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Finding a Job after being fired for Gross Misconduct
Toryn
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hey guys, thought I would finally ask an audience of my peer's about this than trying to troll the internet for an answer. I worked for Wal-Mart for nearly 3 years when I was fired for Gross Misconduct back in December. What basically happened was, as a part of my job in Grocery DSD, I was also responsible for processing grocery damages and grocery reclamations. If something got damaged/was out of date etc, I scanned it and either threw it away or sent it back to the manufacturer for credit. I am also an insulin dependent diabetic, and have been having issues with it for the last year, spikes, lows, you name it. I was told if my sugar dropped and needed something get it.
They pulled me into the office with the LP manager, and said they had video of me taking gatorade that was going to the dumpster and consuming it. I told them about the situation with my diabetes and they said it wouldn't be a big deal, just a write up for "grazing". Than my store manager came in and said I was being fired for Gross Misconduct and was discharged. I can handle the being fired, but what my question really is, how can I find a job with this on my record? What can Wal-Mart say to future employers, and what do I need to put on my resume/job applications why I left Wal-Mart?
They pulled me into the office with the LP manager, and said they had video of me taking gatorade that was going to the dumpster and consuming it. I told them about the situation with my diabetes and they said it wouldn't be a big deal, just a write up for "grazing". Than my store manager came in and said I was being fired for Gross Misconduct and was discharged. I can handle the being fired, but what my question really is, how can I find a job with this on my record? What can Wal-Mart say to future employers, and what do I need to put on my resume/job applications why I left Wal-Mart?
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For something like this though, honesty is your best bet. You seem sympathetic, and their actions - if this is the first time this has happened - would appear grossly disproportionate to the crime given your 3 years of unimpeachable conduct.
Just be honest on your applications. And when they call Wal-Mart, the worst Wal-Mart can say is 'No, we will not hire this guy again.".
If you really want to know what sort of reference Wal Mart is going to give you, have a friend pretend to be a manager for something and call them up.
definitely never ever do that
it is infinitely better. Failing to disclose that will be grounds for termination from another job, and "I lied on my resume because I got fired from walmart for an alleged theft" is much more difficult to explain than "I drank a bottle of gatorade and someone higher up decided to use it as an excuse to boot me for fresher, cheaper labor"
Huh?
How exactly do you suggest he explain the three year gap in employment?
I was not aware that consuming product that has been deemed unfit for sale is stealing. Especially for health reasons.
That exact thing happened to one of my friends. He'd worked at IGA for 3 years and they fired him for eating some chips from a busted packet, unfit for sale.
Health concerns aside (and any prior approval that management may have given relating to those health concerns), of course it is stealing. Fit for sale or not the product belongs to the company, even if it is put in the trash it is still their property for as long as it is on their site. Switch the gatorade for lets say an iPod... "It had been dropped on the floor, was dented badly and no longer fit for sale so that means I can just walk out the store with it." That sound right to you?
Anyway, on the topic at hand - personally I would be honest about it at your next immediate job, but then never mention it at any subsequent jobs. For your next employer who wants to know why you left, being honest with them and focusing on the health concern and that you believed you had approval for this will be way better than it coming out on a reference and it looking like you hid something. For any jobs after that, just dont use them as a reference.
- "I'd rather not get into the details, but I left under less than amicable circumstances."
- Explained the situation in a non-accusatory manner, so it was more a "perfect storm" of conditions which resulted in my being let go.
Both worked.
"Why did you leave Walmrt"
"I was sacked for stealing some Gatoraid"
Is far wose than,
"Why did you leave Walmart"
"I suffer from diabetes and was having a sugar low, because of this I needed to have some sugar urgently. I drank a bottle of Gatoraid from stock and the LP manager said this was fine, however the store manager overruled this and did not think this action was appropriate. Ultimately I was let go from the company"
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
I would never hire someone who told me this. It shows:
1) Poor judgment, both professionally and personally.
2) Inability to follow basic rules and problems with authority.
3) HIPPA red flags; way too much personal medical info. Now as a manager that I know they have diabetes, it's a whole other game with polices.
Just saying from a hiring manager perspective, you'd be too much of a risk. I'd rather hire one of the thousand other people waiting in line.
MuddBudd has it right. WalMart is not responsible for your health. And you can get the store in trouble for consuming spoiled-out goods. It's stupid for the most part, but once it's tagged, it must be destroyed or RMA'd.
Why the hell would having diabetes even become a consideration? That's ridiculous. I can kind of understand your first two points but the third is categorically retarded.
I think ExpiredHero has it right. If it wasn't such a long time frame you'd been there I'd just keep it off of the resume. I don't think that's really an option for you though.
Yeah corporate policy has no forgiveness, no matter how valid the exception is.
Another option is to tell managers in the future that you may occasionally stop working to run up front and buy something sweet, even when not on break.
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
But really, if you press someone for an answer, that's probably the absolute best one to give. You're honest about the situation and there's absolutely nothing about HIPPA, diabetes, or whatever that would interfere with future jobs. He got permission, and someone higher up than that person said no, fired him, end of story.
As long as you don't go telling your wife who then posts it on Facebook when it was told in confidence, and you didn't request his patient records to sell on Ebay, there's no HIPPA issues there. That's like not hiring someone because they're fat and didn't hide their fatness from you before hand, and then when you asked them why their clothes are so large, you wonder why they told you.
That's a stupid analogy, but not hiring someone because they sought permission for a medical necessity needed a stupid analogy. That shows planning and respect.
Because if they didn't hire him he could accuse them of discrimination based on the fact he revealed his chronic condition voluntarily
edit: Though it depends on state laws whether or not diabetes or other chronic illnesses are a protected class
Like I said, it'd be stupid to not consider him because of it. So, any hiring manager that goes "lawl you told me you have diabetes, not gonna hire you, next person please" like the above is a pretty bad person.
I'm gonna disagree here - as having worked at many small and medium sized companies HR roles, a lot of hiring folks do not want to hear about ANY medical issue. Medical issues automatically mean missed work, disability claims, altered work schedules, inability to perform certain tasks, and in the case of small business, higher insurance premiums.
Is it right? No. Is it supported by fact? No. Do they still do it? Yep.
I'm not letting SIMM off the hook either - dude you have diabetes. Stop fucking around with your health. If you know that you can have a sugar crash, you need to keep sugar on you. There shouldn't be a reason you don't have a source of it tucked away in a pocket - even if its a couple sugar packets. If your condition warrants dire action, then you need to be prepared for that. If your condition doesnt warrant dire action, then you had no reason to go dumpster diving. The problem from the corporate perspective is that people begin to think of taking stuff from disposal as a job perk and they tend to stamp that out with an iron boot.
Everything else should be covered under a workers contract. Sick time, disability as required by the federal government should be deducted anyway, schedules should be decided on hire, inability to perform tasks with diabetes? Like what?
I mean honestly if you came here to say "you're going to get weeded out if you admit you have diabetes because of the large pool of applicants" just say it, don't justify why it's okay to say it.
Sorry if I wasn't clear on that. Yeah, I didn't mean diabetes specifically, but any medical info is best left unsaid. Once you know an employee has any sort of medical problem, it becomes a lot more risky to fire/discipline them due to a sue-happy (American) society.
Performing tasks like:
Standing for long periods of time (Diabetes often affects feet)
Driving or operating machinery (Diabetes often affects vision)
Lifting more than 50 lbs (Diabetes can cause neuropathy -nerve- and nephrophathy -kidney- damage)
These kinds of problems can be staved off by simply by managing your disease, but if you have to admit that you were fired from your last job specifically because you DIDNT manage your disease, then you've got a major whammie against a decision to hire you.
I mean yeah a normal person can probably do it, and probably would if you asked them, but they shouldn't if they knew the consequences of doing it improperly, and that's why those regulations are there. Also, what happens if someone finds out from the DoL/OSHA that you've got a 16 year old kid tossing 130 lbs around a loading dock.
Oh yeah, I'm a whistle blower by the way.
Having a blood sugar low is a normal part of managing insulin-dependant diabetes. You can't always control the amount of physical activity you are going to perform after taking your insulin, nor can you always know that you have consumed the amount of carbohydrate it says on the packet, and both these things can cause blood glucose to drop.
I'm a type-1 diabetic and I don't carry sugar with me when I'm at work because there are free sources of glucose all over the place here (call centre full of overweight ladies = cakefest). I imagine WalMart shelves are stocked with 70% glucose in most aisles, so if the OP had been told 'You need something, you have it!', I don't think he can be accused of 'fucking around' with his health. Being naive, though? Maybe.
I've always been upfront about my disease in interviews and it's never been a problem, but I guess that's because Australia is awesome like that.
Now back to Toyrn's problem - My suggestion is to just say that you had a disagreement with the management. You took a course of action that was okay'd by the loss prevention folks but it was overruled by the store manager. If you are worried about the reference, then use the LP manager, he/she probably feels bad it went down this way.
This is what you should do, and if you slip up and say something about diabetes, just admit that you weren't carrying sugar with you that day because you had already okay-ed it. Just try not to let it slip if you can help it.
I know this for sure.
This shouldn't affect a hiring decision, but it often does.
Question: what is bad about this?