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

[progroupie]

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.

Exactly. Disney is hardly a struggling company that can't afford to boost their pay scale without having to raise prices. Upping CM pay by a dollar or two is not going to put them in the red, they'll still be one of the most profitable companies in the world. It's just that at the end of the day Disney knows they can get away with low wages and poor treatment of employees and that they can make more money that way.

 

[Wilt Dasney]

Just to be clear, I don't want to make out that Disney is a bad company for embracing the business model they have...just pointing out that it isn't the only way of doing business.

Other ways would be to scale back executive bonuses, cut operating costs around the resort, invest less in reseach and development (or some combination of all these and other possibilities) in order to provide their people with a more livable wage without raising prices and while still protecting profits. Still another way would be to allow profits to take a short-term dip so they could implement a new wage structure without cutting other expenses, while explaining to their shareholders (who aren't exactly getting rich on .32 a share annually) that the negative growth is temporary and based on a decision to invest more in their human resources.

None of them are perfect, and each model has pros and cons, but all are viable options. Which one you pick reveals where your priorities lie as a corporation. Disney's top priority clearly isn't with helping their Cast Members pay the bills, but people have to choose whether or not to work there with the understanding that they won't get rich.

 

[yankspy]

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

Not all people have this type of schedule. If you work for certain municipalities the pay is very good and you can start off with about 4 weeks vacation and sick time. Certain cities like N.Y. have strong labor unions and they hold a lot of power when it comes to getting benefits for their employees.:wave:

 

[wedway71]

Ok,here is my 2 cents......

I am sure I will get blasted but here it goes......


Disney is not making anyone come to Casting and work for the company.People come on their own.When they are hired they are made an offer with a salary.

At this time,if the person thinks they can do better elsewhere,they have a choice to NOT take the position.

If they choose to accept it,they should not spend their entire time bashing Disney about poor pay.:wave:

 

[wannab@dis]

^^^ Agree

Plus, there's something that seems to missing from this "low wage" discussion. Let's keep in mind the target employees. Most front line CM's are NOT in positions of highly qualified positions or career type white collar jobs. Most are low skill, blue collar jobs. This is not a hit on them, it's just the simple truth. Most will be entry work positions for HS grads, college kids or older people looking for extra retirement income. For many, I doubt income was the primary reason for taking the position.

If someone thinks they are not getting paid enough, quit and find another job. I've done it several times and I bet most have also.

 

[DisneyparkFreak]

What you also have to remember is that through FMLA she is covered for 12 weeks (non-paid) and there is nothing DISNEY can do about it, it is federal law. I am a manager who oversees employees in a bargaining agreement (not disney). If she applied for FMLA due to the death of her husband and would be considered emotionally unstable like I know I would be if my wife passed then she would be granted FMLA under the federal law for up to 12 weeks. She could totally screw over disney if she applies and wins. I have had to deal with countless FMLA issues. So many loop holes the employees can take that there is very little that the company whether DISNEY or in my case AT&T can do about it.

 

[wannab@dis]

What you also have to remember is that through FMLA she is covered for 12 weeks (non-paid) and there is nothing DISNEY can do about it, it is federal law. I am a manager who oversees employees in a bargaining agreement (not disney). If she applied for FMLA due to the death of her husband and would be considered emotionally unstable like I know I would be if my wife passed then she would be granted FMLA under the federal law for up to 12 weeks. She could totally screw over disney if she applies and wins. I have had to deal with countless FMLA issues. So many loop holes the employees can take that there is very little that the company whether DISNEY or in my case AT&T can do about it.

FMLA would cover during the sickness, but not after death. At least, it's not in any provision I've ever seen. I had to look into it due to my wife's pregnancy and a job change that required relocation.

 

[Mercy]

I was wondering how FMLA would cover grief, but I'm certain it would if you claimed emotional instability. You would just have to get doctor's approval. From the way it sounds, she did not file any FMLA paperwork.

 

[JennyTablina]

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

Understandable and I apollogise for jumping to conclusions, but sometimes it's hard to tell between someone being sarcastic or simply stating something on the internets. Text doesnt really carry a tone like a voice does.

 

[TP2000]

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

It's okay to be lazy, just don't let it get so bad you can't work more than a few hours a day. If the Germans come for you again, you'll need to put up just a tiny bit of a fight until we can get over there and save you one more time. :wave:

As for the CM involved here, there is definitely more to this story than she would likely want us to know about. Or perhaps she simply doesn't have the ability to understand what her responsibility would be when taking an extended leave lasting several weeks from her employer. There are not a lot of employers that would allow that to happen, and Disney World is to be commended for offering such a generous courtesy like that.

It sounds like after she was gone for a month, she failed to follow proper protocol in alerting her managers when she would be returning to her job. The fact that this CM uses blanket statements like "Disney told me", also raises a warning flag. Who exactly is "Disney"? Her 20 year old supervisor who assigns breaks and lunches? There are 50,000 employees at WDW, and I can't imagine she got that type of answer from an HR manager that would need to be involved in taking an extended leave like this.

The details, or lack thereof, on this issue are very fishy. And most of this points to a lack of accountability on the CM. Some of that is understandable if her husband passed away and she is grieving. And yet an adult has to be able to pull it together after a few days and keep her life from unraveling around her.

Happily, "Disney" has come to her rescue and allowed her to keep her job after an extended absence on her part.

 

[Keri]

I lost my husband to cancer last November. He was 45 years old. He died Nov 16th, his service was Nov 18th, my oldest son turned 15 on Nov 19th, my middle boy turned 13 on Nov 21, Thanksgiving was Nov 22, and my work called me Nov 23 and said I needed to come back to work on monday because my Family Leave Act was no longer valid since my husband died. This was one week later! I went to the doctor's instead Monday and my doctor put me on Family Leave Act for emotionally dealing with the death of my husband. That bought me time until I actually quit that horrible job. The thing is that unless your company pays you, which mine did not, you do not get any money under the Family Leave Act. At a crucial time in your life you have to decide that being with your dying husband is more inportant than money to live on. I had 11 days before he died.

This woman needs to grieve, and Disney needs to be understanding of that. Losing a spouse is something that unless you go through it yourself you will never understand. This was the person you were to grow old with, the person you shared a bed with every night. She works at Disney because she wants to, the pay has not been an issue in her decision making process, the grieving process is the issue here.

 

[TP2000]

This woman needs to grieve, and Disney needs to be understanding of that.

WDW gave her a 30 day leave of absence. It appears she not only took that 30 days, but then used more than that and did very little to communicate her needs to her managers.

30 days as a standard benefit is extremely generous for American companies, especially for an entry level custodian in a huge organization. I know of no other company that would give a custodian a 30 day leave automatically. Heck, I know of no other company that would give a white collar manager a 30 day leave automatically, in addition to any state or federal leave allowed by law.

 

[mkt]

Every time I try to do that I get blasted by the "Disney doesn't do anything wrong crowd", so I just keep my mouth shut and let my sig do the talking.

I do too.

Just remember, this is the internet. Thick skin isn't needed when you A- don't vest yourself emotionally and B- wear a nomex suit.

 

[bjlc57]

tell it to the people at the top...

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

Most people aren't.

how much was Eisner getting paid? How much did he get when he left?
How much did Michael Ovitz get paid, $38 million in cash and another $100 million in stock options.

and the person here, defending Disney to the hilt is just another piranha. a guy in management, who wants to keep the lie alive by deflecting to 'some other story" that could have happened to him.

this is the management way of doing things. its like the time Reagan was asked about people on welfare and the lack of health care, and he brought up some "woman who was living in a hotel in Manhatten" story and so since that one woman, who may or may not have existed, all the health care for poor people couldn't be dealt with.

Piranha's don't eat each other, they eat other animals. BUT NOT EACH OTHER. and this poster defending Disney Management is a prime example of what is going on in this country.

and they blow smoke and mirrors at you to KEEP THE LIE ALIVE so that they can reward themselves at some other time.


that's a simple truth.

 

[drewchyi]

my baby son passed away March 18th, my job told me to take as much time as i needed. i took 4 weeks off and was paid for it. i had about 6 weeks vacation, 1 week sick and 1 week paternity leave. my hr was able to use the paternity leave/sick and a few weeks of my vacation time to cover the 4 weeks i was out. i guess it all depends on ur manager and stuff. if they really like you and you are important to them..they'll do whatever is needed to help you out.

 

[DisneyJoe]

I have yet to ask them how do they survive but hold back because i dont want to get too personal with them....

I've asked.

Those who have answered either work 60-70++ hours per week at Disney, or have second jobs.

 

[JustPlainBill]

I lost my husband to cancer last November. He was 45 years old. He died Nov 16th, his service was Nov 18th, my oldest son turned 15 on Nov 19th, my middle boy turned 13 on Nov 21, Thanksgiving was Nov 22, and my work called me Nov 23 and said I needed to come back to work on monday because my Family Leave Act was no longer valid since my husband died. This was one week later! I went to the doctor's instead Monday and my doctor put me on Family Leave Act for emotionally dealing with the death of my husband. That bought me time until I actually quit that horrible job. The thing is that unless your company pays you, which mine did not, you do not get any money under the Family Leave Act. At a crucial time in your life you have to decide that being with your dying husband is more inportant than money to live on. I had 11 days before he died.

This woman needs to grieve, and Disney needs to be understanding of that. Losing a spouse is something that unless you go through it yourself you will never understand. This was the person you were to grow old with, the person you shared a bed with every night. She works at Disney because she wants to, the pay has not been an issue in her decision making process, the grieving process is the issue here.

I understand where you're coming from having lost close family members myself. When it comes to FMLA a lot of companies and employees as well as Doctors don't understand what it is. Understanding that when it comes to FMLA it's mostly just a company's paperwork issue. Nothing gets reported to the government when someone takes a leave. Some companies will have their employees take FMLA for things that don't necessarily apply because they don't want to risk getting into trouble or they want the amount of weeks that is allowed to be shaved off so it is less the employee can claim later. Some companies are more savy and will administer it the way it is designed to be. FMLA is to be used by the employee to care for a family member suffering from a medical condition. The paperwork that is given to the employee needs to be certified by a Doctor that the employee needs to care for the family member. If or when the family member passes the leave no longer applies. Some people confuse FMLA with standard medical leaves. I've worked for different companies that have interpreted and administered FMLA different ways. The one thing that is most frustrating to managers is when the employee doesn't communicate their status. I've had employees disappear off the face of the earth only to report for work weeks later expecting their job to be waiting for them. It sounds to me like there was a disconnect somewhere. Supervisors and managers can only hold someone's job open for a reasonable amount of time. The only way a company can afford to extend peoples leaves are if they overstaff the department, work overtime or hire temps. In union shops the hiring of temps can be dicey. If a company is expected to make these concessions then it will cost more to provide that service. For every employee that has a legitimate issue you can probably find two employees that will try to use the leave other than what it was intended for. We had an employee who filled out FMLA papers to take care of his sick father who was dying in Mexico. He had a doctors authorization and everything. Our plant manager was shopping at a local store a month later and saw this employee shopping there as well. He confronted the employee and asked him why he was here and not in Mexico taking care of his father. The employee admitted he made the story up so he could work at another job. If the job didn't work out then he wanted to keep his old job at our place open so he could return. I know this isn't what happened in this case with Disney, but it explains why companies can be so uptight when it comes to employee attendance and leave issues.

 

[uklad79]

how much was Eisner getting paid? How much did he get when he left?
How much did Michael Ovitz get paid, $38 million in cash and another $100 million in stock options.

and the person here, defending Disney to the hilt is just another piranha. a guy in management, who wants to keep the lie alive by deflecting to 'some other story" that could have happened to him.

this is the management way of doing things. its like the time Reagan was asked about people on welfare and the lack of health care, and he brought up some "woman who was living in a hotel in Manhatten" story and so since that one woman, who may or may not have existed, all the health care for poor people couldn't be dealt with.

Piranha's don't eat each other, they eat other animals. BUT NOT EACH OTHER. and this poster defending Disney Management is a prime example of what is going on in this country.

and they blow smoke and mirrors at you to KEEP THE LIE ALIVE so that they can reward themselves at some other time.


that's a simple truth.

Totally agree

 

[uklad79]

It's okay to be lazy, just don't let it get so bad you can't work more than a few hours a day. If the Germans come for you again, you'll need to put up just a tiny bit of a fight until we can get over there and save you one more time. :wave:

And back in this century, you know the one we live in now! Where our fight for freedom got us good holidays, wages, and benefits and the one where some Americans are living in worse conditions than people in Africa, where the American Dream turned sour and turned into American Greed. In Europe we learned from the war and created harmony through the EU. In America all that was learned was a hunger for war as the greedy politicians took back handers from big business that thrived on war. America's economy did well from the second world war but Bush got it wrong with his war, it sent your economy down the toilet and the poor at the bottom of the ladder are the ones suffering. :wave:

Anyway now I have replied to your comment I will get back on topic. Any more news on if this woman has got her job back? Have Disney made an official statement as to why she was sacked when it seems she was told the 30 days off was fine and no one pulled her up in those 30+ days off she wasn't at work.

 

[fosse76]

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?)

It technically doesn't matter. It was obviously someone higher in the chain of command than she, so as far as she was concerned this person had the authority. If she had been taking too much time, then she should have been called and informed she needed to return to work. She said she took her vacation time plus 30 days. Now I know that people grieve differently, but it does seem a little excessive. But Disney really should have called her and explained to her that she needed to return to work as opposed to waiting until she returned.