I was fired for voting - LONG POST INSIDE
 

Hello GCers!


I have a ridiculous story to tell everyone about something that happened to me yesterday.



I was fired from my job.



For voting.



I was an Election Official.



Yes, you read that correctly. My employment with the County of San Diego - Registrar of Voters was terminated because I took a lunch break so I that could fill in my absentee ballot. It's a LONG story, but here's what happened:


I was hired to work as an Assistant Trainer on a team which trained pollworkers in the weeks leading up to Election Day. Because there is no need to conduct training on Election Day, my employment was scheduled to end on November 1st. That is, I was not expected to work Election Day when I was hired. Of course, since I wasn't working on Tuesday, I didn't request an absentee ballot - I was going to go to my elementary school to vote like normal.


Now, last Thursday, one of my supervisors asked me if I would be willing to come in on Election Day and work on the Hotline (which pollworkers call when they need help). I told her I did not feel confident that I was knowledgeable enough to answer their calls. I offered to help out elsewhere in the warehouse, parking control, etc. However, Sunday afternoon I got a message from the ROV letting me know that I'm scheduled to be working on the Hotline/Dispatch from 5:15am to 9:30pm and that I need to go to a training class for that at 6pm on Monday.


I called back thinking it was a mistake. Nope. It turns out that I was recommended for Dispatch which is different from Hotline. The Hotline folks take the calls and try to solve problems. If a Troubleshooter is needed, they fill out a Dispatch ticket, it gets sent over to the correct Dispatch Zone and a Dispatcher radios the Troubleshooter to send them to a precinct to assist, replenish supplies, whatever. Ok, I figured I could handle reading off of a list and radioing people, so I agreed to work on Election Day. AT THAT TIME, I asked the coordinator if I would have the opportunity to vote on Election Day as I did not request an absentee ballot (again, because I didn't know I'd be working). She hemmed and hawed a bit not sure about that. She said they might be able to find me a Provisional ballot. I said I did NOT want to vote provisional when I could just drive down the street to my own polling place and have a sure vote. I asked if they could get me a ballot from my precinct (each precint has different candidates and issues). She wasn't sure. I said that if they can't find one, then they HAVE to let me drive to my polling place as that's the law - an employer must let me have time off to vote. She said she would ask, and, if nothing else, I could drive down the street on my lunch break and hurry back.


The next morning, I arrived for my final day of conducting classes. Another supervisor stopped me to tell me that they figured out my voting problem. She gave me a form to fill out so that I could receive an emergency absentee ballot. I was told to take it to the counter to get a ballot. Since our training team had to leave, I put the form in my bag.


Ten hours later, we returned to the ROV. At about 4:30pm, my boss, Lana, walked up and asked if I had been given the blue form. I responded in the affirmative. She then instructed me to go to the front counter and get my ballot and vote. I said something like "Vote? You mean now?" and she said yes. I explained to her that I couldn't possibly vote at that exact minute because I didn't have any of my materials with me such as my sample ballot, my notes, etc. After all, if I had known I was going to be asked to voet on Monday, I might have brought my materials to work with me. I then asked if she knew if the ballot they were going to give me was one from my precinct. She didn't know. She wasn't even sure they had one. I started to get "upset" about it, again insisting that I wanted a ballot from my precinct and adding that, after 10 long hours of work that day, I was totally unprepared to vote. Another lady walked up and tried to reassure me saying that I could take it home with me and bring it back in the morning. Lana disagreed and wanted to me to go to the counter to vote. She said that I better hurry because the counter closes at 5pm. It was 4:45. The other lady tried again to tell me I could fill it out at home, put it in the envelope and drop it in the drop-off box on Tuesday. So, in the end, I went to the front, received my ballot and proceeded to my Dispatch training class.


Since I had to attend a surprise training class after a long day's work, I was too tired that evening to fill my ballot in. After all, I was meant to return to the ROV to be at my station ready to dispatch at 5:15am! I figured I'd surely have a moment to fill it in sometime during my 16-hour shift on Election Day.


The next day, I was there on-time and ready to go. There were 8 dispatchers, 4 in each "zone". In my zone, there was me, Patty, Eden and Patsy. Unfortunately, Patty and Eden weren't dispatching as they were working on other projects. In the most crucial early hours when the polls opened, my co-worker Patsy and I were alone doing twice the amount work than if all 4 dispatchers had been at their stations. The dispatch tickets were coming in by the hundreds. Finally, sometime around noon, the other two sat down to work on dispatching "full-time".


I remember Patty mentioning that it would be a zoo up until about 10am when it gets quieter, then we could take breaks. In case you were wondering, there was no set policy regarding taking lunch breaks. At 3pm, some TEN hours after I started working, I finally "hit a brick wall". I was tired and needed a break. All of my troubleshooters apparently had gone on their lunches because no one was responding to my dispatch calls. So, I figured that was as good a time as any to go on break. Patty and Eden were on calls, so I turned to Patsy and told her that I was going to take my break to eat and fill in my ballot. She offered to look after my phone in case any of the troubleshooters called in. I went about 30 feet down the hall to the lunch room and nibble on some food while filling in my ballot. Other workers from the warehouse joked with me about electioneering while I filled my ballot.....so I KNOW I have witnesses who saw me casting my vote.


I emerged an hour later and returned to my station. As I waited for Patty to get out of my seat, a bystander (who is a "friend") whispered to me that, while I was gone, "they" had been talking about me saying that I "walked off the job". Sure enough, a few minutes later, Lana asked to speak with me. She led me into the outside hallway, turned around and fired me. She simply said something to the effect of, "I don't think you're suited for working Dispatch. I think it's best for you to go home." She didn't even ask me, "Hey, we noticed you missing there for a while, what happened? Is everything ok?" I mean, what if I had been taken ill? What if I had a family emergency on the phone? Of course, she apparently didn't think to ask *everyone* if they knew where I went. I explained that I had *not* "walked off the job"....I had merely gone to the lunch room to vote. She gave me an angry, exasperated look and retorted, "I thought I told you to do that last night!!!" My repsonse was to remind her that I had told her directly last night that I could NOT vote because I did not have any materials with me. She just looked at me angry.


I looked her in the eye and told her, "I'd rather be fired than give up my right to vote."


With that, we went back inside so I could hand over my phone and update my replacement (who they had found while I was on my break!!). I apologized to Patty for any difficulty I may have caused to the "team". Since she's the one who apparently "got me in trouble", I informed her, for the record, that I did not walk off the job. I explained to her that I went to lunch to cast my vote. Her response was, "Oh, well, Patsy only told us that just now." Right.....like no one thought to ask Patsy where I was seeing that she was sitting right next to me for ten hours and my stuff was still on my chair. Anyway, I made sure to say goodbye to all of my "friends" and tell them that I got fired.


On my way out, I was trying to figure out what to do. So, I walked up to some important people and asked to speak with Sally and/or Tim - the Registrar of Voters and the Asst. Registrar (the Big Cheeses). I was asked if I have an appointment, etc. So I said, "No, but I've just been fired because I took a break to vote. Either I can speak to Sally or Tim, or I can walk right out the front door and start talking to the media." I was told they "weren't available" - right, I had seen Tim walking around earlier. On my word, I immediately turned, marched straight out the door and walked up to the first reporter I saw. I walked around to the various media vans looking for anyone who would listen. In general, they thought my story was incredible, but it didn't fit in with what they were trying to cover. None of the radio stations really cared either, but the San Diego Union-Tribune Newspaper reporter thought that my getting fired was one of the most ridiculous and insane things he had ever heard of and was going to see if he could get a response from the ROV about that.


So, let me break it down for you. I was a sworn Election Official working at the Registrar of Voters. My boss asked me to work Election Day at the last minute and thus caused me a situation where I might not be able to vote. My boss then attempted to coerce me into voting at a day and time of her choosing...and picked a moment when I was grossly unprepared to make an informed vote. When I chose to use my personal break time to vote the following day, I was fired for "walking off the job". The law makes it mandatory that an employer give paid time off to an employee for the purposes of voting. Instead of that, I got fired.......by the very employer you would think would know better.


Am I missing something here?


.....Kelly

I understand how upset you must be. But, the law actually states that your employer is obligated to allow you to vote IF you give them 24 hours notice that you will be leaving to vote.

It sounds like they did give you a chance to vote. Granted, you were too tired to fill out the ballot, but an opportunity was given... The opportunity was there... Since you took the ballot, they must have assumed that you would not need time to vote on Election Day.

When on a job, I make SURE that if I take a break it is OK'd by my supervisor. It doesn't sound like you cleared it with Lana. If it wasn't cleared with your manager, then you took an unauthorized break. That's considered an abandonment of position.

I think you should just consider this a learning experience. (At least you did get to vote in the end.)

Get an employment attorney now.

Well that sucks Navane. I am not sure what to tell you. If you are really annoyed about it you may want to talk to an attourney about them infringing on your right to vote.

I am not sure if the normal rules apply here, as far as the 24 hour notice because they asked you to come in on a day you were not scheduled to work.

You could write a letter to your paper and hopefully embarrass them.

Its extremely odd that they fired you that way. Granted you are probably an at-will employee, but still, firing you on the spot like that is unusal for being at lunch for an hour. It makes me wonder what someoneone said about you, or whether your supervisor disliked you or some such.

Wait? This is a temporary job?

FIRED for voting means that you lost a job you planned on continuing. You lost what, half a days work?

It still sucks, but this wasn't your full time job.

I was wondering the same thing. It sounds like an incredibly shitty situation, but wasn't the job over after yesterday?

I'm sorry that you were fired. That really stinks.

Hi Tippiechick,

Thanks for the insight. However, your statement is not correct as election law varies from state to state....please be careful about that. Even so, you weren't as generous as California Election Code.

California Election Code § 14000; 14001 states that an employee may take time off if there is not sufficient time outside working hours to vote.

Response: Polls are open in California from 7am to 8pm. My shift was scheduled from 5:15am to 9:30pm. Therefore I was qualified to request time off to vote as there was not sufficient time outside of work in order to vote.


California Election Code § 14000; 14001 states that an employee must give two days notice of need for time off.

Response: In order to make this work, one must assume that I had plenty of advance notice that I would be working. I did not - they only called me on Sunday afternoon at about 4pm. Furthermore, if you carefully read what I wrote, I clearly informed the supervisor who called me on Sunday that I would need to exercise my right to time off. So, indeed I gave them notice as soon as I found out about my Tuesday shift. There is no way they can deny that they knew that as my boss gave me an emergency ballot request form on Monday morning.


Believe me, Tippiechick, I made it very clear that I wished to vote on Election Day and my boss did not want to allow me to leave company property. My boss was trying to force me to vote on the spot. Do you think that was ok? The way I see it, accepting the ballot was not a promise to complete my vote at home late at night. It was a compromise that I would be able to vote, but not leave the property on Election Day to do so.



This is probably somewhat of a fair point. However, this wasn't your average day at the office. This is election grand central. The place was a mad house. Every available surface space was being used; there were hoardes of people running around. I saw my boss but 2 or 3 times in ten hours. So fine....I couldn't find my boss so I told my co-worker where I was going before I walked 30 feet to the lunch room. I guess I was wrong.


But was it right that my employer did not comply with California law? Under California law (IWC Orders and Labor Code Section 512), employees must be provided with no less than a thirty-minute meal period when the work period is more than five hours and another 30 minutes when the work is for 10 hours. I was scheduled for just over 16 hours and had worked 10 at the time I took my break.



Yeah, I learned not to work for the Registrar of Voters and also what not to do as a supervisor. LOL :)


.....Kelly :)

Yes, I had been hired specifically to work as a trainer in the weeks leading up to Election Day. Plus, it was not the first time I had worked for the Registrar of Voters


Though, I'm not sure how that makes a difference. I mean, if a man had groped me, would you turn around and say, "I'm sorry you were sexually harassed, but you were a temporary employee and your job ended yesterday"?


My boss attempted to coerce me into voting on Monday and was pissed off when I did not want to go along with her plan. So, when I went to take a break to vote, as is my right, she fired me. Yes, fired. "Fired" is perfectly applicable to temporary employment.


Hrm....I guess I just have a hard time seeing it from your, valkyrie, and Tippiechick's perspective.

.....Kelly

it may suck, but you can't really sue and get anything. A lawyer costs a bundle (though for something like this may be able to get it pro bono). The $ in issue is only a few dollars.

You really have no claim for lost wages or loss of opportunity. It's not like you were fired from a regular job that you depended on for income. You weren't fired from a job in which this is a stigma placed upon you that will affect your future employment opportunities.

Yeah, it sucks, but there's nothing to be gained in suing really. If you were to sue, then it would be big news, and you would lose all privacy in your life and come under intense scrutiny by the media and others.

It sucks, but the best way to deal with it would be to try to deal with it quietly and find the right people to reach.

ditto danielle...
do what do you do quietly and move on. nothing gained by a media circus.

Youch. That's harsh.

I dunno -- after 10 hours of work I think she's pretty entitled to a break.

Kelly's pretty reliable -- I can't imagine she just wandered off without looking around for a supervisor. When I read her story it sounded like she was MORE than ready for a break after 10 hrs (labor laws in most states mandate 15 min every 4 hours and 30 min every 8 hours.) It'd been go-go-go all day, there was a slight break, she looked around for a supervisor, didn't see one, arranged to have her phone covered by a coworker, and went.

That's the impression *I* have, and if it's more or less correct, I think Pam had a good call on the "get an employment lawyer" advice.



as to those who ask why it's a big deal -- to be fired from a job? That's a HUGE deal! What about when she applies for her next job? Now she needs to check the "have you ever been fired?" box. And when they check her references, that'll be a mess too. Sounds like a big deal to ME.


Sorry to hear about the situation, Kelly. Especially since you were doing a "good citizen" thing by working there in the first place.

for all you people advocating getting a lawyer: WHAT IS THE BENEFIT OF THAT?

Seriously, what is the benefit? As I explained in my earlier post, she has not suffered any sort of financial hardship because of this. She's pissed off. As she should be. As much as I would love to say lawyers can solve everyone's problems (man, that would create a much better job market for me when I graduate in a few months), THEY CAN'T

This wasn't a "real" job. It was temporary. And i'm guessing that it was at-will, meaning they could say buh bye to you at any time for any reason. I don't know who is responsible for paying the poll workers, I don't know how the voting is set up in the state.

If you sue, you're going to look like a fool in the public eye. Yes, it sucks, yes, you have a right to complain, but to make a huge issue to it you're just going to embarass yourself in the end. By suing you'll look bitter and money hungry, and the lawyer is going to cost you way more than you'll ever get out of this.

I'm not saying she should sue. I'm saying, if she talks to a lawyer and finds out what her rights really were/are, she'll know better if the firing was legal.

If it wasn't, she can go back to the woman's supervisors and handle it that way. She should get this cleared up so it doesn't affect future jobs.


Um, Dani, since you're a lawyer, can you get me a date for this Friday night?

Navane,

Write both a letter to the editor, a formal letter to your former supervisor's boss and your congressman.

HOWEVER, she has the "discharged for cause" on her employment record and THAT can cause difficulties in seeking some levels of future employment. Whether she receives any sort of financial return in the pursuit of contesting this, she SHOULD DEFINITELY continue that course to change the reason for leaving this position. Simply stating "the job ended" would not be completely correct and if the discharge were mentioned in a reference check (and some entities check thoroughly) she would be disqualified for a position for "inaccuracies" on her application.

Pursue correcting this!

You almost always get a spot to explain it. Applications will say "have you ever been fired from a job, if yes, please explain". People get fired from jobs for all kinds of dumb reasons. This was a several day job, she has a great answer to the question.

I hope that one of you GCers would be a generous donor and help her finance this. This isn't a personal injury case, it's not going to be taken on contingency, and consultation will not be free. As I said, she may be able to get someone to take it on pro bono but I don't know if it's a big enough thing.

Don't know if the ACLU would be interested, maybe?

People list every single temporary job they've had on their resumes? I've worked at tons of places for a week or two, and I never list them because I'd rather put down my two-year jobs. I'll list them only if putting down every job ever is required.

Also, why would you list somebody like this as a reference?

I don't think this is a big deal at all. Once I got "fired" from hostessing at a craft fair an hour before my shift ended. I didn't care at all.

This wasn't your full-time career. I seriously think this would get laughed out of court. What claim do you have to compensation?

I'm pretty sure this one isn't going to even make the radar at the ACLU - not to mention Baker-Botts . . .

I can see why you're upset, but your legal leg is tenuous at best, and the money involved is very little. Don't get a lawyer - write some letters explaining the situation, and hope you get an apology. I feel like that's what you deserve out of the situation, and the best you're going to get.

With some jobs you have to. Any government job, for example. And there's a spot that says, "Can we contact this employer?"

But you're right, I'm sure if she's wanting to apply at XYZ Public Relations Firm, they're just going to want to know about the 2 year stint at ABC PR Firm and the three years at DEF PR Firm, but not every little "make ends meet" job she had in between.

As far as media, Indy Media would probably be sympathetic. The San Diego IMC's website is at
http://sandiego.indymedia.org/
The ACLU might be able to do a better job advocating for you.

10 hours with no breaks just alone is ridiculous. If it was only a temporary position and voting was that important to you, I probably would have just quit on my own earlier due to the way the situation was.

I don’t know much on California, but I don’t know how much you can do about this other than take it as a learning experience, as others have said. If it was that important to you, couldn’t you have filled it out the night before when you had the ballot?

Any job requiring a security clearance will have every job investigated. And depending on the level of security clearance, use of W2 information is used to verify information (you sign a form allowing them to check your credit, your tax status, etc etc etc etc). No skeletons in the closet allowed with those.

Actually, this is a rather interesting (unclassified) description of the security clearance guidelines:
http://www.dss.mil/nf/adr/adjguid/adjguidF.htm

Losing a job shouldn't really be a problem, though they might get worried about people with an excessive amount of job turnover (like five jobs in the last three years).

Best advice in the thread.

I'd add send it to everyone that eats at the table before your supervisor.

To make it plain from whomever you supervisor reports to on up to the State Office and all your local representatives and city/county councils.

If it's going to make you feel better, by all means write a letter to the editor and to anyone involved -- as long as you're sure it's going to make you feel better. Maybe this woman is going to come back and make all kinds of crazy allegations about you. Are you prepared for the war this might start? If she responds by saying that you were an incompetent freak or something of the sort and your name is all over the papers, is that going to be a problem?

As for the legal side of things, I agree with kddani. Although I'm not familiar with employment law, typically to prevail in a lawsuit you must suffer some type of damage that is recognized by a court. Your damages here seem to be limited to the loss of wages for a few hours, and I can't imagine wanting to go through the drama and expense of a lawsuit if your result is going to be getting maybe what, $50?

Hi folks,


Some of you got carried away and started putting words in my mouth. I never said I was going to get a lawyer and sue the pants off of the County of San Diego. So please, stop lecturing me about that as if I'm the one who came up with that idea.


What I have been in the process of doing is writing a formal letter of complaint to the Registrar of Voters to express my dissatisfaction with the way my supervisor handled the situation. I am sending a copy to Human Resources with the request that they add the rebuttal to my employment file.


Extra information:

1) I feel bad that some people are making light of the fact that I'm disappointed that I lost a half day's wages. It's great that you all seem to be wealthy and have no problems, but yeah, that extra $68 does make a difference to poor people like me. In addition, I was told that I would likely be working beyond my scheduled finish of 9:30pm and having it extended to 3:30AM. So that would have been an additional $61.....not including any overtime I may have been paid. That money would have paid for a month's worth of fuel for my car or for a couple of weeks worth of groceries.

2) This may have been temporary, but it DOES affect my employment future. I am now ineligible to work the January 2005 election. In addition, as a former County employee, do you think this will look good on my record? I'm probably now going to be counted out for any jobs I apply for at the County of San Diego. :(

kddani, in response to a question you posed on another post: I was not a pollworker. Though, both myself and pollworkers are paid by the County of San Diego.


.....Kelly :)

wow kelly, i'm sorry to hear that! i think you did what was best for you, and no one should have batted an eye at it, let alone fire you for it!!!

you should write a letter to the higher-ups about your supervisor, and cc it to everyone that's anyone...

it's ridiculous that she assumes that it's ok that you worked 10+ hours without breaks, and that you don't need to vote. come on now! hopefully she won't work for the county anymore... and maybe they'll offer you HER job!! :D

Navane..

This may sound silly but when did you receive your final paycheck? Since you were terminated there are laws in CA that that dictate.
In CA it is your right to go to the Labor Board and file a claim. This is not a lawyer. They are with the department of fair housing and deal with wrongful termination and pay issues.
Yeah you may have only lost a half days worth of work but you were also terminated from a position. This may or may not effect you future employment opportunites.

Oh and by the way it is completely against the law to not give you a break after 10 hours of working........

After reading this thread two organizations came to mind to contact. League of women voters and NPR. I don't think it would hurt to contact the local chapter of the ACLU as well as the other organizations just to see what they think of this situation. Getting fired sucks whether you've had the job one month or one year.

Her supervisor was totally in the wrong for not scheduling breaks for everyone. Shame on her. It wasn't as if Kelly was going down the street to a bar to tie one on while on duty. She was in the building getting lunch and voting. Unless this building is a labyrnith(sp?) of sorts, all her supervisor would get is some extra exercise to walk down to the cafeteria to see if she was there. The Patsy woman was an additional idiot for not offering the information sooner.

*nod*
And the Secretary of State since they are in charge of elections- they can disipline the County Auditor or the staff member who fired you for voting.

And dont forget to remind the press of this little snafu when the County Auditor is up for re-election.

Did you try asking for time during that day to vote? Or did you just leave?

Who said she wasn't entitled to a break? I just said that if nshe didn't clear it with her supervisor, it could be construed as walking off the job.