already to afford to pay their workers more if they wanted to. It's a matter of priorities.

 

[mkt]

Nah, given your past posting history, signature lines, and the content of your post (sans smiley)... I doubt sarcasm was the original intent. If so, my apologies.

Factor in the years of change in my life

Evil company, yeah, that was sarcastic. Yes, I'm extremely liberal, potentially socialist :lol: (smiley aside, I am a fan of Karl Marx's works, so that won't work as an insult to me), but I have been on both sides of the token since my history with Disney before realizing I'm more succesful as my own boss.

The rest my post was deadpan serious however.

The pixie dust is there for the guests. Any pixie dust with the cast belongs to the individual CM and is not there because of the company.

 

[Douglas Bray]

I live in Vancouver British Columbia, Canada, when my Grandmother past away a few years ago I received 5 days of paid leave. I know that if my wife where to pass away I would get a number of weeks at least from my company not just three days.

I never thought that my pay was all that high and I take home $1300.00 every two weeks, and so does my wife. If this women was only getting $1200.00 every four weeks Disney needs to give out some seroius raises to it's staff. In all of my trips I never encountered a single rude or unprofessional cast member. I can't imagine being able to survive on the pay level that this women received, not to mention being able to take a holiday each year.

With morgage or rent, utiities, car payment, insurance, gas, not to mention food. I don't see how anyone can live on less than $2500.00 each month, at least not here in Vancouver.

I hope that this women gets her job back if she still wants it.