Life Pregnant T-Mobile Employee had to Clock Out to Use Toilet - Page 3

Deberg_1990 · 05-02-2013, 07:35 PM

http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs...100119456.html

Kristi Rifkin had been working at T-Mobile Call Center in Nashville for four years when she got pregnant with her third child. She says she loved her job.

"I had a great run," Rifkin, 40, told ABC News. "I was making bonus. T-Mobile was good to me. I never had a problem getting a schedule I wanted. I enjoyed it. I had even left another company to work at T-Mobile because they had great benefits."

But her good will toward the company changed once she got pregnant.
According to Rifkin, the pregnancy-her second (she has one stepson)-was a difficult one, and she was going to the doctor twice a week, seeing both a regular obstetrician and a high-risk obstetrician. She was also required to drink "tons and tons" of water - which, in turn, resulted in frequent trips to the bathroom. This did not sit well with T-Mobile, she said.

"They give you two 15 minute breaks and a 30 minute lunch," said Rifkin. "If you can't take care of your biological needs in that time period, you don't go."
Before her pregnancy, this wasn't an issue. But as she explained in a blog post on MomsRising.org, frequent jaunts to the bathroom would cut into what was known in the call center world as "adherence" - a metric that measures the degree to which employees meet their quota for being on the phone.

"You have different numbers you have to meet each month, and if you don't meet them they can fire you," she said. "The thinking is that if you're off the phone and you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing, then there are customers waiting to talk to you."

She tried to hold off on eating and drinking; she needed the health insurance the job provided. But the baby was suffering, Rifkin said, and she had to start drinking water again.

Finally, she said, her supervisor pulled her aside and told her to get a note from her doctor explaining that she needed to go the bathroom often. "At that point, I thought my head was going to launch off my shoulders," said Rifkin. "'Are you serious? I need to get a note from my doctor to go to the toilet?' This is a basic biological need.'"

But Rifkin did as she was told; she got the doctor's note and cleared it with Human Resources. She was told that she could use the rest room any time she needed to, she said, but that she would have to clock out. When she returned from that bathroom, she would have to clock back in. "This meant I was out of work for five minutes," she said. She had to write the hours down and turn it into her supervisor, just to make sure she wasn't taking advantage of the situation.

"I ended up using my vacation time to use the bathroom," she said.
But she still wasn't eating and drinking as she was supposed to. Her blood pressure skyrocketed. She was stressed and anxious.

She finally went on the Family Medical Leave Act, which requires employers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to eligible employees, seven weeks before her son, Ian, was born, on May 14, 2010. A month and a half after she returned to work she was fired, she said.

The reason? Rifkin says she was summarily fired after she failed to remove an extra-charge feature from a customer's account, the commission for which was 12 cents. She says the rare error occurred when she either forgot to remove the charge or removed another charge instead.

She got no severance, she said, and now pays for medical expenses out of pocket.
Rifkin said she has no plans to sue the company; it's too expensive, and Tennessee is an at-will employment state. "They can fire you for any reason," she said
The US. Department of Labor reports that only eight states require paid rest periods and Tennessee is not among them.

"There is no specific legal requirement that requires employers to let their employees use the restroom," Paula Brantner, the executive director of Workplace Fairness, which provides legal information about workers rights. However, "If a pregnant woman is the only employee being forced to clock out, and they don't require males or non-pregnant females to do so, it would seem to me that would be pregnancy discrimination."

In an email statement to ABC News, T-Mobile spokesperson Glenn A. Zaccara said that he could not comment on a specific individual. But "T-Mobile employees enjoy generous benefits including paid-time-off and short and long-term disability coverage," he said. "The company has leave of absence policies in line with regulatory requirements."
Rifkin was not impressed.

"I'm done with T-Mobile," she said. "I don't want anything to do with them anymore."

KC native · 05-02-2013, 10:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LiveSteam

Leave DC in DC Nancy

That's rich coming from the person who loves to hang from my short and curlies.

LiveSteam · 05-02-2013, 10:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KC native

That's rich coming from the person who loves to hang from my short and curlies.

You dnt shave your puss? nasty woman

KC native · 05-02-2013, 10:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bearcat

Depended on who you asked on whether they were reasonable... some people were baffled at the top performers' numbers. As far as 3 minutes/day of after call work... did anyone ever hit that? Seems pretty insane, but the top performers should set that bar... in a situation like that, if the best anyone ever does is 20 minutes in a day, then the metrics are useless and those in charge of setting them are idiots if they don't adjust.

The metrics there were designed so that no one ever hit all of them so they could limit bonus payouts. I was a stand out in every position I had there and could never hit all of the metrics. It was ****ed.

Sweet Daddy Hate · 05-02-2013, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KC native

You aren't a money generator. You are a cost generator. Big corporate wants to extract as much value from you while paying you as little as possible.

This. Huge corps are worthless shitbags. **** every one of them.
Posted via Mobile Device

Mr. Laz · 05-02-2013, 11:56 PM

at least they didn't make her pick up gum wrappers ...

listopencil · 05-02-2013, 11:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sweet Daddy Hate

This. Huge corps are worthless shitbags. **** every one of them.
Posted via Mobile Device

I work for a very large company. I am, generally, left alone to do my job. I have almost no supervision on a daily basis. In fact in the last three weeks my boss wasn't even there for half of my shifts and missed two days completely. I have a small list of tasks that I need to perform by the end of the week, and then I keep myself busy with work related projects that I create throughout the day/week/over time. The pay and benefits are great for my geographic area too.

Bump · 05-03-2013, 12:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by listopencil

I work for a very large company. I am, generally, left alone to do my job. I have almost no supervision on a daily basis. In fact in the last three weeks my boss wasn't even there for half of my shifts and missed two days completely. I have a small list of tasks that I need to perform by the end of the week, and then I keep myself busy with work related projects that I create throughout the day/week/over time. The pay and benefits are great for my geographic area too.

sounds pretty solid

mikey23545 · 05-03-2013, 01:04 AM

Must be rough having to work while you're at work.

Garcia Bronco · 05-03-2013, 06:10 AM

Call center work is a terrible, thankless job. And the reason its like that is because consumers, thats everyone on the board, demand 24/7 service and its reeruned. We're doing this to other people. Think about it.

WhiteWhale · 05-03-2013, 06:40 AM

Call center workers are generally unskilled workers who are being paid far beyond what the work merits.

Had a friend who quit working at a call center. The best job offer she's had in 2 years is at 10 dollars less per hour than what she was being paid at her terrible job. It's a job usually reserved for women, while unskilled men have to go break their backs for 14 bucks an hour. Boo-hoo. Yeah, I know it's a shitty thankless job... that's why they're so overpaid. The majority of unskilled workers have jobs equally as shitty and often for far less money.

If you want a better job, acquire skills. Answering the phone isn't a skill. If monkeys could talk, they would do it.

Chief Roundup · 05-03-2013, 07:05 AM

**** T-Mobile. Their product sucks.
Damn 40 years old and pregnant. Got a late start.

ChiliConCarnage · 05-03-2013, 07:13 AM

It sucks but, by her own admission, the job worked fine for her before she became pregnant. You're in a position where they are trying to wring out every bit of efficiency because from most big businesses perspective you are a cost that is hurting their shareholders.

I'm not sure why they needed a doctors note for her to clock out to use the restroom. Seems unnecessary

They probably fired her for using her FMLA which is screwed up but that's what huge corps do. She became an employee who was more costly than somebody they could replace her with

I think unions tend to take things too far but at will is pretty messed up imo. We had a guy take a contract job for us a couple of years ago. He'd been with a company for 8 years and one day they dismissed him with no reason. He asked but they wouldn't give him anything. Almost a decade of his life and they couldn't even bother to give him a reason or any closure.

duncan_idaho · 05-03-2013, 07:18 AM

I write training material for a Fortune 50 company, and a lot of it is for our call center. Previously, I was a training/delivery specialist (teacher). Call centers are just a different beast.

The nature of the beast makes it a tough place for pregnant women with extra needs. That's why FMLA is in place. Best advice to her would have been to get on FMLA as SOON as the doctor started giving her special instructions.

The other side of call centers is that it typically is very difficult to fire somebody from that job. There are levels of discipline that must be reached before termination (warnings/escalations of warnings, censures, etc.), at least typically.

Call centers try to control burn rates, because training costs are extremely high.

If she was fired for what is mentioned in the article, it's likely there were incidents before that to put her on an "escalated" status (probably stemming from the extra time off the phone she was taking to use the bathroom).

Call centers are a tough environment and not for everyone. I sure as hell couldn't do that job and am glad I don't have to do it.

blaise · 05-03-2013, 07:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by listopencil

I work for a very large company. I am, generally, left alone to do my job. I have almost no supervision on a daily basis. In fact in the last three weeks my boss wasn't even there for half of my shifts and missed two days completely. I have a small list of tasks that I need to perform by the end of the week, and then I keep myself busy with work related projects that I create throughout the day/week/over time. The pay and benefits are great for my geographic area too.

That's how mine is. I can even pretty much set my own hours.

blaise · 05-03-2013, 07:24 AM

And I'm not saying this lady did this, but I once worked with a guy that would literally stay in the bathroom for a total of like 90 minutes a day. I knew him well, and he was a good guy, but I think he got burned out.
Like 5 times a day he would "go to the bathroom." Which would entail him slowly walking to the bathroom, stopping for a few minutes to talk to someone, disappearing into the bathroom for 10-15 minutes and then slowly walking back, stopping to talk to someone along the way. So, the process of "going to the bathroom" was this 20-25 minute process.

05-02-2013, 07:35 PM
Deberg_1990 In Search of a Life Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: San Antonio Tx. Casino cash: $3914454	Pregnant T-Mobile Employee had to Clock Out to Use Toilet http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs...100119456.html Kristi Rifkin had been working at T-Mobile Call Center in Nashville for four years when she got pregnant with her third child. She says she loved her job. "I had a great run," Rifkin, 40, told ABC News. "I was making bonus. T-Mobile was good to me. I never had a problem getting a schedule I wanted. I enjoyed it. I had even left another company to work at T-Mobile because they had great benefits." But her good will toward the company changed once she got pregnant. According to Rifkin, the pregnancy-her second (she has one stepson)-was a difficult one, and she was going to the doctor twice a week, seeing both a regular obstetrician and a high-risk obstetrician. She was also required to drink "tons and tons" of water - which, in turn, resulted in frequent trips to the bathroom. This did not sit well with T-Mobile, she said. "They give you two 15 minute breaks and a 30 minute lunch," said Rifkin. "If you can't take care of your biological needs in that time period, you don't go." Before her pregnancy, this wasn't an issue. But as she explained in a blog post on MomsRising.org, frequent jaunts to the bathroom would cut into what was known in the call center world as "adherence" - a metric that measures the degree to which employees meet their quota for being on the phone. "You have different numbers you have to meet each month, and if you don't meet them they can fire you," she said. "The thinking is that if you're off the phone and you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing, then there are customers waiting to talk to you." She tried to hold off on eating and drinking; she needed the health insurance the job provided. But the baby was suffering, Rifkin said, and she had to start drinking water again. Finally, she said, her supervisor pulled her aside and told her to get a note from her doctor explaining that she needed to go the bathroom often. "At that point, I thought my head was going to launch off my shoulders," said Rifkin. "'Are you serious? I need to get a note from my doctor to go to the toilet?' This is a basic biological need.'" But Rifkin did as she was told; she got the doctor's note and cleared it with Human Resources. She was told that she could use the rest room any time she needed to, she said, but that she would have to clock out. When she returned from that bathroom, she would have to clock back in. "This meant I was out of work for five minutes," she said. She had to write the hours down and turn it into her supervisor, just to make sure she wasn't taking advantage of the situation. "I ended up using my vacation time to use the bathroom," she said. But she still wasn't eating and drinking as she was supposed to. Her blood pressure skyrocketed. She was stressed and anxious. She finally went on the Family Medical Leave Act, which requires employers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to eligible employees, seven weeks before her son, Ian, was born, on May 14, 2010. A month and a half after she returned to work she was fired, she said. The reason? Rifkin says she was summarily fired after she failed to remove an extra-charge feature from a customer's account, the commission for which was 12 cents. She says the rare error occurred when she either forgot to remove the charge or removed another charge instead. She got no severance, she said, and now pays for medical expenses out of pocket. Rifkin said she has no plans to sue the company; it's too expensive, and Tennessee is an at-will employment state. "They can fire you for any reason," she said The US. Department of Labor reports that only eight states require paid rest periods and Tennessee is not among them. "There is no specific legal requirement that requires employers to let their employees use the restroom," Paula Brantner, the executive director of Workplace Fairness, which provides legal information about workers rights. However, "If a pregnant woman is the only employee being forced to clock out, and they don't require males or non-pregnant females to do so, it would seem to me that would be pregnancy discrimination." In an email statement to ABC News, T-Mobile spokesperson Glenn A. Zaccara said that he could not comment on a specific individual. But "T-Mobile employees enjoy generous benefits including paid-time-off and short and long-term disability coverage," he said. "The company has leave of absence policies in line with regulatory requirements." Rifkin was not impressed. "I'm done with T-Mobile," she said. "I don't want anything to do with them anymore."
Posts: 66,914

05-02-2013, 11:56 PM	#35
Mr. Laz Don't Tease Me Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: KS Casino cash: $11047037	at least they didn't make her pick up gum wrappers ... __________________
Posts: 95,626

05-03-2013, 01:04 AM	#38
mikey23545 MVP Join Date: Aug 2000 Casino cash: $10015321	Must be rough having to work while you're at work.
Posts: 12,314

05-03-2013, 06:10 AM	#39
Garcia Bronco No Keys, No Problem Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Denver Casino cash: $5333136	Call center work is a terrible, thankless job. And the reason its like that is because consumers, thats everyone on the board, demand 24/7 service and its reeruned. We're doing this to other people. Think about it.
Posts: 30,829

05-03-2013, 06:40 AM	#40
WhiteWhale Bring it on Ahab! Join Date: May 2011 Location: Doo-Dah Casino cash: $10015152	Call center workers are generally unskilled workers who are being paid far beyond what the work merits. Had a friend who quit working at a call center. The best job offer she's had in 2 years is at 10 dollars less per hour than what she was being paid at her terrible job. It's a job usually reserved for women, while unskilled men have to go break their backs for 14 bucks an hour. Boo-hoo. Yeah, I know it's a shitty thankless job... that's why they're so overpaid. The majority of unskilled workers have jobs equally as shitty and often for far less money. If you want a better job, acquire skills. Answering the phone isn't a skill. If monkeys could talk, they would do it.
Posts: 14,861

05-03-2013, 07:05 AM	#41
Chief Roundup Admitted Planet Junky Join Date: Oct 2000 Casino cash: $2111627	**** T-Mobile. Their product sucks. Damn 40 years old and pregnant. Got a late start. __________________ Fanaticism is nowhere. There is no tenderness or humanity in fanaticism.
Posts: 19,195

05-03-2013, 07:13 AM	#42
ChiliConCarnage TACO SALAD Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: yes Casino cash: $1848468	It sucks but, by her own admission, the job worked fine for her before she became pregnant. You're in a position where they are trying to wring out every bit of efficiency because from most big businesses perspective you are a cost that is hurting their shareholders. I'm not sure why they needed a doctors note for her to clock out to use the restroom. Seems unnecessary They probably fired her for using her FMLA which is screwed up but that's what huge corps do. She became an employee who was more costly than somebody they could replace her with I think unions tend to take things too far but at will is pretty messed up imo. We had a guy take a contract job for us a couple of years ago. He'd been with a company for 8 years and one day they dismissed him with no reason. He asked but they wouldn't give him anything. Almost a decade of his life and they couldn't even bother to give him a reason or any closure.
Posts: 5,847

05-03-2013, 07:18 AM	#43
duncan_idaho M-I-Z-Z-O-U Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Kansas City Casino cash: $1800308	I write training material for a Fortune 50 company, and a lot of it is for our call center. Previously, I was a training/delivery specialist (teacher). Call centers are just a different beast. The nature of the beast makes it a tough place for pregnant women with extra needs. That's why FMLA is in place. Best advice to her would have been to get on FMLA as SOON as the doctor started giving her special instructions. The other side of call centers is that it typically is very difficult to fire somebody from that job. There are levels of discipline that must be reached before termination (warnings/escalations of warnings, censures, etc.), at least typically. Call centers try to control burn rates, because training costs are extremely high. If she was fired for what is mentioned in the article, it's likely there were incidents before that to put her on an "escalated" status (probably stemming from the extra time off the phone she was taking to use the bathroom). Call centers are a tough environment and not for everyone. I sure as hell couldn't do that job and am glad I don't have to do it. __________________ "You gotta love livin', cause dying is a pain in the ass." ---- Sinatra
Posts: 21,067

05-03-2013, 07:24 AM	#45
blaise In Search of a Life Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Plano, TX Casino cash: $9999900	And I'm not saying this lady did this, but I once worked with a guy that would literally stay in the bathroom for a total of like 90 minutes a day. I knew him well, and he was a good guy, but I think he got burned out. Like 5 times a day he would "go to the bathroom." Which would entail him slowly walking to the bathroom, stopping for a few minutes to talk to someone, disappearing into the bathroom for 10-15 minutes and then slowly walking back, stopping to talk to someone along the way. So, the process of "going to the bathroom" was this 20-25 minute process.
Posts: 22,188