Admit it. You like to hear the horror stories of HR. Don’t worry, I’m the same. I’m constantly watching FaceBook and TikTok for my colleagues to share their moments of misery! Every now and then, though, the good guy really does win. Take the following story as a case in point (as well as a lesson in how to effectively manage a suspicious workers’ compensation claim!)
One day at work, a union employee rushes into my office and excitedly lets me know I must go to the lunchroom RIGHT NOW! My assumption is that someone was seriously injured. So, I walk into the lunchroom and…nothing. I give the employee “that look,” and he tells me to look in the freezer. (OMG, we’ve cut a body part off and are keeping it in the refrigerator! This is a manufacturing plant after all.)
I open the freezer and, thankfully, no body parts. However, there were boxes of frozen shrimp each weighing 10 pounds. “OK… why do I care about these boxes?” After 20 questions with the reporting employee, I learn they were delivered by his fellow union brother Harry. (Names have been changed, yada, yada.)
Here’s the rest of that story about why I would care about those 10-pound boxes of shrimp:
- Harry owns a catering company.
- We don’t care, it doesn’t compete with his plant work
- We’ve known for some time and he gives great discounts to his coworkers on food stuff like frozen shrimp
- Harry has been off work on a workers’ compensation injury
- He has a zero-pound lifting restriction
- Since he can’t lift anything, we cannot accommodate any light duty work
- Harry personally delivered/carried 10-pound boxes of shrimp into the plant lunchroom.
- Please read #2 and #3 again.
- Low and behold, Harry walked in, while I was in the lunchroom, carrying another box of shrimp
- Yes, I took pictures of the boxes
Needless to say, after documenting my notes and taking my pictures, I reached out to the Union Steward and processed Harry’s employment termination. My next call was to the Insurance Company. My final call, with the Union Steward, was to Harry.
Long story short, the Union grieved Harry’s termination as is their responsibility to do. However, for the first, and only, time in my experience working with Unions, Harry had to give up his plant seniority and tenured wages if he wanted to return. He also had to drop his comp claim and the unemployment claim he filed upon his termination. Yes, folks, that’s how it’s done.
The lesson? Pictures and documentation as well as having employees who do not appreciate co-workers taking advantage of their employer. Mark one up for the good guys!