Fired for Tackling Fantasy Football

[Ralph Wiggum]

A broker at a financial company in Westlake says he was fired for playing fantasy football at work.

Pettigrew said his employer, Fidelity Investments, fired him and three others in October for organizing $20 fantasy football games.

Pettigrew said he did not use his company computer to play the game, but that Fidelity officials found a few instant messages on his computer from co-workers.

<SNIP>

A Fidelity spokesman declined to comment about the matter but told the newspaper the company has a clear policy against gambling.

"Participation in any form of gambling through the use of Fidelity time or equipment or any other company resource is prohibited," said spokesman Vin Loporchio. "We want our employees to be focused on our customers and clients."

Other financial firms may be reluctant to hire him because Fidelity officials wrote on an industry form that he was fired for "violation of company gambling policy through participation in fantasy football," Pettigrew said.

LINK

[txted]

I heard a story yesterday about a guy who has worked at a local WalMart distribution warehouse. Folks who work in the warehouses or distribution centers must meet daily, weekly, and monthly quotas of product moved and trailers loaded and unloaded. The employee had worked at the distribution center for about four years without a single blemish on his work record. Last week, his crew was in danger of not meeting the daily quota because a single pallet was blocking access to a trailer. They were unable to get a fork lift operator to move it. The guy climbed on the fork lift and moved the pallet. His crew returned to work. Later, a manager asked who had moved the pallet. When the worker answered that he moved it in order to proceed with their duties, he was fired on the spot and escorted to the door. Seems he didn't have the authority to move the pallet.

(no, I am not a Walmart hater. I shop Walmart all the time.)

txted

[bkg]

I heard a story yesterday about a guy who has worked at a local WalMart distribution warehouse. Folks who work in the warehouses or distribution centers must meet daily, weekly, and monthly quotas of product moved and trailers loaded and unloaded. The employee had worked at the distribution center for about four years without a single blemish on his work record. Last week, his crew was in danger of not meeting the daily quota because a single pallet was blocking access to a trailer. They were unable to get a fork lift operator to move it. The guy climbed on the fork lift and moved the pallet. His crew returned to work. Later, a manager asked who had moved the pallet. When the worker answered that he moved it in order to proceed with their duties, he was fired on the spot and escorted to the door. Seems he didn't have the authority to move the pallet.

(no, I am not a Walmart hater. I shop Walmart all the time.)

txted

Union?

[Hawkgirl]

I know someone who got fired here for sending an explicit photo to the wrong person through work email.  She reported it to HR and he got canned. 

[txted]

Union?

I was in the Operating Engineers labor union for fifteen years, but that was back when labor unions actually represented the best interests of the workers instead of the best interests of the union. Union? No!

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[thundley4]

I know someone who got fired here for sending an explicit photo to the wrong person through work email.  She reported it to HR and he got canned. 

I used to trade emails with a girl at work that would have gotten us both fired.    We were close friends, and it was harmless joking.

[bkg]

I was in the Operating Engineers labor union for fifteen years, but that was back when labor unions actually represented the best interests of the workers instead of the best interests of the union. Union? No!

txted

I meant  -was the Walmart situation in a union shop?

[txted]

I meant  -was the Walmart situation in a union shop?

No, it isn't union. I'm not aware of any WalMart facility being union. I may be wrong.

txted

[GOBUCKS]

An unauthorized employee operating a fork truck is a serious safety violation. Most companies have very clear policies that call for immediate dismissal for violation of certain critical safety requirements like lockout/tagout, and possibly fork truck violations. Most companies also concentrate a lot of employee training on these very issues. It must be done to protect employees, and to protect the company from crushing liability judgments and OSHA penalties in the event of an accident.

[bkg]

An unauthorized employee operating a fork truck is a serious safety violation. Most companies have very clear policies that call for immediate dismissal for violation of certain critical safety requirements like lockout/tagout, and possibly fork truck violations. Most companies also concentrate a lot of employee training on these very issues. It must be done to protect employees, and to protect the company from crushing liability judgments and OSHA penalties in the event of an accident.

Ah... Didn't even think of OSHA.

[IassaFTots]

I know someone who got fired here for sending an explicit photo to the wrong person through work email.  She reported it to HR and he got canned. 

Years ago, I had to fire a good friend.  She emailed something with tons of expletives to Bell South, instead of Bill, her husband.  It went to the VP of marketing at Bell South, not good.  Not good at all.  That was a bad day.

[Chris]

Apparently, the guy wasn't smart enough to go find a pallet jack and do it by hand (or there were none about).  I can see someone getting fired for that... touching a forklift is a big no-no unless you're authorized by your employer to do so.

[thundley4]

An unauthorized employee operating a fork truck is a serious safety violation. Most companies have very clear policies that call for immediate dismissal for violation of certain critical safety requirements like lockout/tagout, and possibly fork truck violations. Most companies also concentrate a lot of employee training on these very issues. It must be done to protect employees, and to protect the company from crushing liability judgments and OSHA penalties in the event of an accident.

We have to undergo fork truck training and they even make people who don't use the fork trucks do it.  What's bad is they train us on a different truck than the ones we use.

[txted]

The guy did make a bad decision. He was more concerned about his crew members not meeting their daily goal (no excuses allowed, you either meet your goal or you don't) than his personal repercussions for moving the pallet.

txted