Garga Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 A friend of mine, a nurse at an old folks home, told me some job woes. Apparently the people who own the place got rid of 19 housekeeping jobs. However, if you were a housekeeper and had seniority over another position at the home, you could take the other job. So, all the old time housekeepers are taking over the brand new nursing assistant's jobs. All the housekeepers do is say, "I want that nursing assistant job" and the nursing assistant is out of a job. But if you are a housekeeper who refuses to take someone's job, they don't pay you severance or unemployment, because (after all) there were jobs available and you turned them down. Horrible for everyone, huh? Either you're fired, you have to take someone else's job, or someone takes your job. The boss who had to fire a man (because a housekeeper chose to take his job) complained that he had given her an "attitude" when she told him he was out of work. My friend was pretty upset about the lack of empathy or even sympathy for the people who were losing their jobs. And people think that homeschooling is hard??! It's when I remember dealing with stuff like that that I'm so glad I'm out of the workforce. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RanchGirl Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 that sounds awful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoPlaceLikeHome Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 What is also disturbing is that are the housekeepers trained as nursing assistants? Will they still have housekeepers since nurses aides really do not have enough time to do housekeeping on top of taking care of people. I have heard of many for profit companies taking over nursing homes and slashing staff to the bare bones which is really a disgrace IMHO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impish Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 Thank God for unions. Seriously. I can't imagine being in that sort of situation, I've never even heard of it before! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OhM Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 Wow - that sounds horrible. DH's (and my part-time) firm just had some squirrely layoffs, too. "Dr. Death" (so nicknamed because when he shows up, everyone knows heads will roll!) came in about 9:00. About 11:45 he was ready to meet, but the office manager suggested that several people were on their way out to lunch. Consequently, he took the first group into the conference room at 1:00, after lunch. First group was told that they were laid off, with 2 weeks severance pay, and they should leave immediately. Group 2 was taken into the conference room at 2:00 and told that they will have jobs for 2 more weeks, and then they will be done; no severance pay. (Yeah - stinks being group 2.) Group 3 (including dh) were not told anything. They know the office will close, but nothing about when, or how, or severance, or anything. I think the intention is to have these people leave of their own volition. (So does it stink being group 3 or not? We can't decide.) You'd think they could have some kind of information for this group - "Plans now are to finish up our contracts and close the office in December" or some such - but no - they get complete silence.:001_huh: At least they didn't have to play the knock-out game with their co-workers that you were describing! Of course, this isn't as bad as the last layoffs - after the entire office attended a mandatory and excruciatingly irritating 4-hour pep-rally event in the morning focusing on our excellent corporate culture, we returned to the office to find Dr. Death. Couldn't he have spared them the propaganda campaign and just let them go first thing? Geesh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted August 25, 2009 Author Share Posted August 25, 2009 Impish--the union agreed to it (??!). I have no idea what's up with that. All I know is all the workers are miserable and many are looking for new work--and what about those poor old people who are stuck there without enough people to care for them? People say, "Oh I could never homeschool because (fill in the blank)." But I'd chose the challenges of homeschooling over having to work for a heartless company/boss any day. I've worked for some heartless companies in the past. Talking with my friend brought back all the memories. Homeschooling can have it's really rough days, but it's just not the same as some of the tricks that heartless companies/bosses pull on people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impish Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 Wow. Here, severance pay is based on how long you've been with the company. I think the employment regulations are a week for every year a person's been with the company. I can't imagine someone getting told they had to work for 2 more weeks and no severance pay. Insanity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted August 25, 2009 Author Share Posted August 25, 2009 Wow - that sounds horrible. DH's (and my part-time) firm just had some squirrely layoffs, too. "Dr. Death" (so nicknamed because when he shows up, everyone knows heads will roll!) came in about 9:00. About 11:45 he was ready to meet, but the office manager suggested that several people were on their way out to lunch. Consequently, he took the first group into the conference room at 1:00, after lunch. First group was told that they were laid off, with 2 weeks severance pay, and they should leave immediately. Group 2 was taken into the conference room at 2:00 and told that they will have jobs for 2 more weeks, and then they will be done; no severance pay. (Yeah - stinks being group 2.) Group 3 (including dh) were not told anything. They know the office will close, but nothing about when, or how, or severance, or anything. I think the intention is to have these people leave of their own volition. (So does it stink being group 3 or not? We can't decide.) You'd think they could have some kind of information for this group - "Plans now are to finish up our contracts and close the office in December" or some such - but no - they get complete silence.:001_huh: At least they didn't have to play the knock-out game with their co-workers that you were describing! Of course, this isn't as bad as the last layoffs - after the entire office attended a mandatory and excruciatingly irritating 4-hour pep-rally event in the morning focusing on our excellent corporate culture, we returned to the office to find Dr. Death. Couldn't he have spared them the propaganda campaign and just let them go first thing? Geesh. Yup--that's the sort of stuff I remember. My dh and I worked at the same office that corporate decided to close. (So we'd both be out of work at the same time.) This was about a month after our office received awards and accolades for being the best office in the company (the company had hundreds of offices.) But it didn't matter that we all worked hard and were the best. They still shut us down. But they only told us about the looming closing because someone in another office leaked to us that we were scheduled to be closed. Then the corporate people (our version of Dr. Death) had to fly to our office and officially tell us because the cat was out of the bag. But they only told us the bare minimum and tried their best to keep us in the dark about details. And 5 years later (when I was a SAHM) it happened in another office again to my dh. The secrecy, the firing, the keeping some people on in the hopes they'd just leave and save the company the severance. And then the unfeeling attitudes from corporate and even the local bosses. My poor DH who still works to support us. It's tough being the breadwinner. I'm so blessed that I can stay home and don't have to personally deal with those kinds of pressures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OhM Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 My poor DH who still works to support us. It's tough being the breadwinner. I'm so blessed that I can stay home and don't have to personally deal with those kinds of pressures. Amen to that! I'll have to give dh an extra nice welcome home today!:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatCyndiGirl Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 Years ago I worked for an absolutely horrible internet provider. I heard that my boss was going to lose his job and I LOVED this boss. I bought him a card and was really upset that he was leaving. I had no idea that I was leaving, too....as well as all of my other co-workers. The company was so crappy that it was shutting down. :001_huh: I felt like the frog who was sitting in the water, not even realizing that, "hey, is anybody else gettin' kinda' HOT in here?!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joy at Home Posted August 26, 2009 Share Posted August 26, 2009 Wow, that's just wierd. Laws mandate aids in nursing homes be certified, so I'm assuming they'll be offering a CNA course for these housekeepers? And hopefully a raise, as I can't imagine they pay their housekeepers the same as CNAs? Wow, thought I heard it all . . . Blessings, Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted August 26, 2009 Author Share Posted August 26, 2009 Yes, they're going to have the housekeepers go through a program. Which just seems strange. Spending money to get trained, but cutting jobs. Well, whatever it is that this company is doing, it just made me grateful that I'm at home and am my own boss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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