Submitted by Gene Howington, Guest Blogger
Webster’s defines compassion as:
In yet another instance of corporate callousness, Claudia Rendon, a 41-year old mother from Philadelphia, was fired from her job at Aviation Institute of Maintenance after taking leave to donate a kidney to her son, Alex. Kidney transplant surgery normally takes six to eight weeks recovery time. Rendon had discussed taking unpaid leave from July 19 to undergo the kidney transplant surgery on July 21 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and to return to her job on September 1. She told ABC News that on her last day of work, her manager presented her with a letter to sign acknowledging that her job was not secure one hour after telling her that she would have her job upon her return. On August 24, Rendon informed Aviation Institute of Maintenance that she might not be able to return to work September 1 due to severe lower back pain; a common complication of such surgery. Aviation Institute of Maintenance said they wanted a letter from the doctor. The University of Pennsylvania hospital and her short-term disability provider each wrote letters to Rendon’s employer stating she would return to work Sept. 12. Upon making a social visit to Aviation Institute of Maintenance on September 8, she found out her position had been filled by someone else on September 6. Alex, who was a student at AIM, has also suffered repercussions of undergoing this lifesaving transplant. The school is trying to collect $2,000 related to time he took off in addition to trying to charge him $150 to re-enroll. Did Aviation Institute of Maintenance break the law? Or are they just another example of a callous employer lacking in compassion?
The Federal Family and Medical Leave Act, which would require the employer to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave, does not apply because Aviation Institute of Maintenance has less than 50 employees. Perhaps the Federal Americans With Disabilities Act or the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act applies and may yet provide remedy. The ADA would require her employer to provide “reasonable accommodation” to the temporary disability caused by the surgery. In this instance, it is quite reasonable to assert that the employers action should have been to hire a temp through a service to cover the 12 day gap. The PHRA applies to all public and private employers in Pennsylvania with four or more employees and, although the language is not as clear as the ADA, does provides similar anti-discrimination protection in employment practices. This is a matter for the courts to decide as their actions relate to both the ADA and the PHRA. The answer the question of whether the Aviation Institute of Maintenance break the law is “maybe”. Any remedy may be mitigated by the fact that since receiving so much bad publicity over this matter, AIM has put Rendon back on salary pending a new opening. This does not mean she has her job back or will remain on payroll.
However, as to the question of whether or not AIM has acted in a callous manner lacking of any modicum of compassion, I think that is without question. They first agreed to hold her position then at the last minute and in an abundance of unfair bargaining position forced her to sign a letter releasing them from liability if they didn’t hold her position. They failed to make a reasonable accommodation for her (and her son’s) recovery. They attempted to compound the damage done by replacing Rendon by trying to collect money and fees from Alex during his recovery.
Aside from any remedy the courts can apply, do you think it is enough? Should we as a society encourage consumers to not do business with companies that treat their employees badly? Even if their bad actions as in the case of Cecelia Ingraham are not per se illegal? What do you think?
Sources: ABC News, Huffington Post, Daily Mail
~Submitted by Gene Howington, Guest Blogger
Roco I had a caustic comment half made to you when I had to answer a phone call. I will tell you that the woman who called is a friend of over 40 yrs a conservative and Christian. She has more compassion in her than you could ever conceive of. So a word to all libs, there are conservatives who understand compassion. Roco , You are not one of ’em. Talking to you about compassion is like describing Picasso to my Pug. He turns his head in that inquisitive ways but when I ask him what he thinks he says, “Jo Atkins:
your statement makes no sense.”
“And I do agree that a man has got to know his limitations. You can learn something from a Dirty Harry movie.”
Roco,
You certainly can. Among the main lessons are:
1. Stand a well-muscled 6’4″
2. Shoot first and often.
3. Use a large caliber gun
4. Have a working knowledge of sadism.
5. Put yourself above the law.
And most importantly:
6. Carry a badge.
I’m not sure how I can apply them to my life, oh but the fantasy! :=D
“but that’s probably just sour grapes coming from someone who’s stoopid (140 IQ) when compared to you…”
Slarti,
I think you know how much I think those 10, 20 or 30 IQ points are worth when it comes to intelligence. Had I been really smart I would have seen the future when I took Computer Languages as my final course at college in 1966, but as usual I was too busy getting high and getting laid to see the possibilities before me. I don’t regret it, but it sure as hell would have been cool and interesting to have followed that career track.
Those that had that vision back then were way smarter than me and I say so with no regret, but just a little envy. Just one of many examples on the futility of using IQ as a measure of anything but the ability to do well on an IQ tests.
Jo Atkins:
you choose.
How does thinking that a doctor or nurse in a deadly epidemic is more important [at least until the epidemic is over] than say a tailor equate to thinking some lives have more value than others at all times?
Slarti:
Maybe the boss was a great guy and the employee didnt want to let his boss down because there was a big project due and it needed his special attention and knowledge. If the guy didnt come to work, a year of work goes down the drain and the company closes its’s doors and 200 people are now out on the street looking for work.
200 people are now at the vicissitudes of the economy and their families might starve all because one guy couldnt get to work because he had a fever of 103. Take some Advil and drink a bunch of water for 8 hours get the project in on time and keep the company from having to shut it’s doors.
We can play this what if shit all day long.
Where is your compassion and thinking? You would let one person stay home even though you know that by doing so 200 will be financially ruined. What kind of human being are you?
Why do following your ideas through to their logical conclusion always lead to some poor bastard being out of a job and looking for work?
Roco Please be more specific as you can see I made several.
Jo Atkins:
your statement makes no sense.
*Applause* for Woosty’s sentence. Very Impressive.
Gene I think he picked up the handbook called “What All Liberals Believe” by Beck, Hannity and Limpballs Publishing
Mike S, I agree with you about “This is true of all bureaucracies that are rigidly hierarchical. Those who rise up through management often are the toadies who kiss the behinds of those above, while stoking their egos by mistreating those below.” An example of that on super industrial strength steroids is Cheney. But most Middle management types who enjoy a lil bit ‘o torture have taken the first steps to being a psychopath. After all how long can a sane person humiliate and torture another person before they lose all humanity?
Roco,
You said to Slarti “In the jobs I have had, a temperature of 103 is a pretty lame excuse not to show up for work. Once you get there, the boss says “Jesus, you look like shit take a couple of days off and come back when you feel better.”
You do 2 things by doing this, one the boss sees you as someone willing to play for the team and 2 it makes the boss feel good by letting you take a few days off. Since he is liberal and has compassion.”
You are one manipulative … well
I too am manipulative but I use my amazing powers for good not evil.
You said “I personally believe every human life has value.” But from what I have read from all your statements is that you seen to feel that some lives have more value than others. God I hope you are the low man on the totem pole wherever you may work because even one peon under your authority would live a life of hell.
You said “For example during an epidemic doctors and nurses are very valuable. That doesnt mean they have any greater right to exist.”
From this piece of s…….age comment I could extrapolate: For example— In these days of conservative grab for complete domination over the US the ignorant have more value and anyone who uses a modicum of logic, compassion,justice, learning, etc is of less value. Lets say they have an equal right to exist but still lets go after them all and *maniacal laughter* and we of the ruling classes will live happily everafter. But don’t believe ’em Roco. they will get us first and then those of you who have been dumbed down won’t have a chance. oh well so sorry Roco Hope your time enjoying your “superiority” wasn’t wasted by spending all your time worshiping Rand and Stomping the lil guy cause *whispering* we may survive.
See?
Even a cat has better understanding of the distinction between fascism and socialism than you do, Roco.
Nice run on sentence, Woosty.
Roco,
Unfortunately for you, I don’t care what Objectivists think.
About anything.
You start from a flawed premise.
Then you move on to inserting premises into mine that don’t exist, such as subservience to the state. The state should serve the many, not the few or the one. In addition, your attempts to equate fascism, which is what the Nazis actually practiced, with socialism, which is what they came to power promising but never delivered and indeed had an internal putsch (the Night of the Long Knives) to purge from the fascist ranks, are again a false equivalence that plays to your ignorance of both history and economics. Fascism is not socialism no matter how many times you try to say it is.
But keep on trying to sell that.
It just goes to illustrate how utterly full of crap you are.
Roco1, September 23, 2011 at 3:04 pm
Gene H:
Personally I dont think socialists place any value at all on individual life. They place their value in the service of the individual to the state.
—————————————-
They do both. There can be no ‘socialism’ without personal and individual confidence that serving the social contract with the state is beneficial in some way to human need to maintain a safe and meaningful quality of life for thier selves and families. As a Republic and Democracy we are not so much in danger of becoming socialistic….a little socialism would go a long way towards preserving our Constitutionally ordained Republic…at the moment we are in grave danger of devolving into a fascist state run by corporate special self interests….interests that ‘non-entity’ entities like corporations have already proven they can not manage responsibly without crushing those who they purport to support with thier varying business models.
hows that for an extremely long runon sentence?….pretty merciless eh?
Roco,
If I was that boss (who’s employee felt that dragging themselves into work sick was the appropriate thing to do). I would feel like I had somehow displayed a startling lack of compassion and I would wonder how I had fucked up so badly as to have fostered a working environment where someone I was responsible for had made a decision that was wrong on so many levels. Wrong for them personally (they should have stayed home to rest and recover), wrong for all their coworkers (now at risk of being infected), and wrong for the team (the quality/quantity of work done will suffer). Not to mention the loss of morale because the boss (me) was an egotistical asshole who was okay with a loss of efficiency in the team as long as it made him feel like he was being compassionate. That doesn’t sound like a description of the kind of boss I’d like to be…
Why is it that following your ideas to their logical conclusion always seems to end in hypocrisy or contradiction?
Mike,
Thank you for reminding me of a lesson that I learned long ago – there’s always someone smarter. I’ve always found that the measure of how worthy a person is doesn’t depend on how smart they are, it depends on what they do with the intelligence (or other abilities or resources) they have – but that’s probably just sour grapes coming from someone who’s stoopid (140 IQ) when compared to you… 😉
Mike Spindell:
Yes I understand that intelligence takes many forms. Right brain, left brain, spacial, emotional, artistic, etc. I also understand that some people are good at many different things or extremely good at one thing because of the ability to bring their minds into full focus and attack a problem.
And I do agree that a man has got to know his limitations. You can learn something from a Dirty Harry movie. 🙂
Gene H:
Personally I dont think socialists place any value at all on individual life. They place their value in the service of the individual to the state. At least Rand maintained an individual had the right to place a higher value on their own life than as a mere cog in the machinery of society.
Didnt those darned Nazis believe in subservience to the state?
“Gemeinnutz geht vor Eigennutz” (“The community comes before the individual”)”.
Why yes they did. So how do you reconcile that fact there Gene? On the one hand you say Rand was a selfish pig of a woman/human being for thinking/saying every man has a right to his life and that all men have value simply because they are men. But on the other hand you believe men should be subservient to the community and do not have an exclusive right to their own life.
Seems to me you are as full of stuffing as a Christmas Goose and have no real understanding of the value of human life.
Right to your own life vs the community owns your life. If wanting to be free is selfish then count me as the most selfish person you will ever meet.
“You wouldnt expect someone with an IQ of 110 to come up with the theory of relativity.”
Roco,
My IQ is in the range of 150 or so. Yet I have no doubt that there are literally thousands of physicists, with perhaps lower I.Q.’s, that are much smarter than me. IQ is simply a measure of one’s test taking abilities, reasoning and verbal skills. True intelligence is a synergy of those, with many more elements added, the ability to think spatially for instance. I know I’m smart, but daily I am blown away by people who I deem to be smarter and have more knowledge than I, even though I might have a higher IQ. That is not humility by the way, I am far from humble, but I do pride myself on knowing my skills and their limitations.
Jo Atkins:
“You are no more or less valuable than me or anyone else……..I don’t think you understand that.”
I understand, maybe even better than you do. But your skills could be more or less valuable to an individual or society. For example during an epidemic doctors and nurses are very valuable. That doesnt mean they have any greater right to exist.
I personally believe every human life has value.
I also believe that if BBT is treating it’s employees like shit it should be ashamed of itself. You dont treat people poorly, especially if you are in a superior position to them.
Slarti:
I was using that as an allegory. To say different levels of income or ability should be treated with different standards. You wouldnt expect someone with an IQ of 110 to come up with the theory of relativity.
In the jobs I have had, a temperature of 103 is a pretty lame excuse not to show up for work. Once you get there, the boss says “Jesus, you look like shit take a couple of days off and come back when you feel better.”
You do 2 things by doing this, one the boss sees you as someone willing to play for the team and 2 it makes the boss feel good by letting you take a few days off. Since he is liberal and has compassion.