Thursday, June 03, 2004
New Policies Communicated Through Termination
VTA has changed its policies regarding attendance without informing employees. Instead of warning drivers and even dispatchers of changes in how it handles absenses involving sick leave, it is simply moving to terminate them with no warning.
Alex Chrisolis is under fire for a recorded phone conversation with Judy Chaney... I mean Bicknell... no, Hoyer... shit, I mean Fernandez... damn -- Hegstrom, in which he joked with What's-Her-Name about meeting for dinner in southern California on a day when he was off sick.
All joking aside, it should have been obvious to any dim-witted VTA spy that both parties in the conversation knew they were being monitored and were simply baiting management. VTA, though, is using that conversation as justification for firing him.
Never mind that he brought in a note from a physician. Never mind that he did not meet Judy for dinner or that no one saw him do anything in violation of VTA policy. All that matters, it seems, is that he said these things in a recorded telephone conversation.
Lack of corroborating evidence is no barrier when VTA wants to get rid of an employee. As if this wasn't already adequately bizarre, Alex is one of the Employee's of the Year. Obviously, the esteem of VTA for exemplary employees is only skin deep.
The deeper issue here is that long-standing written policies are meaningless, that, as always, VTA mis-management cannot be trusted. If you care about your job, don't even joke about violating policies, even if you are well-liked. None of that matters when they are under pressure to cut costs but protect their own jobs by avoiding cutting where it counts -- administration.
VTA still has one of the highest ratios of administrative positions to buses in the nation. Remember that when demanding that they justify their actions.
Alex Chrisolis is under fire for a recorded phone conversation with Judy Chaney... I mean Bicknell... no, Hoyer... shit, I mean Fernandez... damn -- Hegstrom, in which he joked with What's-Her-Name about meeting for dinner in southern California on a day when he was off sick.
All joking aside, it should have been obvious to any dim-witted VTA spy that both parties in the conversation knew they were being monitored and were simply baiting management. VTA, though, is using that conversation as justification for firing him.
Never mind that he brought in a note from a physician. Never mind that he did not meet Judy for dinner or that no one saw him do anything in violation of VTA policy. All that matters, it seems, is that he said these things in a recorded telephone conversation.
Lack of corroborating evidence is no barrier when VTA wants to get rid of an employee. As if this wasn't already adequately bizarre, Alex is one of the Employee's of the Year. Obviously, the esteem of VTA for exemplary employees is only skin deep.
The deeper issue here is that long-standing written policies are meaningless, that, as always, VTA mis-management cannot be trusted. If you care about your job, don't even joke about violating policies, even if you are well-liked. None of that matters when they are under pressure to cut costs but protect their own jobs by avoiding cutting where it counts -- administration.
VTA still has one of the highest ratios of administrative positions to buses in the nation. Remember that when demanding that they justify their actions.
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