My experience with Fred Meyer
Tomorrow
marks one year getting terminated from Fred Meyer after 18 years of
faithful service. April 19th 2015 would have been my 19th year. I
started working at Fred Meyer in 1996. I was a married eleventh grader
still in high school who needed a job with health insurance to take care
of my young family. Four years later the marriage ended and I needed
to take full custody of my then four year old daughter and the rest of
the years went by.
It has been a hard road. I have learned much this last year. One of the things I learned is that some employers are willing to do anything to get rid of you once they decide it’s time for you to go. Maybe you are you are making too much money or you don’t want to play the salary game or they realize they can get someone less expensive to do the job you once did.
I also learned sadly that some co-workers are willing to deceive, and throw you under the bus if they think it will benefit their careers and that some employers are willing to take corresponding actions if the result would mean the removal of an expensive long time employee.
After I was terminated the main office transferred all the players involved in my removal. This is a standard practice to make the grievance process more difficult to investigate. The loss prevention manager Henry Roweland was transferred. The assistant manager Justin Lopez was transferred going into a holiday which is unheard of; to remove a key manager during a store's most profitable time, but it had to be done to askew the investigation process. The back-up 4th Ronald Tate my relief took my position for a time and then he later was promoted for his involvement into MD1 training. The food manager Andy Morehouse was promoted. Justin the assistant manager who had been transferred was soon promoted and came back to my old store as the new food manager where he is today. The woman who was hired to replace my 40 hour position quit after 4 months. She was being paid half what I had been getting paid. Almost everyone involved in my termination got promoted. That was how corporate rewarded those involved in my removal.
I learned that the store director is not your friend, no matter what you do, what they say and the conversations you may have over the years. You are ultimately a tool they use to run the store and you basically slave everyday to fatten their sales bonus. Regardless of what they may say to you, they will not help you personally if you have been targeted for removal. If they or any other of your superiors friend request you on facebook they are not doing this to get involved positively in your life, they are usually doing this so they can spy on you to get additional information in the example of if you ever missed work. Anyone who is Facebook friends with their superiors should go into their facebook settings and put that person on, 'restricted' status, if they don't block them outright, that way it shows you as still being FB friends, and they will not see much of what you post so that info cannot be used against you later.
Before I was terminated there was an instance that stands out that I know now played a factor in the decision for my management team to terminate me. What happened was that for a time our daily prime time scans (how many out of stock items we had daily) were always high and we were instructed by the food manager to not scan all the product outs so we would have a more favorable out of stock scan score for our main office. My co-worker and I refused to take this action because it would be considered falsification of records and it could get us fired. We instead suggested to our food manager that we focus on training so behaviors changed, so the results would change. Our food manager was not happy at our refusal. He just ended up doing the scans himself or having Ronald Tate do them and magically our numbers improved... An email about being asked to falsify the scans was sent to Daron Maygra the store director, but there was no follow-up done about it. Salaried managers stick together. That food manager still works for Fred Meyer and he later was promoted to a larger store.
A short time after this instance I was cautioned in April of 2014 during my yearly performance appraisal review with Andrew Morehouse the acting food manager, though my review was mostly positive, he said I had been in the present position for far too long (12 years), it was a waste of my abilities, and I was keeping other people from getting promoted by holding onto this position. He said I am not threatening you, but you should, "move up or move on" so your position doesn’t get removed from you... I took this as a threat. A few months back Andy had scheduled me during a time that was outside my documented availability. I have always done the 3rd shift at Fred Meyer. 3 pm to 12 am. Andy scheduled me to open the store at 7:00 am. I told him I was unavailable during this time because I had my then 4 year old son in the mornings, while my wife was working at Starbucks. Andy did not like this, and said he could schedule me during this time if he wanted to, and he wanted to because he said my execution of tasks was better than some, but he said he didn’t want to have a hassle with the union because they would point out that I’d been closing for 12 years, so Andy had the schedule changed back to what I usually worked.
I told Andy I liked the food 4th position, it worked with my life balance and I was not interested in a salary position because it would increase my work hours, responsibilities, and my costs without increasing my pay. The compensation was not worth the true hourly cost of the position as many have found out the hard way. The other truth was that I was pro union. I had seen too many people get hired, fired and lives ruined by deceptive tactics and fake promises done by salaried company people at the direction of the main office over the years to want my labor to contribute to that ideal. To resist from being caught in this problem myself and myself getting fired, I did my job to the best of my abilities for 18 years, had an excellent attendance record, (had a 4 year period where I missed no scheduled work) solid yearly reviews, no disciplinary record, no write ups and no suspensions, just a verbal my first year. I worked 40+ hours a week and took care of my family and myself. It never occurred to me that since Fred Meyer couldn’t find a normal way to remove a protected union employee they would create a reason to fire me.
July 12th 2014 I was brought into the office of store director Daron Maygra where he told me I was being investigated for the falsification of the stores temp charts. He claimed that I had falsified the temperature records two weeks prior. I do not know why he waited two weeks to talk to me about this claim. I was in disbelief. The temp chart book was a mess, but not on account of me. My record keeping is very thorough. I did the temperature readings myself or had someone else do them if I couldn’t. I had mentioned the poor condition of the temp charts to management’s attention multiple times saying that it needed corrective action. Temps were not being done regularly by all employees, they were too busy or got interrupted and the book was only being corrected to show compliance when it was leaked to us by the regional supervisors that we were due for a food audit by the health department and to “ensure our temp books were 100%.” I had made copies of those temp charts to show management where the errors were occurring. I firmly denied the allegations, was suspended anyway, left the store, contacted my union rep for personal counsel (the first time having to so in my entire 18 year career) and went home to figure out what was happening.
July 15th 2014 fully expecting to be exonerated, Daron Maygra fired me in his office after 18 years of service, two week after I had moved my now 18 year old high-school graduated daughter out the house to her new life in Portland and 3 days before I was to leave for our yearly two week summer family vacation. How is that for timing?
In the days following, my union rep said that if I had ever cost the store any money in the past that the Fred Meyer corporate office would fight tooth and nail to ensure that I did not get my job back. I thought about that and the only thing I could remember where I was involved, that had cost the store money, was my testimony at the past union hearing concerning two associates that had been wrongly fired by previous store director Mark Shirk. My testimony had gotten them their jobs reinstated with back pay. They still work at that store today and they are wonderful people. Prior to that hearing Mark Shirk had personally threatened me in his office alone, with the door closed that if I didn’t say exactly what he told me to say about those two associates at the hearing he would see me fired. That was a big mistake for him. I was quiet and nodded my head which led him to believe then I would do as he asked, but once I was at the hearing in front of everyone I gave the truthful testimony as I'd planned, of what really occurred with him and those two associates that night and read them my journal accounts. I knew that day that I had probably sealed any possibility of moving up with the company, and I'd need the union for protection from then on, but so be it. I won’t be bullied by anyone and neither should anyone else.
Mark Shirk still works for Fred Meyer in Idaho. Many employers do not terminate these types of managers regularly, they just move them, because corporations feel they still need to have some of these managers around, who are willing to play dirty if meeting those sales numbers in a just and ethical fashion has not worked and they need to try something else. Running a business is a numbers game, and corporations really don't care much how you meet your numbers (sometimes that don’t want to know how), just as long as you get those numbers.
Immediately after my termination I filed for unemployment which I had never done before. You cannot claim unemployment if you are fired. You can however claim it if you can prove your termination was wrongful and you have documentation to support it. Anyone who knows me knows that after the experience of Mark Shirk I copied everything I put my signature on, kept a written work journal, scanned these documents and sent them to my personal email to leave a paper trail should I ever need them later and I am glad I did this.
Part time people: Did you know you can claim unemployment if you are scheduled under your minimum amount of hours? File once and the main office will ensure you get your hours after that. They do not want to deal with that tax mess.
You can also quit a job with cause and collect unemployment which you usually cannot do, if you can prove through documentation (a written journal) that the employer was creating a hostile work environment. How many managers have done this to you when your children got sick and you missed work? We only got six rolling absences a year or we could be terminated. They use this practice with more of the senior associates when they are trying to get rid of them as older employees cost the store more in benefits and pay in the long run. New employees cost the store much less. You will have to defend your unemployment claim, but it can be done, just be truthful, stick to the facts, do not exaggerate, and be organized in your documentation.
I received $404 a week (after taxes) in unemployment for 26 weeks ($10,504) while I looked for other employment. This paid our monthly mortgage for my family and some of our transportation costs. There wasn’t much left for food. Fred Meyer soon appealed my collecting unemployment. There was a phone hearing scheduled with a Judge. If I lost the hearing, I would be required to pay the unemployment back. My union rep said he would represent me at the hearing, but found out two days before the hearing that he could not represent me, because a previous union member had tried suing the union because they felt their unemployment hearing representation had been poor. So now I had one day to prepare to represent myself at the hearing alone. So be it. I faxed over 69 additional documents from the work source office to support my claim of wrongful termination against Fred Meyer. During the hearing the Fred Meyer attorney tried saying the documents I sent were not admissible because they claimed they had not received them, but I had anticipated this and saved the report that said the fax had been sent to the number they provided successfully and I faxed that proof over as well so the judge knew Fred Meyer had received them. I represented myself alone at the hour long phone hearing, with the Fred Meyer attorney, Daron Maygra, Ronald Tate, and Henry Roweland. Ten days later, The Judge after hearing the testimony and looking over the documents sided with me and I won the unemployment hearing. I continued to receive my unemployment benefits.
I still had to look for other employment and I wanted to work. The day after my termination I immediately crafted a new resume and began filling out applications. I hadn’t had to create a resume for 18 years. In the weeks and months after my termination I went to the local work source locations often to take their job training classes to update my skills. I filled out tons of online applications each week. I went to many job interviews looking for full time positions. I think most were hesitant to offer employment to me when I had an open grievance with an employer. I continued on.
I had to immediately adjust my household budget to stay afloat with our reduced income. We were not going to use our credit cards to survive because they are the most unforgiving if you lose your ability to pay. You can walk away from a house but you cannot really walk away from a credit card. I paid off the small balance on my credit card with my vacation cash out from Fred Meyer (They shorted me two weeks pay ($1400 after taxes), which Daron had said initially I would get, but then saying because I was termed I didn’t qualify for this year’s vacation hours). I decided I wasn’t going to owe anyone money, except for my mortgage and not be able to pay. We made our adjusted budget work and no money ever went on a credit card. We learned to live within our meager means.
I had to become a stay at home dad for a time when Annie switched from part time to full time to help support us, which was the fair arrangement since she was working and I was not. I cooked and cleaned, took care of my son, (which was an old hat from my single days, raising my daughter), took him to kindergarten now since we couldn’t home school him now with Annie working full-time. I continued to take work source classes, train and look for work.
The mental game was the hardest for me personally. You feel quite alone. I wasn’t in the store to defend myself from the stories my management team would say. I‘d hear what was said about me from my faithful co-workers and friends. I was angry, frustrated and felt betrayed. I don't condone work place violence, but I understand now why it happens, because many feel when there is no justice what is left is only violence. I had my lowest of lows, the kind of lows where you just want to jump off the narrows bridge so it will all end, but you have to remember it would only end for you. Your loved ones would still have to deal with it. Sadly, we have lost some previous Fred Meyer employees to suicide over the years.
Everything gets evaluated when you lose your job. I had made the mistake of letting my job define who I was over time instead of using my free time (such as it was) differently and the monies from the job differently to define what I do and who I am. I had a family. I was busy. I raised my daughter alone without her biological mother for a time until I remarried and life just happened. But this condition kind of developed on its own though, over time, as it happens with many other busy Fred Meyer employees as they try to carve a life outside of Fred Meyer which is very hard. Fred Meyer does not support a true work life balance, though their public relations message will claim they do. They want you at work all the time, “For the needs of the business” they’ll say and then schedule some employees to close the store and then be back a few hours later to open. They will use you up entirely, taking your health, your family time and a marriage or two until you get fed up, quit or get fired.
I did things to try and stay positive during my unemployment. I investigated the facts concerning my termination. I worked on my grievance. I was very motivated to move forward. I exercised a lot. I tried to eat healthier, so I cooked new things, even on a reduced budget, which was easier when you have no money for food. I read. I visited friends. I looked for reasons to laugh. I leaned on family a lot. I wrote. I developed new hobbies and I learned to fish. I worked on my house, with the materials I had available. I learned to fix and repair things. I traveled and explored. I camped, hiked and climbed mountains in Montana with family. I spent time in nature.
I didn’t have health insurance after losing my job, couldn’t afford the (affordable) Obama care premiums ($5000 deductible and $300 a month). I could have health insurance or have a roof over my head. I went to a Tacoma free clinic a few times. A very humbling experience. I have asthma, a severe case then. I couldn't breathe and I couldn’t sleep. I could pay the $600 for my asthma medicine or I could use my last $500 and remove all the carpets out of my house, which attributed to my asthma I thought and replace the carpets with cheap wood laminate. I did this and my asthma became much more manageable and in the process I started learning some carpentry.
In Winter December 2014 the water line to our house broke, wasn’t covered by the homeowners insurance and $2000 would be needed to fix it, which I didn’t have. We lived paycheck to paycheck. I dug up my driveway alone with a shovel, (the fun days were when the ground was frozen) and a borrowed hand-jack and replaced the entire 75 foot poly-pipe service line by hand and replaced it with PVC piping, repairing the leak and more than halving my water bill. It took me a week, (12-16 hour days), only cost $50 bucks, and it taught me plumbing.
In the Spring I removed part of my old deck that was dry rotting and built a sandbox for my son in its place. I dug up a 17 by 21 section of lawn in our backyard by hand and we now have with my wife's green thumb a fruitful garden back there that has created for us organic, nutritious, food. A chicken coup, my son’s kindergarten’s classes chickens and $7 dollar ducks soon followed. We will have eggs soon and I am learning some gardening.
When my unemployment benefits ended and I still hadn’t found full time work I started getting desperate, I'd tried talking to Daron again, showing him what I'd found in my investigation, but he wasn't helpful. He didn’t care. He said coldly, “do whatever you want.” So I have. He’d stonewall me when we’d make a document request for the grievance or say the documents had been misplaced or couldn’t be located as he did at the unemployment hearing. I saw a side of him I hadn't seen before. He is probably a good poker player. I realized then he had an agenda he had to follow. I was desperate for employment so I started applying for part time work in addition to full time. I had to get employed.
Eventually I found employment, a part time job, a six minute drive from my house. We had to refinance the house to get the skip a month option you get the first month since we were now broke and to make it a month before my first paycheck from when my unemployment ended, but we got refinanced in the nick of time, our payment went down $200 a month with a much lower fixed interest rate, and we made it and never missed a mortgage payment the entire time I was unemployed!
Things are continuing to improve for us. Much has happened and we have gown. My new job is going well. I have not had a bad day yet. The stress of Fred Meyer prepared me well for stressful situations. I will never allow myself to be in a toxic situation again where my labor or myself personally is not valued. I am learning fast on the job and becoming very proficient at what I do. I recently facilitated the largest sale for my department. What I am learning on the job, I have used to upgrade my house. The continued learning will pave the way for the eventual shipyard transition which is my goal. My part time work hours have stabilized some. I can’t get full time hours because of Obama healthcare laws, but I'm usually getting what I need and when I don’t, I aggressively pursue hours in other areas of the store, which teaches me new things. I’m actually working less than I did at FM yet I am paying all my monthly bills each month. I have no debts other than my mortgage. It is an odd occurrence. I have more leisure time now which has been nice during the summer. I am well liked at my job and I’ve made some work friends, but I do miss many of my old FM friends and co-workers a lot. Things will continue to improve for us.
Fred Meyer you put me and my family through Hell, but you didn’t break us and nothing ever will. We will always persevere and for now I am where I am supposed to be and I am glad I do not work for you anymore. I didn’t realize completely how corrupt Fred Meyer has become. Each contract you pay your employees less and less and shift the cost of living for your associates on to government social services like food stamps and welfare, like Walmart does and you are a billion dollar company always touting your growing profits! Your employee turn-over is through the roof, there are always lot of hopeful, new faces in the stores continually, and other positions you can’t even fill. No one wants to get into management anymore. Even the good ethical salaried managers are burned out. Many have stepped down, quit, been fired or died. You lost a lot of good people. Many at the top of management are just trying to stay there, posturing, and living off the efforts of others. No one wants to work for you anymore. Fred G. Meyer would be turning in his grave if he could see how his company has become.
I work only a short distance now from where I previously used to work at the Gig Harbor Fred Meyer. The nice thing about this is I often come into contact with many of the former customers I used to serve at the Gig Harbor Fred Meyer location for the nine years I was at that location. I was at Tacoma Stevens for the previous nine years. When my former customers recognize me at this new job or I recognize them, they ask why I don’t work for Fred Meyer anymore, and I make sure to educate every one of them with a condensed version of what I have shared here. They are always appalled that the conditions for employees have gotten this bad. I always remind them they can do something constructive about it. Send the corporate office an email and shop somewhere else.
Fred Meyer you used to give your employees time and half on Sundays. Then it was time and a third and I suspect in this current contract coming up Sundays will be made straight time no bonus. You are a billion dollar company! You have the ability to invest some of your profits in your employees! Employees that are well provided for work harder! The ending grocery scale wage for a 40 hour journey man was $19.45 an hour, a little over $40,000 a year. It takes about 5 years now (only if you are working full-time 40 hours a week, part-time takes forever) to get to that wage once you get on step one of the grocery scale. Employees don’t just want BBQ’s and food at work and certificates as appreciation. They want a livable wage. They want a work life balance. They want to keep their commitments to their children and loved ones instead of their requested time off being denied and being scheduled to work when they had requested that time off. They don’t want to have to get a doctor’s note to take a stress leave because it is the only way they can ensure their vacation time with their families is approved. They want a sincere thank you when a job is done well and to feel genuinely appreciated.
And this is the company you work for or that you shop at. I don’t shop there anymore. I don’t even buy gas there anymore. I won’t support companies that treat their employees the way I was treated and neither should you. If you do shop Fred Meyer ask your favorite cashier, how are things for them personally? How are they being treated? Get the answers, send Fred Meyer an email and then make your decision. I made mine.
Throughout this experience I also sadly found out who my friends were and my friends are. Some stopped talking with me when they found out I probably wasn't coming back and I was no longer a benefit to them. You know who you are. That hurt a lot, but I’m glad I found out who you truly are. I gratefully thank those that stuck around and offered words of support over the year. I’m glad we are able to stay in contact outside of the store. You helped me survive this transition and I hope I have been helpful when you have personally asked me for advice.
Daron Maygra, I wasn’t the employee who took the temperature readings for the day you fired me for. Another employee took the temperature readings that day. (I have included that chart here again) Someone took a completed day’s temp chart that was undated (since our book had been a mess) and put the date on it for the day I was working, so it could appear I falsified the temps for that day and I could be terminated easily. That temp chart went through three other people before it got in your hands.
Len Lundy and Ronald Tate were both scheduled together in addition to me (Three journeymen) for the same time-slot that day, which had never happened before, the day I was suspended, and that schedule with both Len and Ron working with me, had been written BEFORE the alleged temp chart falsification had even occurred. The store was prepared for me to be suspended and fired. This was preplanned.
Justin Lopez the new assistant manager at the time asked me after he started at the store for an EMAIL from me explaining on a timeline on how I did my daily tasks and towards the end he was very adamant that I send it to him, so I did. I didn’t understand why at the time he was asking me for this. I realize now he wanted to know how to run the store in my absence and you know his work history with Fred Meyer and what employee related tasks Jim has used him for in the past with Fred Meyer. Specifically: To remove targeted associates any way possible.
Daron Maygra, you let me down. You would not speculate on the other circumstances I brought up even though they had relevance to the investigation and my innocence. You were blind to what your team around you was doing to fuel their careers, and when I showed you the evidence (which is included here, again) you didn’t have the courage to have made wrong right.
Ronald Tate – I was warned you were shady, as I found out the hard way. Remember when you used to fax the previous store director's, (the one who hired you) 4:00 pm store walks for her, that she'd written hours earlier, to the regional supervisors, with her numbers, so it would appear she was still in the store, when she had left hours ago and left us all in charge alone? Taking that action is falsification of documents. You could have been terminated. Enjoy that MD1 training. You are a tool in every sense. You did what you were asked to do and you benefited from it, for now that is. Remember this, when a tool gets old it gets replaced and your time is soon coming.
I wasn't a perfect employee, but I was good. I had my good days and bad days, and made mistakes just like anyone else. I am very practical and I do not put up with crap. I clean the crap up and fix the problem so it doesn't happen again. Some people didn't always like the way I got things done. I was efficient, worked smart and was there every day rain or shine sick or well. I worked hard, made sacrifices and had my strong suits that served this company well over my 18 years and this was my experience.
I was quiet this last year on social media about this experience as I did not want to negatively affect the grievance procedure. Since that is over, I will no longer be silent about this experience and Fred Meyer. There is much more to say. There will be more to come on this and I will begin uploading more documents.
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It has been a hard road. I have learned much this last year. One of the things I learned is that some employers are willing to do anything to get rid of you once they decide it’s time for you to go. Maybe you are you are making too much money or you don’t want to play the salary game or they realize they can get someone less expensive to do the job you once did.
I also learned sadly that some co-workers are willing to deceive, and throw you under the bus if they think it will benefit their careers and that some employers are willing to take corresponding actions if the result would mean the removal of an expensive long time employee.
After I was terminated the main office transferred all the players involved in my removal. This is a standard practice to make the grievance process more difficult to investigate. The loss prevention manager Henry Roweland was transferred. The assistant manager Justin Lopez was transferred going into a holiday which is unheard of; to remove a key manager during a store's most profitable time, but it had to be done to askew the investigation process. The back-up 4th Ronald Tate my relief took my position for a time and then he later was promoted for his involvement into MD1 training. The food manager Andy Morehouse was promoted. Justin the assistant manager who had been transferred was soon promoted and came back to my old store as the new food manager where he is today. The woman who was hired to replace my 40 hour position quit after 4 months. She was being paid half what I had been getting paid. Almost everyone involved in my termination got promoted. That was how corporate rewarded those involved in my removal.
I learned that the store director is not your friend, no matter what you do, what they say and the conversations you may have over the years. You are ultimately a tool they use to run the store and you basically slave everyday to fatten their sales bonus. Regardless of what they may say to you, they will not help you personally if you have been targeted for removal. If they or any other of your superiors friend request you on facebook they are not doing this to get involved positively in your life, they are usually doing this so they can spy on you to get additional information in the example of if you ever missed work. Anyone who is Facebook friends with their superiors should go into their facebook settings and put that person on, 'restricted' status, if they don't block them outright, that way it shows you as still being FB friends, and they will not see much of what you post so that info cannot be used against you later.
Before I was terminated there was an instance that stands out that I know now played a factor in the decision for my management team to terminate me. What happened was that for a time our daily prime time scans (how many out of stock items we had daily) were always high and we were instructed by the food manager to not scan all the product outs so we would have a more favorable out of stock scan score for our main office. My co-worker and I refused to take this action because it would be considered falsification of records and it could get us fired. We instead suggested to our food manager that we focus on training so behaviors changed, so the results would change. Our food manager was not happy at our refusal. He just ended up doing the scans himself or having Ronald Tate do them and magically our numbers improved... An email about being asked to falsify the scans was sent to Daron Maygra the store director, but there was no follow-up done about it. Salaried managers stick together. That food manager still works for Fred Meyer and he later was promoted to a larger store.
A short time after this instance I was cautioned in April of 2014 during my yearly performance appraisal review with Andrew Morehouse the acting food manager, though my review was mostly positive, he said I had been in the present position for far too long (12 years), it was a waste of my abilities, and I was keeping other people from getting promoted by holding onto this position. He said I am not threatening you, but you should, "move up or move on" so your position doesn’t get removed from you... I took this as a threat. A few months back Andy had scheduled me during a time that was outside my documented availability. I have always done the 3rd shift at Fred Meyer. 3 pm to 12 am. Andy scheduled me to open the store at 7:00 am. I told him I was unavailable during this time because I had my then 4 year old son in the mornings, while my wife was working at Starbucks. Andy did not like this, and said he could schedule me during this time if he wanted to, and he wanted to because he said my execution of tasks was better than some, but he said he didn’t want to have a hassle with the union because they would point out that I’d been closing for 12 years, so Andy had the schedule changed back to what I usually worked.
I told Andy I liked the food 4th position, it worked with my life balance and I was not interested in a salary position because it would increase my work hours, responsibilities, and my costs without increasing my pay. The compensation was not worth the true hourly cost of the position as many have found out the hard way. The other truth was that I was pro union. I had seen too many people get hired, fired and lives ruined by deceptive tactics and fake promises done by salaried company people at the direction of the main office over the years to want my labor to contribute to that ideal. To resist from being caught in this problem myself and myself getting fired, I did my job to the best of my abilities for 18 years, had an excellent attendance record, (had a 4 year period where I missed no scheduled work) solid yearly reviews, no disciplinary record, no write ups and no suspensions, just a verbal my first year. I worked 40+ hours a week and took care of my family and myself. It never occurred to me that since Fred Meyer couldn’t find a normal way to remove a protected union employee they would create a reason to fire me.
July 12th 2014 I was brought into the office of store director Daron Maygra where he told me I was being investigated for the falsification of the stores temp charts. He claimed that I had falsified the temperature records two weeks prior. I do not know why he waited two weeks to talk to me about this claim. I was in disbelief. The temp chart book was a mess, but not on account of me. My record keeping is very thorough. I did the temperature readings myself or had someone else do them if I couldn’t. I had mentioned the poor condition of the temp charts to management’s attention multiple times saying that it needed corrective action. Temps were not being done regularly by all employees, they were too busy or got interrupted and the book was only being corrected to show compliance when it was leaked to us by the regional supervisors that we were due for a food audit by the health department and to “ensure our temp books were 100%.” I had made copies of those temp charts to show management where the errors were occurring. I firmly denied the allegations, was suspended anyway, left the store, contacted my union rep for personal counsel (the first time having to so in my entire 18 year career) and went home to figure out what was happening.
July 15th 2014 fully expecting to be exonerated, Daron Maygra fired me in his office after 18 years of service, two week after I had moved my now 18 year old high-school graduated daughter out the house to her new life in Portland and 3 days before I was to leave for our yearly two week summer family vacation. How is that for timing?
In the days following, my union rep said that if I had ever cost the store any money in the past that the Fred Meyer corporate office would fight tooth and nail to ensure that I did not get my job back. I thought about that and the only thing I could remember where I was involved, that had cost the store money, was my testimony at the past union hearing concerning two associates that had been wrongly fired by previous store director Mark Shirk. My testimony had gotten them their jobs reinstated with back pay. They still work at that store today and they are wonderful people. Prior to that hearing Mark Shirk had personally threatened me in his office alone, with the door closed that if I didn’t say exactly what he told me to say about those two associates at the hearing he would see me fired. That was a big mistake for him. I was quiet and nodded my head which led him to believe then I would do as he asked, but once I was at the hearing in front of everyone I gave the truthful testimony as I'd planned, of what really occurred with him and those two associates that night and read them my journal accounts. I knew that day that I had probably sealed any possibility of moving up with the company, and I'd need the union for protection from then on, but so be it. I won’t be bullied by anyone and neither should anyone else.
Mark Shirk still works for Fred Meyer in Idaho. Many employers do not terminate these types of managers regularly, they just move them, because corporations feel they still need to have some of these managers around, who are willing to play dirty if meeting those sales numbers in a just and ethical fashion has not worked and they need to try something else. Running a business is a numbers game, and corporations really don't care much how you meet your numbers (sometimes that don’t want to know how), just as long as you get those numbers.
Immediately after my termination I filed for unemployment which I had never done before. You cannot claim unemployment if you are fired. You can however claim it if you can prove your termination was wrongful and you have documentation to support it. Anyone who knows me knows that after the experience of Mark Shirk I copied everything I put my signature on, kept a written work journal, scanned these documents and sent them to my personal email to leave a paper trail should I ever need them later and I am glad I did this.
Part time people: Did you know you can claim unemployment if you are scheduled under your minimum amount of hours? File once and the main office will ensure you get your hours after that. They do not want to deal with that tax mess.
You can also quit a job with cause and collect unemployment which you usually cannot do, if you can prove through documentation (a written journal) that the employer was creating a hostile work environment. How many managers have done this to you when your children got sick and you missed work? We only got six rolling absences a year or we could be terminated. They use this practice with more of the senior associates when they are trying to get rid of them as older employees cost the store more in benefits and pay in the long run. New employees cost the store much less. You will have to defend your unemployment claim, but it can be done, just be truthful, stick to the facts, do not exaggerate, and be organized in your documentation.
I received $404 a week (after taxes) in unemployment for 26 weeks ($10,504) while I looked for other employment. This paid our monthly mortgage for my family and some of our transportation costs. There wasn’t much left for food. Fred Meyer soon appealed my collecting unemployment. There was a phone hearing scheduled with a Judge. If I lost the hearing, I would be required to pay the unemployment back. My union rep said he would represent me at the hearing, but found out two days before the hearing that he could not represent me, because a previous union member had tried suing the union because they felt their unemployment hearing representation had been poor. So now I had one day to prepare to represent myself at the hearing alone. So be it. I faxed over 69 additional documents from the work source office to support my claim of wrongful termination against Fred Meyer. During the hearing the Fred Meyer attorney tried saying the documents I sent were not admissible because they claimed they had not received them, but I had anticipated this and saved the report that said the fax had been sent to the number they provided successfully and I faxed that proof over as well so the judge knew Fred Meyer had received them. I represented myself alone at the hour long phone hearing, with the Fred Meyer attorney, Daron Maygra, Ronald Tate, and Henry Roweland. Ten days later, The Judge after hearing the testimony and looking over the documents sided with me and I won the unemployment hearing. I continued to receive my unemployment benefits.
I still had to look for other employment and I wanted to work. The day after my termination I immediately crafted a new resume and began filling out applications. I hadn’t had to create a resume for 18 years. In the weeks and months after my termination I went to the local work source locations often to take their job training classes to update my skills. I filled out tons of online applications each week. I went to many job interviews looking for full time positions. I think most were hesitant to offer employment to me when I had an open grievance with an employer. I continued on.
I had to immediately adjust my household budget to stay afloat with our reduced income. We were not going to use our credit cards to survive because they are the most unforgiving if you lose your ability to pay. You can walk away from a house but you cannot really walk away from a credit card. I paid off the small balance on my credit card with my vacation cash out from Fred Meyer (They shorted me two weeks pay ($1400 after taxes), which Daron had said initially I would get, but then saying because I was termed I didn’t qualify for this year’s vacation hours). I decided I wasn’t going to owe anyone money, except for my mortgage and not be able to pay. We made our adjusted budget work and no money ever went on a credit card. We learned to live within our meager means.
I had to become a stay at home dad for a time when Annie switched from part time to full time to help support us, which was the fair arrangement since she was working and I was not. I cooked and cleaned, took care of my son, (which was an old hat from my single days, raising my daughter), took him to kindergarten now since we couldn’t home school him now with Annie working full-time. I continued to take work source classes, train and look for work.
The mental game was the hardest for me personally. You feel quite alone. I wasn’t in the store to defend myself from the stories my management team would say. I‘d hear what was said about me from my faithful co-workers and friends. I was angry, frustrated and felt betrayed. I don't condone work place violence, but I understand now why it happens, because many feel when there is no justice what is left is only violence. I had my lowest of lows, the kind of lows where you just want to jump off the narrows bridge so it will all end, but you have to remember it would only end for you. Your loved ones would still have to deal with it. Sadly, we have lost some previous Fred Meyer employees to suicide over the years.
Everything gets evaluated when you lose your job. I had made the mistake of letting my job define who I was over time instead of using my free time (such as it was) differently and the monies from the job differently to define what I do and who I am. I had a family. I was busy. I raised my daughter alone without her biological mother for a time until I remarried and life just happened. But this condition kind of developed on its own though, over time, as it happens with many other busy Fred Meyer employees as they try to carve a life outside of Fred Meyer which is very hard. Fred Meyer does not support a true work life balance, though their public relations message will claim they do. They want you at work all the time, “For the needs of the business” they’ll say and then schedule some employees to close the store and then be back a few hours later to open. They will use you up entirely, taking your health, your family time and a marriage or two until you get fed up, quit or get fired.
I did things to try and stay positive during my unemployment. I investigated the facts concerning my termination. I worked on my grievance. I was very motivated to move forward. I exercised a lot. I tried to eat healthier, so I cooked new things, even on a reduced budget, which was easier when you have no money for food. I read. I visited friends. I looked for reasons to laugh. I leaned on family a lot. I wrote. I developed new hobbies and I learned to fish. I worked on my house, with the materials I had available. I learned to fix and repair things. I traveled and explored. I camped, hiked and climbed mountains in Montana with family. I spent time in nature.
I didn’t have health insurance after losing my job, couldn’t afford the (affordable) Obama care premiums ($5000 deductible and $300 a month). I could have health insurance or have a roof over my head. I went to a Tacoma free clinic a few times. A very humbling experience. I have asthma, a severe case then. I couldn't breathe and I couldn’t sleep. I could pay the $600 for my asthma medicine or I could use my last $500 and remove all the carpets out of my house, which attributed to my asthma I thought and replace the carpets with cheap wood laminate. I did this and my asthma became much more manageable and in the process I started learning some carpentry.
In Winter December 2014 the water line to our house broke, wasn’t covered by the homeowners insurance and $2000 would be needed to fix it, which I didn’t have. We lived paycheck to paycheck. I dug up my driveway alone with a shovel, (the fun days were when the ground was frozen) and a borrowed hand-jack and replaced the entire 75 foot poly-pipe service line by hand and replaced it with PVC piping, repairing the leak and more than halving my water bill. It took me a week, (12-16 hour days), only cost $50 bucks, and it taught me plumbing.
In the Spring I removed part of my old deck that was dry rotting and built a sandbox for my son in its place. I dug up a 17 by 21 section of lawn in our backyard by hand and we now have with my wife's green thumb a fruitful garden back there that has created for us organic, nutritious, food. A chicken coup, my son’s kindergarten’s classes chickens and $7 dollar ducks soon followed. We will have eggs soon and I am learning some gardening.
When my unemployment benefits ended and I still hadn’t found full time work I started getting desperate, I'd tried talking to Daron again, showing him what I'd found in my investigation, but he wasn't helpful. He didn’t care. He said coldly, “do whatever you want.” So I have. He’d stonewall me when we’d make a document request for the grievance or say the documents had been misplaced or couldn’t be located as he did at the unemployment hearing. I saw a side of him I hadn't seen before. He is probably a good poker player. I realized then he had an agenda he had to follow. I was desperate for employment so I started applying for part time work in addition to full time. I had to get employed.
Eventually I found employment, a part time job, a six minute drive from my house. We had to refinance the house to get the skip a month option you get the first month since we were now broke and to make it a month before my first paycheck from when my unemployment ended, but we got refinanced in the nick of time, our payment went down $200 a month with a much lower fixed interest rate, and we made it and never missed a mortgage payment the entire time I was unemployed!
Things are continuing to improve for us. Much has happened and we have gown. My new job is going well. I have not had a bad day yet. The stress of Fred Meyer prepared me well for stressful situations. I will never allow myself to be in a toxic situation again where my labor or myself personally is not valued. I am learning fast on the job and becoming very proficient at what I do. I recently facilitated the largest sale for my department. What I am learning on the job, I have used to upgrade my house. The continued learning will pave the way for the eventual shipyard transition which is my goal. My part time work hours have stabilized some. I can’t get full time hours because of Obama healthcare laws, but I'm usually getting what I need and when I don’t, I aggressively pursue hours in other areas of the store, which teaches me new things. I’m actually working less than I did at FM yet I am paying all my monthly bills each month. I have no debts other than my mortgage. It is an odd occurrence. I have more leisure time now which has been nice during the summer. I am well liked at my job and I’ve made some work friends, but I do miss many of my old FM friends and co-workers a lot. Things will continue to improve for us.
Fred Meyer you put me and my family through Hell, but you didn’t break us and nothing ever will. We will always persevere and for now I am where I am supposed to be and I am glad I do not work for you anymore. I didn’t realize completely how corrupt Fred Meyer has become. Each contract you pay your employees less and less and shift the cost of living for your associates on to government social services like food stamps and welfare, like Walmart does and you are a billion dollar company always touting your growing profits! Your employee turn-over is through the roof, there are always lot of hopeful, new faces in the stores continually, and other positions you can’t even fill. No one wants to get into management anymore. Even the good ethical salaried managers are burned out. Many have stepped down, quit, been fired or died. You lost a lot of good people. Many at the top of management are just trying to stay there, posturing, and living off the efforts of others. No one wants to work for you anymore. Fred G. Meyer would be turning in his grave if he could see how his company has become.
I work only a short distance now from where I previously used to work at the Gig Harbor Fred Meyer. The nice thing about this is I often come into contact with many of the former customers I used to serve at the Gig Harbor Fred Meyer location for the nine years I was at that location. I was at Tacoma Stevens for the previous nine years. When my former customers recognize me at this new job or I recognize them, they ask why I don’t work for Fred Meyer anymore, and I make sure to educate every one of them with a condensed version of what I have shared here. They are always appalled that the conditions for employees have gotten this bad. I always remind them they can do something constructive about it. Send the corporate office an email and shop somewhere else.
Fred Meyer you used to give your employees time and half on Sundays. Then it was time and a third and I suspect in this current contract coming up Sundays will be made straight time no bonus. You are a billion dollar company! You have the ability to invest some of your profits in your employees! Employees that are well provided for work harder! The ending grocery scale wage for a 40 hour journey man was $19.45 an hour, a little over $40,000 a year. It takes about 5 years now (only if you are working full-time 40 hours a week, part-time takes forever) to get to that wage once you get on step one of the grocery scale. Employees don’t just want BBQ’s and food at work and certificates as appreciation. They want a livable wage. They want a work life balance. They want to keep their commitments to their children and loved ones instead of their requested time off being denied and being scheduled to work when they had requested that time off. They don’t want to have to get a doctor’s note to take a stress leave because it is the only way they can ensure their vacation time with their families is approved. They want a sincere thank you when a job is done well and to feel genuinely appreciated.
And this is the company you work for or that you shop at. I don’t shop there anymore. I don’t even buy gas there anymore. I won’t support companies that treat their employees the way I was treated and neither should you. If you do shop Fred Meyer ask your favorite cashier, how are things for them personally? How are they being treated? Get the answers, send Fred Meyer an email and then make your decision. I made mine.
Throughout this experience I also sadly found out who my friends were and my friends are. Some stopped talking with me when they found out I probably wasn't coming back and I was no longer a benefit to them. You know who you are. That hurt a lot, but I’m glad I found out who you truly are. I gratefully thank those that stuck around and offered words of support over the year. I’m glad we are able to stay in contact outside of the store. You helped me survive this transition and I hope I have been helpful when you have personally asked me for advice.
Daron Maygra, I wasn’t the employee who took the temperature readings for the day you fired me for. Another employee took the temperature readings that day. (I have included that chart here again) Someone took a completed day’s temp chart that was undated (since our book had been a mess) and put the date on it for the day I was working, so it could appear I falsified the temps for that day and I could be terminated easily. That temp chart went through three other people before it got in your hands.
Len Lundy and Ronald Tate were both scheduled together in addition to me (Three journeymen) for the same time-slot that day, which had never happened before, the day I was suspended, and that schedule with both Len and Ron working with me, had been written BEFORE the alleged temp chart falsification had even occurred. The store was prepared for me to be suspended and fired. This was preplanned.
Justin Lopez the new assistant manager at the time asked me after he started at the store for an EMAIL from me explaining on a timeline on how I did my daily tasks and towards the end he was very adamant that I send it to him, so I did. I didn’t understand why at the time he was asking me for this. I realize now he wanted to know how to run the store in my absence and you know his work history with Fred Meyer and what employee related tasks Jim has used him for in the past with Fred Meyer. Specifically: To remove targeted associates any way possible.
Daron Maygra, you let me down. You would not speculate on the other circumstances I brought up even though they had relevance to the investigation and my innocence. You were blind to what your team around you was doing to fuel their careers, and when I showed you the evidence (which is included here, again) you didn’t have the courage to have made wrong right.
Ronald Tate – I was warned you were shady, as I found out the hard way. Remember when you used to fax the previous store director's, (the one who hired you) 4:00 pm store walks for her, that she'd written hours earlier, to the regional supervisors, with her numbers, so it would appear she was still in the store, when she had left hours ago and left us all in charge alone? Taking that action is falsification of documents. You could have been terminated. Enjoy that MD1 training. You are a tool in every sense. You did what you were asked to do and you benefited from it, for now that is. Remember this, when a tool gets old it gets replaced and your time is soon coming.
I wasn't a perfect employee, but I was good. I had my good days and bad days, and made mistakes just like anyone else. I am very practical and I do not put up with crap. I clean the crap up and fix the problem so it doesn't happen again. Some people didn't always like the way I got things done. I was efficient, worked smart and was there every day rain or shine sick or well. I worked hard, made sacrifices and had my strong suits that served this company well over my 18 years and this was my experience.
I was quiet this last year on social media about this experience as I did not want to negatively affect the grievance procedure. Since that is over, I will no longer be silent about this experience and Fred Meyer. There is much more to say. There will be more to come on this and I will begin uploading more documents.
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