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

[wedway71]

To be fair and balanced,lets not forget the people who have came on board at Disney entry level and have worked hard and are now Vice Presidents of the company.

Al Weiss started in 1971.
Dave Cook -started when walt Disney was alive at DL.

AND many more.

There is alot of career growth with the Disney Company.

There are ALOT of people who work for Disney that in fact do not wish to grow but are happy in the same job.There are CMS there for 30 years that enjoy just being an hourly CM.
There are people who want more.They go through CP and network and take Disney Leadership courses and get into Management.
The nice thing about Disney is that the company can offer many different paths for peoples various career goals.

I dont want to sound like a Disney Recruiter but I can assure you, there are ALOT of big companies that are far worse than Disney.I have worked for some of them.
So the Skinny in my opinion is Disney does not start out paying well.If you work hard and network it is a great company with unlimited growth and the chance to work for the worlds best enterainment company.

I dont work for Disney but I do personally know 2 mid level Managers with Disney and they love their jobs.

 

[TP2000]

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: .

Walt Disney World May 2004, Nov 2004, Oct 2005, May 2006, Nov 2006, June 2007, May 2008
Disneyland Paris July 2002, July 2007
Disneyland Nov 2007

So let's sum up this fun thread. America is a horrible nation that only cares about "big business" and stomps on the little people to make a profit. America, and the Americans who live here, are a nation of heartless, mean spirited war mongers who have done no good for the world. Our free market economy produces evil monster corporations like Disney, and we are only headed towards destruction and moral ruin.

But in the mean time all of us spend a huge chunk of our vacation dollars there, often twice per year, purposely giving our money to the corrupt American economy in general and the evil bank accounts of Disney. When do the soft openings for Toy Story Mania start again? :lol:

Seriously gang, this has been a rather bizarre, but kind of a fun thread!

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Ahh if life were only monochrome.

 

[scarpiapiano]

No ones against them making a profit. But the profit should be one that is not at expense of it's employees living in poverty. The American government is in the pockets of big business when it should be creating laws to ensure everyone earns a fair livable wage. It should also be taxing companies enough to ensure that there is money to fund welfare programs and do something about the huge number of people living in poverty in the US. It's disgusting that big companies get a break with chapter 11 rules yet if you have problems paying your mortgage where is your break and time to sort things out? People wake up! Your government sold out on you they don't give a crap about you they are rotten to the core.

I'm so grateful that my ancestors left Manchester, England in the 1840's and came to the U.S. I hate to think that I might think the way you do if I was living in the U.K.

Our "rotten to the core" government only "sells us out" when it butts into our lives. Your philosophy is to tax and tax so that the wonderful welfare programs we have can be expanded. Gee, we can give more bucks to people who choose to drop out of school, get pregnant without the benifit of marriage, and/or get married at 18 or 19. That's what causes poverty in the U.S. It has nothing to do with big evil companies. Please keep yourself and your bloody philosophies on your side of the pond!

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

I'm so grateful that my ancestors left Manchester,

As were their neighbours.

 

[wedway71]

Well I have to say after serving in the Air Force and seeing the world I can honestly say"Thank God I live in America"

I have been to places that still believe in hanging you in public or cutting off your head or hands or stoning you to death.

Does this country have problems...YEP IT SURE DOES.

I would rather live here with its problems than many other places.

For the record I do like my freinds across the pond as well.I have to say I was in England and had a GREAT time and loved those English girls too.:wave:

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

loved those English girls too.:wave:

Yes the Lurpak of the worlds women. :drevil:

 

[scarpiapiano]

For the record I do like my freinds across the pond as well.I have to say I was in England and had a GREAT time and loved those English girls too.:wave:

For the record, I have alot of good friends from England also. In fact the company I work for was founded by a Brit. Nowadays the top 5 positions are held by two people from England, two from Australia and one from the U.S. I very much enjoyed seeing London a number of years ago and would love to go back for a longer visit.

However, please, please keep politics out of WDW and discussoins about WDW. I think the biggest reason that I'm such a fan of Disney World is because it's an escape from the world we live in. When see the Hall of Presidents I like to think observe every presidents gesture and movement. I don't like to think about who was conservative, liberal, Republican, Democrat or Whig.

 

[WDW1974]

Oh Good Lord! Why the hell don't you move to a place where your utopian ideals are respected - say Venezuela, Cuba or North Korea. I've known several former CM's. They all enjoyed working at WDW. They all say that it was hard work. They all say it didn't pay well, and they all moved on to better paying jobs. Most people who work minimum wage jobs do so for a short time to get job experience. If someone is unable to move out of a minimum wage job it usually has to do with the personal choices of the employee. Some simply don't want to move on to a better job. They're happy where they are.

Why does the 'America, love it or leave it' response not surprise me coming from Texas?

You know what Cuba, North Korea and Venezuela aren't the kind of places I'd like to live ... although I'm sure I could get used to that dime a gallon gas down south as opposed to our 'let ExxonMobil make a $10 billion a quarter profit' while they're destroying the economy for most regular folks.

No, I'd rather go to countries with a higher quality of life and without crazy people running the governement ... like most of Western Europe, Canada, Australia etc ...

I've known (and still do) plenty of people who work for Disney ... from those minimum wage CMs to Imagineers to Execs (and ex-execs). Other than students in the CP or IP and retirees, I've never met one who was happy making $7 an hour to deal with the general public and keep a smile on, often while taking abuse that would drive a saint to take a swing.

But when I hear that people are happy just making minimum wage I want to puke because while there may be some who have given up on life and will take whatever they can, I'd be willing to bet that 98% of those (again, excluding students or retirees who aren't working for the money) others are miserable and want something out of life. You don't get anything out of life at $7 an hour unless you don't need the money to begin with.

The 'they're happy making an unliveable' wage is the kind of management apologist BS that allows American companies to destroy the American worker.

The free market is the best answer for rewarding effort and education. It's not always fair but neither is life. Our country is compassionate to the handicapped and those whose misfortune wasn't caused by their own choices. People like you talk about poverty as if it's a great mystery that could victimize anyone. We know what causes poverty in this nation. If you don't want to live in poverty, don't have a baby out of wedlock, don't get married before you're 20 and graduate from high school. The poverty rates balloon amoung people in those three areas. You can't blame Disney or Walmart or any other coorparation. Personal choices can and do have lasting consequences. I'm over 100 pounds overweight. I don't blame McDonalds or Sara Lee.

No, it isn't. Despite the indoctrination we're given from grade school on. The free market is what allows companies to take their high-paying jobs and move them to India while dumping millions of workers in the streets where they can go from making over $20 an hour to under $10 (if they're lucky). The free market is what allows companies to go belly up on their pension plans and retirement funds with the government's approval, while making sure if an individual goes bad on a $10,000 line of credit with Discover, that it will dog them through their great-grandchildren's generation. The free market system is what allows companies to get away with anything under the guise of being 'lean and mean' and competing with the Chinese ... of course, we wouldn't have to compete with their crappy merchandise if we still employed our workforce into making high quality AMERICAN goods like we once did.

As for poverty, sure having kids when you're a kid, dropping out of school etc ... increase your likelyhood of being poor ... but I can tell you from family and friends that having a great education, staying clear of the law, not having kids in your teens, working hard etc ... guarantees absolutely NOTHING at all.

Our government doesn't value workers anymore ... and neither do large companies, including Disney.

When the idiot in the White House said a few years ago that people shouldn't expect to work for one company like other generations have what he was saying was 'the American way of life where each generation has a higher quality of life than the previous did is over ... deal with it ... WalMart is always hiring!'

I am embarrassed for how far we've fallen as a nation.

And to keep this reasonably on topic, Disney is a microcosm of what has happened. Very sad.

 

[yankspy]

Why does the 'America, love it or leave it' response not surprise me coming from Texas?

You know what Cuba, North Korea and Venezuela aren't the kind of places I'd like to live ... although I'm sure I could get used to that dime a gallon gas down south as opposed to our 'let ExxonMobil make a $10 billion a quarter profit' while they're destroying the economy for most regular folks.

No, I'd rather go to countries with a higher quality of life and without crazy people running the governement ... like most of Western Europe, Canada, Australia etc ...

I've known (and still do) plenty of people who work for Disney ... from those minimum wage CMs to Imagineers to Execs (and ex-execs). Other than students in the CP or IP and retirees, I've never met one who was happy making $7 an hour to deal with the general public and keep a smile on, often while taking abuse that would drive a saint to take a swing.

But when I hear that people are happy just making minimum wage I want to puke because while there may be some who have given up on life and will take whatever they can, I'd be willing to bet that 98% of those (again, excluding students or retirees who aren't working for the money) others are miserable and want something out of life. You don't get anything out of life at $7 an hour unless you don't need the money to begin with.

The 'they're happy making an unliveable' wage is the kind of management apologist BS that allows American companies to destroy the American worker.



No, it isn't. Despite the indoctrination we're given from grade school on. The free market is what allows companies to take their high-paying jobs and move them to India while dumping millions of workers in the streets where they can go from making over $20 an hour to under $10 (if they're lucky). The free market is what allows companies to go belly up on their pension plans and retirement funds with the government's approval, while making sure if an individual goes bad on a $10,000 line of credit with Discover, that it will dog them through their great-grandchildren's generation. The free market system is what allows companies to get away with anything under the guise of being 'lean and mean' and competing with the Chinese ... of course, we wouldn't have to compete with their crappy merchandise if we still employed our workforce into making high quality AMERICAN goods like we once did.

As for poverty, sure having kids when you're a kid, dropping out of school etc ... increase your likelyhood of being poor ... but I can tell you from family and friends that having a great education, staying clear of the law, not having kids in your teens, working hard etc ... guarantees absolutely NOTHING at all.

Our government doesn't value workers anymore ... and neither do large companies, including Disney.

When the idiot in the White House said a few years ago that people shouldn't expect to work for one company like other generations have what he was saying was 'the American way of life where each generation has a higher quality of life than the previous did is over ... deal with it ... WalMart is always hiring!'

I am embarrassed for how far we've fallen as a nation.

And to keep this reasonably on topic, Disney is a microcosm of what has happened. Very sad.

I am confused. Your previous post complained that America was not a democracy. Democracy has the most amount of freedom. So you value a free government, but not a FREE- market economy. Disney is so successful because they are allowed to operate freely. You have to take the good with the bad. There is no perfect system. You also stated that our government does not value it's workers anymore. This implies that they did at one point. Perhaps you might wish to look into the compassion that the government had for workers during the early 20th century. Just look up the triangle shirt waist factory fire. I would say that the government has improved it's relationship with workers since then.

 

[scarpiapiano]

'let ExxonMobil make a $10 billion a quarter profit' while they're destroying the economy for most regular folks.

These evil companies drill and explore for oil while our Government which does absolutely nothing to provide the oil, takes in three times the revenues as the oil companies do. Oil is now at a premium price because we're not allowed to pump other resources were there is plenty of oil and because we can't build refineries to provide gas. And btw, Disney has nothing to do with ExxonMobile.

but I can tell you from family and friends that having a great education, staying clear of the law, not having kids in your teens, working hard etc ... guarantees absolutely NOTHING at all.

Nothing in life can or should be guaranteed. But you seem to want ot fetch and moan about how it's all the free markets fault. Oh we're so victimized!

I am embarrassed for how far we've fallen as a nation.[/quote}

I am embarrassed for how far our culture has fallen when so many in this nation seem to feel "I'm entitled to what those mean rich people have even though I didn't do squat for it".

And to keep this reasonably on topic, Disney is a microcosm of what has happened. Very sad.

Then why would you go there? Why is someone so miserable as yourself have anything to do with the "Happiest Place on Earth"?:veryconfu

 

[imagineer boy]

No, I'd rather go to countries with a higher quality of life and without crazy people running the governement...

Go and live in a third world country for two weeks, then come back and say the same thing.

:wave:

 

[wannab@dis]

Cradle to grave entitlements and wealth redistributions... a socialist paradise.

Interesting, but Walt Disney World would not exisit in THAT paradise.

 

[MichWolv]

Why does the 'America, love it or leave it' response not surprise me coming from Texas?

No, I'd rather go to countries with a higher quality of life and without crazy people running the governement ... like most of Western Europe, Canada, Australia etc ....

Why does a meaningless snide intro not surprise me, coming from you? :lookaroun

As for the crazy people running our govt., I'm as disappointed with Congress and President as anybody, but somehow that doesn't lead me to want to lash out about it on a thread about a single worker who got treated poorly. It's like the parent who, after the child doesn't pick up her toys, starts screaming "You never do anything I say; you're a terrible child, and you'll never amount to anything."

I've known (and still do) plenty of people who work for Disney ... from those minimum wage CMs to Imagineers to Execs (and ex-execs). Other than students in the CP or IP and retirees, I've never met one who was happy making $7 an hour to deal with the general public and keep a smile on, often while taking abuse that would drive a saint to take a swing.

But when I hear that people are happy just making minimum wage I want to puke because while there may be some who have given up on life and will take whatever they can, I'd be willing to bet that 98% of those (again, excluding students or retirees who aren't working for the money) others are miserable and want something out of life. You don't get anything out of life at $7 an hour unless you don't need the money to begin with..

I believe you are missing the point, which is not that these folks are happy BECAUSE they make $7/hour, but that they are happy despite it. It would be hard for me to keep a positive outlook if I could not make more than $7/hour, but I am thankful for those who can, and would like to learn that attitude from them. In addition, I'm pretty darned sure that most of those working at WDW for the low wages they get could probably earn more elsewhere and know it, but choose WDW for other reasons (benefits, joy, childhood dream, or what have you). I have made a similar choice at a much higher earnings level, as I took a job making 1/2 of what I could elsewhere, because I valued things other than money.

No, it isn't. Despite the indoctrination we're given from grade school on. The free market is what allows companies to take their high-paying jobs and move them to India while dumping millions of workers in the streets where they can go from making over $20 an hour to under $10 (if they're lucky). The free market is what allows companies to go belly up on their pension plans and retirement funds with the government's approval, while making sure if an individual goes bad on a $10,000 line of credit with Discover, that it will dog them through their great-grandchildren's generation. The free market system is what allows companies to get away with anything under the guise of being 'lean and mean' and competing with the Chinese ... of course, we wouldn't have to compete with their crappy merchandise if we still employed our workforce into making high quality AMERICAN goods like we once did..

Not sure what you learned in school about the free market, but I absolutely learned that the free market allows one to move jobs to where labor costs less. And forgive me, but why shouldn't that happen? The FREE MARKET does not contribute to the companies not paying their pension benefits -- that's actually govt intervention in the form bankruptcy laws that allows that. A free (but regulated, such that those who make promises are held to them) market would not allow government assumption or official release from deferred compensation.

Now the last sentence makes an argument that shifting jobs overseas is not an intelligent decision. And if you were running companies, you would get to make that decision. But you aren't.

Our government doesn't value workers anymore ... and neither do large companies, including Disney.

When the idiot in the White House said a few years ago that people shouldn't expect to work for one company like other generations have what he was saying was 'the American way of life where each generation has a higher quality of life than the previous did is over ... deal with it ... WalMart is always hiring!'

I am embarrassed for how far we've fallen as a nation.

And to keep this reasonably on topic, Disney is a microcosm of what has happened. Very sad.

Both the government and companies place a high value on some workers and low value on others. Painting with the broad brush you use is unfair and inaccurate. As for Bush, I rarely agree with anything that he says, but...are you suggesting that companies should be required to keep people on the payroll, or just that it would be better for them because they'd get better workers? If it's the former, it seems you would be more comfortable in socialist country. If it's the latter, companies have consistently disagreed with you, but you can continue to try to make the point.

You're unhappy, and that's unfortunate. And you ought to continue to speak out. But if you have such a hair-trigger that a discussion about one woman losing her job unfairly (and being hired back, btw) causes this kind of rant, you may want to re-examine just how effective you are at getting your point across. And you may want to switch to decaf.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Hours of entertainment.

Can I just question MichWolvs point on the movement of jobs. Have you considered that while some of the benefits may be genuinely down to "exploiting" cheaper labour in under developed regions, that much of the reduced cost is that in the US and Europe we have to consider, minimum wage, child labour laws, health and safety practices, holidays, recognised standards and quality of materials and product, etc etc.

So next time an alert goes out for dangerous toys, dont forget to praise market economics.

Being a Scot I naturally have, what some on this thread have called, socialist views, its been in our history since Wallace and Bruce, and Im sure the migrant Scots that helped shape the US and inspired the founding fathers during the enlightenment appreciated individual freedoms but understood the needs of the many must be considered. Caring about doing what's right over doing whatever it takes to maximise profit is no weakness in my eyes.

One thing that has happened since the late 70s the Gordon Geko greed is good culture we are all individuals out for ourselves, but at the expense of the strength that comes with unity and agreement on common goals and values.

I just hope its worth that price.



As for Walmart, you have to ask why when compared to the land of the free, their European employees with their nasty socialist governments have better wages and employment conditions?

Respect is a two way street and is earned when fancy titles and positions are given.

 

[uklad79]

Oh Good Lord! Why the hell don't you move to a place where your utopian ideals are respected - say Venezuela, Cuba or North Korea.

You forgot to mention the American funded communist country China. I have noticed when Americans are harping on about communists they seem to miss China out now. Most likely because they choose to ignore that many of their jobs have been moved their as the Government and big business sold out on them. Disney didn't always make it's plush in sweat shops you know, at one time all that junk in the shops was made in America. And as for the person that said to WDW1974 they should move to a 3rd world country, why bother just move to any City in the US and you will see the 3rd world living standards in your own country. I have visited developing countries and I have visited downtown LA and NYC and people in poverty are no different. Wake up you are creating the 3rd world in your in country you just choose not to see it.

btw I have visited Venezuela & Cuba as they are holiday destinations for Brits and both are lovely countries. I was a bit unwell one day in Cuba and the hotel had a free Doctor, infact they had a free health care system. Nasty Castro looking after his people!

So any update on the poor old lady? Did Disney pay any death in service payment for her husband?

 

[NASAMan]

To move the thread back on topic - any updates on the status of the Disney employee would be welcome.

I've tried to read all the posts to see if a simple point was brought up, and so far it has not. DisneyMom gets real close. The article states that Disney has offered the terminated employee her job back with a weeks backpay. So the issue here is whether she may be entitled to more backpay or non-paid time off until she is ready to come back. But here is the point that has not been brought up - Disney has a procedure in place for CMs who cannot work their shift. You can post your shift to see if someone else is willing to work it (that is how most CMs are getting their 70 hours a week), or trade a shift. If you are late, or sick, or can't work, you call in. No show - no calls are very bad and after reaching a certain number (depending on you department) it is automatic termination. Since the lady in question said she went back to work (and could not finish her day) she was most likely scheduled and never called in to say she was not ready to come in yet. The computer takes the info and spits out the termination.

 

[yankspy]

Hours of entertainment.

Can I just question MichWolvs point on the movement of jobs. Have you considered that while some of the benefits may be genuinely down to "exploiting" cheaper labour in under developed regions, that much of the reduced cost is that in the US and Europe we have to consider, minimum wage, child labour laws, health and safety practices, holidays, recognised standards and quality of materials and product, etc etc.

So next time an alert goes out for dangerous toys, dont forget to praise market economics.

Being a Scot I naturally have, what some on this thread have called, socialist views, its been in our history since Wallace and Bruce, and Im sure the migrant Scots that helped shape the US and inspired the founding fathers during the enlightenment appreciated individual freedoms but understood the needs of the many must be considered. Caring about doing what's right over doing whatever it takes to maximise profit is no weakness in my eyes.

One thing that has happened since the late 70s the Gordon Geko greed is good culture we are all individuals out for ourselves, but at the expense of the strength that comes with unity and agreement on common goals and values.

I just hope its worth that price.



As for Walmart, you have to ask why when compared to the land of the free, their European employees with their nasty socialist governments have better wages and employment conditions?

Respect is a two way street and is earned when fancy titles and positions are given.

If you are going to discuss the issues please do it logically. Socialism does not date back to Wallace. And let's please not pretend that these very new ideas in much of Western Europe, are not problematic as well. I am willing to discuss the pitfalls of BOTH socialism and a free market economy in a logical manner and how Disney might fit in to that. It might be worth speaking to someone who has possibly worked at both DLP and WDW. That person could offer something to this emotional discussion. As for Walmart, that is the price of freedom, perhaps it's worth it, perhaps not, you, nor I, nor anyone know's that for sure.

 

[The Mom]

Until someone can come back and start a new thread with more factual information ABOUT THE ORIGINAL TOPIC, this thread, and this topic, is closed.