Von Maur Shooting Victim Fired By Von Maur

[joeglow3]

After barely surviving being shot in the back and abdomen while working at the store, the store has now fired her because the pain makes it too difficult to stand for long stretches.

http://www.ketv.com/news/23224002/detail.html

[Gman2]

1. Torn, working in pain is no solution.

[TwilightGardener]

2. That's a shame--but, apparently they have been giving her worker's comp

and paying for her treatment. Maybe they just really need someone who can physically do the job more than 8 hours per week. Edit to add: Von Maur has, to my memory, been one of the few companies to handle a tragedy of this magnitude pretty well.

[joeglow3]

3. The company is mostly evil

My sister worked there for years (including a long stretch at the Omaha store).

They have STRICT policies of the "corporate" employees not being allowed to socialize with the "grunts." At their stores, it is 100% against company to ever socialize with ANYONE below your level.

Well, my sister was a manager at the Minneapolis store (after moving twice for the company). One of her employees was unable to get her time sheet correct because, while she showed up on time, the person unlocking the store did not. She "corrected" the employees time sheet so we was not punished for the person was late. My sister got called into the store director's office who tore her a new one about this and told her it was a fireable offense. She was upset and crying when she left the office, where a "grunt" saw her and asked what was wrong. She briefly told the girl, who she knew somewhat well, without giving an real details. Well, the store director saw this and fired her for "fraternizing" with someone below her.

In short, it is a chain stuck in the 1940's with a CLEAR class distinction among their employees.

Do some research on the company and it is quite sad.

[TwilightGardener]

5. That may be true (and it's weird), but they held her position open for

her, and she wanted to go back to work, even though it's clear that 8 hrs per week of a low-wage sales floor job isn't paying the bills. The employee obviously liked working there, more than whatever wages she received. It's sad, and I do get the sense that they didn't want to let her go. Ultimately, though, it's a business, and they need functioning employees. As long as they continue her worker's compensation and health care, I can't call them totally heartless. I wonder, though, if they could let her sit in a wheelchair and fold clothes, or do inventory--something that doesn't require lots of standing.

[NotThisTime]

4. They could have backfilled her 31 hours per week she couldn't work

Maybe she just needed to get out of the house 8 hours a week to feel a semblance of normalcy... perhaps the company should be a bit more understanding... but we wouldn't expect that these days.