Husband deployed, wife fired.

Abbey Normal

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Jul 9, 2005
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Mid-Atlantic region
Woman Sees Husband Off to War, Gets Fired

CALEDONIA, Mich. (AP) - A woman who took an unpaid leave of absence from work to see her husband off to war has been fired after failing to show up for her part-time receptionist job the day following his departure.

"It was a shock,'' said Suzette Boler, a 40-year-old mother of three and grandmother of three. ``I was hurt. I felt abandoned by people I thought cared for me. I sat down on the floor and cried for probably two hours.''

Officials at her former workplace, Benefit Management Administrators Inc., confirmed that Boler was dismissed when she didn't report to work the day after she said goodbye to her husband of 22 years.

"We gave her sufficient time to get back to work,'' Clark Galloway, vice president of operations for Benefit Management, told The Grand Rapids Press for a story published Wednesday.

He added that other factors were involved in the decision but he declined to elaborate.

On Oct. 16, Boler went with her husband, Army Spc. Jerry Boler, 45, to an Indianapolis-area airfield, where he and others in his National Guard unit gathered to be transported to Fort Dix, N.J. The unit soon will be deployed to Iraq, where he will help guard convoys from insurgent attacks.

Suzette Boler had received permission to take off work the week leading up to her husband's departure. As a part-time employee at Benefit Management, she did not receive vacation pay and was not compensated for her time off.

When Boler returned home from Indiana on the night of Oct. 16, a few hours after leaving her husband at the airfield, she said she felt drained by the emotional ordeal.

She said she had told her bosses that she would try to return on Oct. 17 but if she could not, she would definitely be back Oct. 18, she said.

But on the afternoon of Oct. 17, she received a call from work telling her to come in the following day and get her things because she was being fired. Her pink slip said the reason was she failed to show up for work Oct. 17, a Monday, she said.

"If I had even an inkling that I would be fired for not coming in Monday, I would have been there,'' she said.

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/story.jsp?idq=/ff/story/0001/20051027/0445206086.htm
 
Abbey Normal said:
Woman Sees Husband Off to War, Gets Fired

CALEDONIA, Mich. (AP) - A woman who took an unpaid leave of absence from work to see her husband off to war has been fired after failing to show up for her part-time receptionist job the day following his departure.

"It was a shock,'' said Suzette Boler, a 40-year-old mother of three and grandmother of three. ``I was hurt. I felt abandoned by people I thought cared for me. I sat down on the floor and cried for probably two hours.''

Officials at her former workplace, Benefit Management Administrators Inc., confirmed that Boler was dismissed when she didn't report to work the day after she said goodbye to her husband of 22 years.

"We gave her sufficient time to get back to work,'' Clark Galloway, vice president of operations for Benefit Management, told The Grand Rapids Press for a story published Wednesday.

He added that other factors were involved in the decision but he declined to elaborate.

On Oct. 16, Boler went with her husband, Army Spc. Jerry Boler, 45, to an Indianapolis-area airfield, where he and others in his National Guard unit gathered to be transported to Fort Dix, N.J. The unit soon will be deployed to Iraq, where he will help guard convoys from insurgent attacks.

Suzette Boler had received permission to take off work the week leading up to her husband's departure. As a part-time employee at Benefit Management, she did not receive vacation pay and was not compensated for her time off.

When Boler returned home from Indiana on the night of Oct. 16, a few hours after leaving her husband at the airfield, she said she felt drained by the emotional ordeal.

She said she had told her bosses that she would try to return on Oct. 17 but if she could not, she would definitely be back Oct. 18, she said.

But on the afternoon of Oct. 17, she received a call from work telling her to come in the following day and get her things because she was being fired. Her pink slip said the reason was she failed to show up for work Oct. 17, a Monday, she said.

"If I had even an inkling that I would be fired for not coming in Monday, I would have been there,'' she said.

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/story.jsp?idq=/ff/story/0001/20051027/0445206086.htm

I think the company should have elaborated what 'other issues', but since they didn't, it looks very bad of them for treating a military family member this way.
 
Mr. P said:
It would be nice to hear the whole story on this...

At this point I side with the employer, based on the story.

I'm inclined to agree that if we heard those "other details," she would not look very sympathetic. But I think given the sensitivity of the issue, the employer should have held off. If there really were "other issues," wait a month or so and fire her then instead of making sending off your military husband the straw that broke the camel's back.

It's just bad PR.
 
William Joyce said:
I'm inclined to agree that if we heard those "other details," she would not look very sympathetic. But I think given the sensitivity of the issue, the employer should have held off. If there really were "other issues," wait a month or so and fire her then instead of making sending off your military husband the straw that broke the camel's back.

It's just bad PR.
Agreed.
 
From what it looks like in the article, she was given the day off to send off her husband. It was when she didnt show up for work the day after that she was laid off. I can't say I am terribly sympathetic when the Employeer gives opportunity tot say goodbye and then an employee takes advantage of that for extra time off. If they were being a real hard @$$ they could have told her she had to work the day of the send off.

Also, out of curiosity. how does a 40 year old have three grandchildren?
 
yeha im thinking we need to hear the rest of the story.

by the way, of a 16 year old girl gets knocked up, and has 3 kinds in as many years, she could have g/kids. in theory anyway :arabia:
 
Johnney said:
yeha im thinking we need to hear the rest of the story.

by the way, of a 16 year old girl gets knocked up, and has 3 kinds in as many years, she could have g/kids. in theory anyway :arabia:


Doesnt even need to be 16. She could have had a daughter that is 22 to 18 at that point. Very well could be a grandmom 3 times.
 

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