Union workers in Edmond are suing their boss, and the fight started over tardy employees.
Two years ago, the Nestle Purina pet food manufacturing plant started a new attendance policy. If workers were late or didn’t show up, they would lose points.
The union eventually won an arbitration that showed Nestle Purina violated the employees’ bargaining agreement and also committed unfair labor practices, The Journal Record’s Dale Denwalt reports:
The new policy was not negotiated, said Loren Gibson, an attorney for the Bakery Confectionary Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union Local 366-G. “For many years, Purina had an attendance policy that allowed individual circumstances to be considered when employees were disciplined for absences or tardies,” said Gibson. Then in 2014, the company began using a points-based system. If someone ran late to work or missed a day, they would lose points unless the absence was covered by law. “So if you or your kids got sick and you didn’t qualify for (Family Medical Leave Act) leave, you got points,” Gibson said. “If you had a car accident on the way to work and you didn’t qualify for FMLA, you got points.
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, the union complained that the company has not fulfilled the arbitration award.
The policy has reverted back to the way it was before, but five workers who were fired because of the points system have not been compensated.
A few of the workers could be owed back pay of $100,000 or more. “The union preferred to try to solve this short of litigation, but unfortunately that was not possible, even though we just entered a new collective bargaining agreement with the company,” Gibson said. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
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