CBS Eve. News: People threatened with being fired if they evac'd:

[elehhhhna]

Many heartless bastards told employees all over the gulf area that if they left work Saturday and/or Sunday to evac. or to check on homes & family, they would lose their jobs.

SPIN THAT!

[Endangered Specie]

1. Ida told them to go fuck themselves sideways...

seeing as to how half of the employers there wont have a business to go back to, they were going to lose their jobs anyway.

[elehhhhna]

4. Who is Ida? I'd like to shake her hand.

:D

[Endangered Specie]

16. Its the southern in me

:)

[VaLabor]

2. any further details?

any employers named?

ANYTHING further you remember from the report?

[elehhhhna]

6. no--caught the tail end of it.

[Ms. Clio]

9. I heard a person from New Orleans tell Randi Rhodes the same thing

last week. She was told if she left, she would lose her job. She left, and has no job to come back to now, besides.

This is far worse than looting a television, but I know it will go down the rabbit hole like everything else.

[cornermouse]

3. Wait till tomorrow.

The repubs will say its not true. They'll have figured out their story by then.

[malaise]

5. Well if they were hearing or watching

the hurricane warnings they should have known that those comments were irrelevant in the circumstances. They have all lost their jobs anyway.

[William769]

7. These people should be held accountable.

But they won't. :mad:

[Lindsay]

8. I'm not the least bit surprised to hear that.

Where I used to work, the worst threat was blizzards. The company said, "You have personal days available, so if you don't feel it safe to come in, then take a personal day."

So when the next blizzard hit, several of us stayed home - and got criticized for it. It was okay for the partners to "work at home," but not for mid-level people. We had obligations to the company and the clients.

(BTW, I did once drive through a blizzard, through no choice of my own. NOT gonna do that again!)

[Nobody]

12. I tried to do that once

Never again. Freezing rain caused one wiper to go flying and instantly I had zero visibility. When I could finally park the car, I had an eight on an inch overing my windshield.

My work at least is understanding and I had no problem taking the rest of the day off.

In no way does this compare to the havoc wreaked by Katrina and the ineptitude of FEMA.

[slor]

10. NO NO NO, battle-AX babs says...

they were "underprivileged" so clearly they stayed behind to collect welfare checks and to loot.

[seabeyond]

11. all kinds of different reasons people didnt evacuate

that is why you cannot just pigeon hole all in one. each circumstance unique. and yes, those that threatened loss of job, shame on them.

[DawgHouse]

13. This doesn't surpise me at all

Years ago when my county was facing a possible hurricane, the boss wouldn't let any of us leave to go home early and prepare. But HE left early.

I asked him early in the morning if we could close early so that we could get ready and he laughed and said there wasn't going to be a hurricane. A couple of hours later I saw him heading toward the door. I said, "where are you going?" And he laughed and said, "home to get ready for the hurricane."

I left a few minutes behind him. He always looked at his employees as only a means to make more money for him. No heart at all.

[Kber]

14. Seems like in a "manditory" evacuation

that kind of behavior by employers should be illegal.

Now that IS something that congress could address - assuring workers' job protection if they are ORDERED to evacuate like folk were in NOLA.

[Holly_Hobby]

15. DU Attorneys, weigh in

If the employee could prove such a claim, such as an email...would the employer be held liable if the person was injured because they were threatened with losing their job?

[erinlough]

17. I'm not a lawyer just one of the few Union Members left (25% of us)

it makes me so mad to think of how little it took to defame the unions who built our country.

I remember turning to my Union father when R. Raygun broke the air traffic controllers union and telling him that this would be the beginning of the end for Unions.

If you are in a Union, and there is a clause in your contract that states that you can not be made to come in to work when natural conditions make it dangerous for you to do so, then you have a case. If, like 75% of Americans you are employed by a right to hire, right to fire company, you haven't a leg to stand on.

I get so mad when I think of how Unions were demonized by the raygun administration and greedy companies I can't see straight. But, worse than that was that the American public, the very ones who benefited the most from what Unions fought for, fell for it! I knew the whole world would change right then, and for what it's worth, Unions could be the only way out for us right now.

By the way happy Labor Day....you owe the Unions for that too, as well as the 5 day work week.

[1932]

19. Just guessing.

But I'd say no. The employer couldn't be held responsible for the hurricane or the levee breaking.

It would also be hard to prove that the reason you stayed was because of threat, especially considering that so many people didn't evacuate for other reasons. It would be an easier case if the boss made the threat, you evacuated, and you were fired. You might be able to sue if you had an employment contract that said your boss could only fire you for cause (because you'd argue that the mandatory evacuation order superceded your boss's instruction denying him cause).

It would still be an interesting case to bring before a N.O. jury of your peers...in Houston...or Salt Lake City...or Baton Rouge.

[donheld]

18. I know one man who was fired for just that

It's really dreadful.