UPS Supervisor is awarded 1.5 Million

[SignificantOwner]

One thing to add. I asked my district safety manager this past December why noone is concerned about management people violating DOT guidelines. His answer was "come on man, you don't ask that question." I predict this will be an issue again.

 

[pretzel_man]

Looks like the legit DOT issue that he brought up started a witch hunt. He handled it totally wrong and embarrassed his district management group by sending the information to region. Even if he was clean his life would have been a living he'll at that point.

I hope his management team felt the pain too. They should be disciplined for allowing this DOT violation to continue. He didn't need to write anyone a letter about this. They already knew he was in violation and looked the other way. It happens with management people all the time.

Another thing - it's wrong to let anyone work 80 hours a week no matter what time of year it is.

There was a witch hunt on him, but it was 5 months later and had nothing to do with the DOT issue (from my perspective). Looks like he decided to send emails with derogatory comments about his management group. Yes, they went on a witch hunt at that point and found a witch. More emails and more problems with his use of UPS property.

You are right that 80 hours even during peak is ridiculous. You are also right that UPS has done nothing to ensure management don't go on road after working more than 60 hours.

I will bet that's why the jury sided with him, because his whistleblower argument seems very weak to me.

P-Man

 

[dannyboy]

I will bet that's why the jury sided with him, because his whistleblower argument seems very weak to me.

from what i could piece together, the jury felt like the termination reasons were not that solid, so they felt ups owed him something, like his job back. ups agreed to pay the 1.5 because they wanted rid of him. a partial win for both sides

but they did not vote to give him the full amount he sued for.

there were no punitive damages for whistleblower retaliation, because there was none per the evidence.


d

 

[hellfire]

we can all think what we want,, but the fact is our justice system said ups was at fault..
A federal jury in Boise on Thursday awarded a Boise man a almost $1.5 million award after he claimed United Parcel Service, Inc. fired him in retaliation for reporting federal violations.
In 2007, Darel Hardenbrook filed suit, claiming the company violated state policy by terminating him for reporting federal transportation rule violations.

 

[pretzel_man]

we can all think what we want,, but the fact is our justice system said ups was at fault..
A federal jury in Boise on Thursday awarded a Boise man a almost $1.5 million award after he claimed United Parcel Service, Inc. fired him in retaliation for reporting federal violations.
In 2007, Darel Hardenbrook filed suit, claiming the company violated state policy by terminating him for reporting federal transportation rule violations.

And I guess you read the case? After reading it, what opinion did you gain, and why?

 

[dannyboy]

hf

what you quoted was a headline sumary from a reporter.

he sued ups for more than what was listed, and that was the only reason he got any money at all. had it been for whistle blowing, the whole suit would have been dismissed.

it says so in the papers from the court.

so the money part was not because of the dot "whistle blowing" activity, but instead because of the other parts of the lawsuit.

read it for yourself.

d

 

[IWorkAsDirected]

Biased and naive as well.

Yup!!

 

[sosocal]

A 3 year case with legal fees, possibly 3 years of bills piling up, and taxes...May not be much money left.

my understanding of the legal system is that when YOU win in court the defense (UPS) will pay your legal fees...Taxes as we all know are like death - inevitable.

 

[RoyalFlush]

It was a witch hunt in my opinion. If they fired every employee (management and hourly) that used email, internet and communications equipment for personal use they would have to fire a whole bunch of people. The policy allows for occasional personal use as long as it is not for business purposes and does not violate any other policies.

 

[SignificantOwner]

It was a witch hunt in my opinion. If they fired every employee (management and hourly) that used email, internet and communications equipment for personal use they would have to fire a whole bunch of people. The policy allows for occasional personal use as long as it is not for business purposes and does not violate any other policies.

Agreed! The people that fired him would likely lose their jobs if held to the same standard. If this supervisor had any relationships or kept his eyes open he would have been able to give specifics to make this case. Unfortunately, judging from the way he handled the DOT issue relationship building wasn't his strong suit.

 

[dannyboy]

a witch hunt it might have been, and while i do believe that his charges had serious merit, the way he went about it is what caused his termination.

ups management is really big into projecting a solid, undivided team to the rest of the world. his emails etc were not conducive for that. so they fired him. the 1.5 million was a breach of contract comp package that the jury gave to him, not sure how they came up with the number.

but, contrary to the posting here, the settlement had nothing to do with the dot and whistle blowing activity. as per

UPS Spared Punitive Damages Bid In Retaliation Suit

New York (October 28, 2009) -- A federal judge has spared UPS Inc. from a punitive damages claim in a breach of contract lawsuit brought by three managers in Idaho who say they were disciplined after they questioned whether salaried supervisors were violating the U.S. Department of Transportation's service hour regulations by making deliveries themselves, especially around Christmas.
Magistrate Judge Candy W. Dale found that lead plaintiff Darel Hardenbrook would not likely be able to prove enough facts at trial to support an award of punitive damages, according...

so no, he was not fired for whistle blowing on the company. actually, from what i read, he never called the dot to report the violations to them.

if he had, the punitive damages would have been awarded.

d