A time when I witnessed prejudice occurred when my husband was working for a small moving company. He was on a team of five and the only Caucasian. The team worked well together, however when he went to the owner of the company to ask for overtime pay, he was fired on the spot. My husband was then told that no employee receives overtime. The owner then went on to explain that all the employees understood that they do not receive overtime. They get paid for time worked and that is it. Later we found out that certain employees did receive overtime pay. The employees who receive overtime pay were family members and African-American.
Equity was diminished in the situation because the employees were treated differently where their pay is concerned. Certain employees were paid overtime but others were not. In my husband's case, he was fired for insisting that he gets paid for the overtime he worked. Furthermore, the owner asked the employees to work the overtime hours, so he was aware that the employees were working ten and eleven hours in a day.
I was extremely upset by this incident. It brought up feeling of unfairness and negative feelings towards this individual and his character.
I feel as though the owner needs to change his work ethics. He needs to research labor laws. In addition, I think the owner must pay his employees fairly or have written policies and procedures in place. I do not feel my husband needs to change any of his behaviors where this incident is concerned.
Elizabeth - situations like this are difficult, because what that employer did sounds illegal. I have been in situations where one must decide to say something, purse litigation, or walk away. Understandably, most people do not pursue litigation, and saying something just makes your peers and your supervisors mad. In my situation with my employer, I became more and more angry over time. My faith and this class are helping me deal with it better. How did your husband handle the situation after being fired?
ReplyDeleteHe walked away-very mad but he did not feel he could do anything. This was a hard situation for us. In reflection, I wish we would have pursued litigation.
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