This Woman Lost Her Job Because Her Kid Got Sick—and She's Not Alone

[aGameOfThrones]

When Chicago public schools closed for a snow day in late January, single mom Rhiannon Broschat was forced to choose between her special needs son and her part-time grocery store job. As many parents in similar situations do every day, she scrambled to find a caretaker but couldn't.

So she stayed home from work to look after her child. Having depleted the number of unexpected absence days her employer allowed (all unpaid), she was immediately fired.

Broschat is just one of the untold millions of parents who would benefit from the Obama administration's ongoing push for paid family and sick leave, equal pay, and quality child care. Currently, the U.S. ranks with Liberia, Suriname, and Papua New Guinea in the stinginess of its family leave policies, even though paid maternity leave is associated with lower infant mortality and better retention of talented female employees.

“It resonates so much with me, her story, because I have spoken to so many working women and moms. If you have a family emergency, a family responsibility, you should not lose your job over it,” says Liz Watson of the Washington, D.C.–based National Women’s Law Center.

As the center's director of Workplace Justice for Women, Watson follows the treatment of workers in retail and other low-wage industries and is increasingly optimistic that change is on the way.

“We really need a national standard when it comes to paid leave,” she says. “Issues fundamental to working families are increasingly recognized as the kitchen table issues people recognize. In the last several years, they have been picking up steam.”

Twenty-one years ago this week, then-president Bill Clinton signed the Family and Medical Leave Act, providing up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave—to be used for personal health or family reasons—for workers at businesses with 50 or more employees.

Though the time can be valuable, its use can become a major financial burden on working families. Also, more than 40 percent of workers are not covered by the act, and half the workers who do qualify are unable to take unpaid leave because they can’t afford to, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

http://news.yahoo.com/woman-lost-her-job-because-her-kid-got-013136611.html

[MelissaWV]

“It resonates so much with me, her story, because I have spoken to so many working women and moms. If you have a family emergency, a family responsibility, you should not lose your job over it,” says Liz Watson of the Washington, D.C.–based National Women’s Law Center.

And if you have one every week, your childless co-workers shouldn't have to pick up your slack, and your employer shouldn't have to suffer having an empty seat in the office in order to comply with some law. If it's a genuine emergency and a rare occurrence I have yet to work at a place that will boot you for it; you just have to communicate with your boss, maybe offer to work an alternate day, find someone to cover for you, etc..

Now the Government will mandate that if you have a family emergency you really aren't subject to the time off rules that you agree to as a term of your employment... well, unless you don't have what they consider to be "family."


When Chicago public schools closed for a snow day in late January, single mom Rhiannon Broschat was forced to choose between her special needs son and her part-time grocery store job. As many parents in similar situations do every day, she scrambled to find a caretaker but couldn't.

So she stayed home from work to look after her child. Having depleted the number of unexpected absence days her employer allowed (all unpaid), she was immediately fired.

Broschat is just one of the untold millions of parents who would benefit from the Obama administration's ongoing push for paid family and sick leave, equal pay, and quality child care. Currently, the U.S. ranks with Liberia, Suriname, and Papua New Guinea in the stinginess of its family leave policies, even though paid maternity leave is associated with lower infant mortality and better retention of talented female employees.

She had already depleted the number of days she was allowed, is a part-time worker (wow they get time off? holy crap that must be new), and the article leaps from this to paid maternity leave (but she was not trying to take maternity leave?).

[LibertyEagle]

I think they are probably pretty tough about absences in blue collar retail jobs. All the more reason to work hard and get a better position.

[aGameOfThrones]

Childless employees? Too racist?

[2young2vote]

Captain Hindsight:

If you couldn't afford to properly care for children then you shouldn't have had children in the first place!

[tod evans]

No sympathy.

[Beorn]

Ugh. Responses like these remind me that I have indeed chosen very strange political bedfellows.

[CaptUSA]

Having depleted the number of unexpected absence days her employer allowed (all unpaid), she was immediately fired.
Ok, so she wasn't fired for choosing her son over her work, she missed too many days. How many "unexpected absence days" does her employer allow for a part-time worker?! So many points to make about this:

1. If you know you have other responsibilities, then you need to make sure you don't waste your allotted "unexpected absence days"
2. In nearly 30 years of working, I can count on one hand the number of days I had to miss because something happened - in each case, I used a vacation day (even though, I've often had available sick leave)
3. If you are a hard worker earning your money, an employer won't fire you. They will always make allowances if they think you are valuable to them.
4. Nobody owes you a job. Period. You are selling your labor to your employer. If the value of that labor becomes too small, why should they be forced to keep buying it?

I'm not heartless; it's hard being a single mom. Damned hard. But it's not every one else's responsibility to take care of you.

[VIDEODROME]

WTF at this thread.

This could happen for any number of reasons. I don't know if her kid was born handicapped or became that way. He could have been in a car accident for all I know. Also, I don't know how hard this woman is working, but hard work doesn't always mean more prosperity or getting noticed and promoted especially in a retail-hell job. Especially if you have a special needs child that is a financial boat anchor.

I hope the Libertarian message isn't just that she can go to hell because life dealt her a tough situation.

With that, I'm not saying ObamaCare is the solution. The Law is a giant mess that doesn't even make rational sense to me. In fact, I almost think the posted article is nearly a Non Sequitor. It posts what I do agree is a legitimate problem and leaps to the solution being Obamacare. It even sounds like a Non Sequitor when Obama describes in interviews. He mentions lots of real health issues American's are facing and then essentially offers a big shit-sandwich law to solve it saying "Here you have to eat this".

The problem could have been solved many ways. She could have used a caretaker. Maybe a socialist city like Chicago could have stepped up to help. Maybe she tried a charity organization but couldn't make it work on short notice before the bad weather.

EDIT: I think I should add that I'm not holding the Employer at fault here. I don't think a grocery store deserves to be unreasonably burdened with this situation. I do think a legit problem and I would be open to the idea of Chicago social services stepping up to help. Or a private charity.


http://nicedeb.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/pelosi-shit-sandwich.gif

[MelissaWV]

WTF at this thread.

This could happen for any number of reasons. I don't know if her kid was born handicapped or became that way. He could have been in a car accident for all I know. Also, I don't know how hard this woman is working, but hard work doesn't always mean more prosperity or getting noticed and promoted especially in a retail-hell job. Especially if you have a special needs child that is a financial boat anchor.

I hope the Libertarian message isn't just that she can go to hell because life dealt her a tough situation.

With that, I'm not saying ObamaCare is the solution. The Law is a giant mess that doesn't even make rational sense to me. In fact, I almost think the posted article is nearly a Non Sequitor. It posts what I do agree is a legitimate problem and leaps to the solution being Obamacare. It even sounds like a Non Sequitor when Obama describes in interviews. He mentions lots of real health issues American's are facing and then essentially offers a big shit-sandwich law to solve it saying "Here you have to eat this".

The problem could have been solved many ways. She could have used a caretaker. Maybe a socialist city like Chicago could have stepped up to help. Maybe she tried a charity organization but couldn't make it work on short notice before the bad weather.


No, in general it is that Government is not the answer, and forcing others to work for you is also not the answer. It is also usually that, when you agree to terms of employment, you should try to abide by them. Sometimes you can't. Sometimes your employers will work with you. Sometimes they will not.

The rest of the article has nothing to do with a part-time working single mom taking time off. It talks about maternity leave, and FMLA, and similar measures which have nothing to do with her having to take an unexpected day off due to snow-related closure of a public school.

I'm not sure why it's "heartless" to not want the Government to step in and decide that, if you don't have kids and don't have these kinds of "emergencies," you should be forced to cover for others. When I get fired for not coming in to cover for the umpteenth time, will I get the same sympathy? Probably not.

Is that to say I don't feel badly for her? It would be interesting to find out if she tried to negotiate this with her boss (I can work another day, Jennifer will switch with me, I can come back as soon as I drop my son off with his aunt, etc.) or if it's just a "I'm taking off" type of moment.

[Cleaner44]

Apparently the liberals in Chicago need to spend some of their money and create free daycare centers for workers that deplete the number of unexpected absence days their employers allow. I hope the Democrats in the windy city won't wait for the government to fix the problem when they know they can pool their money and make this happen tomorrow. Certainly there is some big hearted liberal that owns some space they can use. In fact, they could employ this woman who lost her job at the grocery store as the first child care giver in their new free center! Hopefully she will actually show up to watch the kids. I only say that because one has to wonder how a worker that has a part-time schedule at a grocery store has some many unexpected absence days that they get fired for being so unreliable.

Oh I do hope that Oprah takes care of this... or at least gives this lady a new car.

[Cleaner44]

Interesting facts...

She was allowed 5 unexcused absences in a six-month period
She used up all 5 of her unexcused absences in a six-month period
She was having an unexcused absence on average every 5 weeks
She worked a part-time schedule
We don't know how many excused absences she had during the six-month period


She was not terminated because she stayed home to care for her special needs son. She was terminated because she had a 6th unexcused absences in a six-month period and that was too much. These were the conditions she agreed to when she took the job and once she violated the conditions, the employer no longer was interested in continuing the relationship.

If the worker had decided to end the relationship and quit because she found a new job with better hours, higher pay or was simply closer to her home, should Whole Foods go to her house and protest has for leaving them?

The relationship didn't work out. Whole Foods was looking for a competent worker that was reliable and it turns out that she was not that person. She needs to find some other employer that will be a better fit for her and let this go.

[Scrapmo]

If she was a good, hardworking, valuable employee, her employer would have worked something out to keep her around. My guess is she probably wasn't much of an asset when she did show up to work. The key to remaining employed is to make yourself indispensable.

[aGameOfThrones]

Apparently the liberals in Chicago need to spend some of their money and create free daycare centers for workers that deplete the number of unexpected absence days their employers allow. I hope the Democrats in the windy city won't wait for the government to fix the problem when they know they can pool their money and make this happen tomorrow. Certainly there is some big hearted liberal that owns some space they can use. In fact, they could employ this woman who lost her job at the grocery store as the first child care giver in their new free center! Hopefully she will actually show up to watch the kids. I only say that because one has to wonder how a worker that has a part-time schedule at a grocery store has some many unexpected absence days that they get fired for being so unreliable.

Oh I do hope that Oprah takes care of this... or at least gives this lady a new car.

That's one of the reasons public schools are there, didn't you know?

[VIDEODROME]

No, in general it is that Government is not the answer, and forcing others to work for you is also not the answer. It is also usually that, when you agree to terms of employment, you should try to abide by them. Sometimes you can't. Sometimes your employers will work with you. Sometimes they will not.

The rest of the article has nothing to do with a part-time working single mom taking time off. It talks about maternity leave, and FMLA, and similar measures which have nothing to do with her having to take an unexpected day off due to snow-related closure of a public school.

I'm not sure why it's "heartless" to not want the Government to step in and decide that, if you don't have kids and don't have these kinds of "emergencies," you should be forced to cover for others. When I get fired for not coming in to cover for the umpteenth time, will I get the same sympathy? Probably not.

Is that to say I don't feel badly for her? It would be interesting to find out if she tried to negotiate this with her boss (I can work another day, Jennifer will switch with me, I can come back as soon as I drop my son off with his aunt, etc.) or if it's just a "I'm taking off" type of moment.

There are some comments in here like "No sympathy." or "If you couldn't afford to properly care for children then you shouldn't have had children in the first place!"

That's mostly what I was responding to. I agree with Beorn's post below that. I feel like that kinds of comments make Libertarianism seem cold-hearted or promoting a kind of ruthless Darwinian society.

[69360]

I have sympathy, it sucks to have a sick kid or lose a job. But an employer should still be able to fire an employee for any reason they see fit.

[FloralScent]

Captain Hindsight:

If you couldn't afford to properly care for children then you shouldn't have had children in the first place!

Absolutely

[aGameOfThrones]

Interesting facts...

She was allowed 5 unexcused absences in a six-month period
She used up all 5 of her unexcused absences in a six-month period
She was having an unexcused absence on average every 5 weeks
She worked a part-time schedule
We don't know how many excused absences she had during the six-month period


She was not terminated because she stayed home to care for her special needs son. She was terminated because she had a 6th unexcused absences in a six-month period and that was too much. These were the conditions she agreed to when she took the job and once she violated the conditions, the employer no longer was interested in continuing the relationship.

If the worker had decided to end the relationship and quit because she found a new job with better hours, higher pay or was simply closer to her home, should Whole Foods go to her house and protest has for leaving them?

The relationship didn't work out. Whole Foods was looking for a competent worker that was reliable and it turns out that she was not that person. She needs to find some other employer that will be a better fit for her and let this go.


!!!

[DamianTV]

Does anyone remember the Wells Fargo employee who was fired because his daughter had a life threatening illness, then died because she was denied the very expensive but absolutely necessary medical procedure?

---

Edit: Found it

Wells Fargo Lawsuit Alleges Bank Fired Man, Cut Dying Daughter's Health Insurance
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/07/wells-fargo-yovany-gonzalez_n_1751461.html


... Wells Fargo fired mortgage consultant Yovany Gonzalez three days before his daughter Mackenzie was scheduled to get cancer surgery in August of 2010, the lawsuit states. According to the suit, the hospital canceled the surgery because Mackenzie no longer was covered by health insurance. She died of cancer in March of 2011. ...

[angelatc]

http://news.yahoo.com/woman-lost-her-job-because-her-kid-got-013136611.html


Sobbing.


Because this is posted on RPF, where we used to support the right of the employers to fire anybody for any reason they wanted to.

[angelatc]

Interesting facts...

She was allowed 5 unexcused absences in a six-month period
She used up all 5 of her unexcused absences in a six-month period
She was having an unexcused absence on average every 5 weeks
She worked a part-time schedule
We don't know how many excused absences she had during the six-month period


She was not terminated because she stayed home to care for her special needs son. She was terminated because she had a 6th unexcused absences in a six-month period and that was too much. These were the conditions she agreed to when she took the job and once she violated the conditions, the employer no longer was interested in continuing the relationship.

If the worker had decided to end the relationship and quit because she found a new job with better hours, higher pay or was simply closer to her home, should Whole Foods go to her house and protest has for leaving them?

The relationship didn't work out. Whole Foods was looking for a competent worker that was reliable and it turns out that she was not that person. She needs to find some other employer that will be a better fit for her and let this go.



Holy crap - it was Whole Foods? DH used to work there. You have to practically show up both drunk and naked to even get reprimanded there. If she got fired, she was definitely pretty much dead weight to begin with.

[angelatc]

Does anyone remember the Wells Fargo employee who was fired because his daughter had a life threatening illness, then died because she was denied the very expensive but absolutely necessary medical procedure?

I remember thinking this was a bulshit story too. The story claimed that he was fired 3 days before the surgery was to take place, and then the hospital refused to do the surgery because she didn't have insurance.

That right there, son, is bullshit.

[MelissaWV]

Holy crap - it was Whole Foods? DH used to work there. You have to practically show up both drunk and naked to even get reprimanded there. If she got fired, she was definitely pretty much dead weight to begin with.

Yep, and again with those jobs people tend to look the other way if you get someone to fill in for you. As in "Hey Angela I'm totally screwed... they closed Bobby's school and I have to pick him up. Can you cover for me while I pick him up? I'll work your Friday to make up for it!" And she did the unexcused absence thing repeatedly.

In all fairness btw, most people were definitely defending the right of the employer to fire her. Not even just for whatever reason (though that would be the ultimate point here) but for being in violation of the terms she agreed to when she was hired on. Pretty sure any employee handbook spells it out very clearly what the consequences are if you take repeated unexcused time off.

[angelatc]

Yep, and again with those jobs people tend to look the other way if you get someone to fill in for you. As in "Hey Angela I'm totally screwed... they closed Bobby's school and I have to pick him up. Can you cover for me while I pick him up? I'll work your Friday to make up for it!" And she did the unexcused absence thing repeatedly. .


Not only that, but other mothers are more than happy to help out in these circumstances. You call the Mom of your kid's best friend, and she picks them both up. Problem solved! WHen you have a kid or 2, throwing a couple more in the car isn't a big deal.

People are not the horrible greedy evil mean beings that the liberals try to insist we need protection from.

[Dogsoldier]

You know who CAN take a day off whenever they want for any reason? The employer....The slaves must get back to rowing.

[LibForestPaul]

Apparently the liberals in Chicago need to spend some of their money and create free daycare centers for workers that deplete the number of unexpected absence days their employers allow. I hope the Democrats in the windy city won't wait for the government to fix the problem when they know they can pool their money and make this happen tomorrow.
bingo. thread winner.
But the reality is Obama and his progressive ilk's money is too important to spend on such riff-raff. However, your money, and my money, and my employers money, and work, and sweat, is not that important, and can easily be stolen and given away as they, the great ivory tower progressives, know best how to spend other peoples money.

[angelatc]

You know who CAN take a day off whenever they want for any reason? The employer....The slaves must get back to rowing.

There are no slaves working at Whole Foods.

[Cleaner44]

Holy crap - it was Whole Foods? DH used to work there. You have to practically show up both drunk and naked to even get reprimanded there. If she got fired, she was definitely pretty much dead weight to begin with.

I have no doubt that if she were a valuable employee they would have kept her on. AZ here is a right to work state and I bet she would have been fired even quicker here. In Chicago they probably had to make sure that they documented all of her violations before they could dump her. Places like Chicago are filled with people that feel like they are owed a job.

[DamianTV]

... and there are no Masters Degrees working as Bartenders. Sure, they're valuble employees, but only because of the lack of other better paying jobs for their Courses of Study. There is a balance in the Free Market that can not be obtained by any other means other than to have a Free Market. Both contribute, but neither has Total Authority.

[VIDEODROME]

Holy crap - it was Whole Foods? DH used to work there. You have to practically show up both drunk and naked to even get reprimanded there. If she got fired, she was definitely pretty much dead weight to begin with.

Fuckit...

I'm applying to Whole Foods.