From years working at the postal service and about half that time spent in Time and Attendance I could not help but noticing that when an employee is punished it is usually done by clipping the amount of his check. They intentionally messed with one livelihood and seemed to have enjoy it.
This is done usually by a suspension and sometimes the suspension time will be where it covers before and after a holiday, which again hits the employees in his or her means of earning an income. If one is in a non-pay- status before and after a holiday that employee will also be docked holiday pay.
However, when a member of management blunders there is no repercussions. I have seen many times the paperwork after a member of management mistreats an employee by suspending him, and the employee carried the ruling to a higher level and was awarded his pay that he lost while suspended, and in the letter from the arbitrator more or less scolded the manager and slapped his hands. But that is all. It didn’t cost the manager a thing.
I know of one manager, Bob, who has never had one of his punishing decisions concurred by an arbitrator. Twice, not once, but twice, the Postal Service, had to award the abused employee (female each time) a cash settlement up way up in the thousands of dollars for a sexual harassment case. At least one of those decisions Bob cannot even work in the same building as the person he harassed.
Yet, he has not been punished at all… and his hands were only slapped someplace in a long letter.
Unmanaged get punished, usually monetarily, and managers don’t – and they do make some very costly errors.
But on a lighter note, one time I turned in a suggestion. Shortly after I turned mine in – according to the dates – my immediate manager turned in the same suggestion, worded the same. He got a $50 cash award. I wrote the Awarding Committee with a copy of my suggestion and asked when was the other suggestion turned in (then I didn’t know it was my boss). It turned out there was “a mix-up” and when all was said and done I got the $50 cash award.
That sort of reminds me of the above today's Dilbert cartoon .
That was no "mix-up" and I'm glad you questioned it.
ReplyDeleteJudy,
ReplyDeleteI wanted to make an impartial post about how workers get punished monetarily and the management do not get repercussions for their blatant mistakes and the more I typed the more personal it got. I would be a bad journalist.