You won't believe this. A very good friend of mine worked for Shore UP for quite some time now. She reported to work Friday morning, as usual. At noon time, her boss, Mr. Thaxton came to her and told her to go home for the rest of the day. When she asked why, he told her he couldn't tell her, that she should wait until she gets a letter from them. Here she is all weekend long not knowing if she has a job to go to on Monday or not. Monday comes and she calls to see if she should report to work, Mr. Thaxton told her she couldn't do anything until she receives the letter from Shore Up. No letter came over the weekend, or Monday. Tuesday, she calls in again to ask should she return to work. Again, she is told to wait until she gets a letter. Orville Penn, Mr. Thaxton and Mr. McNeil in Human Resources all told her they could tell her nothing, until she got a letter from them. Today, Wednesday, she called again and spoke with Mr. McNeil. Today, when she told him she had not received a letter, he told her it's because Orville Penn and Mr. Thaxton had not told him what to put in the letter. No letter had ever been sent but they keep telling her to wait for a letter they had not even prepared or mailed.
This morning, she spoke with Orville Penn and asked him what is going on. He told her he couldn't tell her anything, to wait for the never written, never mailed letter. When asked what she is supposed to do, she has bills to pay, Orville Penn said, "that's a personal problem". What a guy!!!! Today, Mr. Thaxton finally called her, AFTER she spoke with Orville Penn, and told her they made the decision to let her go. When she asked why, he said, "because you didn't say Good Morning to Orville Penn". Really??? Really??? The truth of the matter is, she did acknowledge Orville Penn, every time he entered her office. She did not track him down, throughout the building, just to say good morning but she did acknowledge him when he came to her office.
I know Maryland is not a right to work state and can fire a person at any time, for any reason but not saying hello or good morning???? This is a state funded agency, Delegate Rudy Cane sits on their board of directors. Is this how a state funded agency operates? In these hard economic times, they have taken an employed person, made her a statistic and put her in the unemployment line. The irony of all of this is, Shore Up runs a training and employment program, they help people with their electric, and heating bills. Now they've taken one of their own employees, put her out of work, hopefully, she'll be able to draw unemployment without any interference from Shore Up. Will they now help her pay her electric, heat, mortgage? Is this how they continue to get state funding, by keeping the statistics high?
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
you can still sue for wrongful termination
ReplyDeleteSeveral years ago I worked for the county and something about this was brought up and I asked my supervisor, so you mean if I wear blue shoes on black shoe day I can be let go and she said YES!!!
ReplyDeletethis sounds a little fishy to me. if this is really what happened, i'm sure that any attorney would be more than willing to take on this case and wait for payment from a settlement that she's sure to win.
ReplyDeletebut still, it all sounds a little fishy...
Apparently they are having a lot of issues over there...I am curious as to the ethnicity of the firer and firee.Yes it matters-Shore Up is top heavy with AA hires
ReplyDeleteWell apparently you all DON'T KNOW Maryland LAWS...
ReplyDeleteANYWHERE in MD, you can be fired for ANYTHING, even looking ugly... There is no wrongful termination policy anymore...
You can not win in court, don't waste your time...
They can fire you for one strand of hair being brown instead of black...
Yes this is wrong, but the law says this, and you bet that MD will enforce this law if never any...
The law is referred to as "at will". This means the employer can let you go by exercising their rights as an "at will" employer. Nothing more needs to be said. Nothing about not saying hello, nothing about wearing the wrong color of shoes or having a hair out of place. Simply, you are terminated because we are exercising our rights as an "at will" employer.
ReplyDeleteThat is that.
The firer is AA and the firee is AA as well so no racism there.
ReplyDeleteMaybe no racism but the firer is very arrogant, always has been.
ReplyDeleteNot cops. They have the law enforcement officers' bill of rights. They cannot be fired for just any old reason, not after their probation period.
ReplyDeleteshe deserved it!
ReplyDeleteShe did deserve it! Say hi and stop being so rude!
ReplyDeletey'all needs a union!
ReplyDeleteOne of our council members works there. Maybe she can shed some light on to what is going on at Shore Up.
ReplyDeleteSounds like she's got a personal problem
ReplyDeleteShore Up is full of arrogant upity people. I would go there for classes and just be in complete disgust with the way they ran there Energy program. I'd sit outside waiting for class to open up and I would just listen to how they talked to those people in need of help. As if they weren't even human, with an attitude of "You need me, I don't need you". I'm talking about the elderly, a family man, a mother with children etc.. Of course you could say "Well they should have paid their bill", but this is life people, anything can happen. I'm writing about this because it has been heavy on my heart ever since I was in class there (for atleast a month). I understand they have a business to run, but if it wasn't for people going through tough times then they wouldn't have a job or money to pay their electric either! You see how things go in cycles? I mean I have never seen a bunch of people treated like caged animals, I'm talking about arguing with their customers in front of other customers (we're adults right). Putting their business in the air when it's supposed to be confidential! Who does that? My questions about Shore Up are ; where are their supervisors? You can't say the guy who works directly in the Energy building because he is the head of the snake. And my final question is, wouldn't it make their jobs, lives and other peoples lives a little easier if they would just give the people what they need? I'm just a concerned individual speaking out for those who can't do so for themselves. I could go into more depth but I think I did enough. Thank You Joe for this blog. God Bless to everyone!
ReplyDeleteShanie Shields must be the council member that works there.
ReplyDeleteExcuse me 2:18 & 3:03, With the help of the equal opportunity employment commission in Baltimore, I won a settlement for wrongful termination over something petty in the state of Maryland. There are Federal labor laws that kick in when the state laws won't help.
ReplyDeleteShore Up, with their overpaid royaly as executives for life, has always had a reputation of being more inclined to "help" members of certain "special" tribes than equally needy people who aren't in the favored "tribe".
ReplyDeleteI learned that when in desperation I went there seeking help and was denied.
And it will ever be thus--and has only gotten worse since a certain biracial individual who benefits from always portraying himself not as "half" a tribesman, but as a member of the tribe that supported him 99%, and he has rewarded them by buying their continued votes at every opportunity.
"All Americans are equal, but some are more equal than others, " in the Animal Farm that is the Banana Republic of America today
Unfortunately I have had to seek assistance in the past from the Energy Program and some of the workers are just plain rude.I understand they deal with difficult people sometimes but who are they to judge? It would not hurt them to act more like a professional.I hope this terminated worker reports them to EEOC
ReplyDeletewhen the rug get pulled from under those who work for shore up, they will join the rest of us struggling to pay our bills, and i hope someone will treat them just as inhumane as they treat everyone else that went in there for assistance.
ReplyDeleteand some take old people to the cleaners...
ReplyDeleteThis is always how uncomfortable situations have always been managed at Shore Up! inc., unfortunately situations like the above and double standards for staff have caused the agency to lose many gifted employees who actually wanted to help the people they serve. I wonder how many individuals who have worked at the agency have felt as though they have been treated rudely by the very men making the accusations.
ReplyDeleteI am truly sorry for what has taken place with the termination of the ShoreUP!Inc employee. I do not know who it is and I am not trying to find out. I don't wish that anyone is fired at this time with the state of the economy. I want to address the comments concerning the Energy Assistance Program. I am appalled with how people can come in and complain about the service that they receive when applying for assistance. There are rules and regulations that the State has imposed on the program that has to be met in order to receive the assistance. This program has been around for some years and for the folks that apply on a regular basis, they should know what they need to have. Instead, you get excuses such as "I didn't know that I needed this," or "why do I have to provide all of this," and the infamous line "no one told me that I had to bring all of this." The program is always explained to everyone when they come in, as to what they need to have when they come in, plus, they were given a packet which tells them what they need to bring when they apply. Of the 3 counties, that we service, Wicomico is the largest county. Some people come in and they are humble and thankful. Others come in with a negative attitude and are just rude. When you are trying to help someone and they refuse to listen, there's not much that you can do. No one here is better than the people that we service. We work long hours, after the 4:30pm closing and we do not get paid overtime. You can find us here on the weekends, trying to make sure that people are getting their applications processed in a timely manner. If anyone feels that they have been treated rudely, I apologize and hope that it will not ever happen again.
ReplyDeleteSheree Sample-Hughes is the council person that works at Shore Up, Inc.
ReplyDeleteI know the firee and have some statements to make about this to some of the anonymous posters. First to anon 3:35pm and 4:05pm on 10-5, she did not deserve to be fired and she was not rude. She always acknowledged Mr. Penn with a "Hello" or "Good Morning" when he came into her office. She may not have stopped her work to physically turn around, look him in the eye and say "Good morning" but she always acknowledged him.
ReplyDeleteSecond, to anon 4:33 pm on 10-5, she did not have any personal problems that would warrant her from completing her work, which is what she was being paid to do.
It boils down to this; she went to work to do a job, which she did. She did what was expected and required of her and did it to the best of her ability. I see no reason whatsoever why she would be fired for supposedly not saying "Good Morning".
At least give her a better excuse as to why you let her go than that!
As a former employee at Shore Up!, I saw several people in professional type positions "let go" in order to save money....but they were replaced with lower status workers from other departments who were not qualified at all for their new positions. Their programs were to be cut, so instead of laying them off, they were relocated into the professional-type jobs...without a degree or certification...the common denominator here was color...easy to figure that one out! I do have to add that Energy Assistance workers are over worked and overwhelmed with applicants and I'm sure it is not easy to keep a bright cheery attitude at all times ...not to mention having to deal with the KAPPA club.
ReplyDeleteI know several employees from Shore Up and all of them are African American. I am just wondering if there are white people who also work there? Just wondering after this article surfaced. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteto answer 2:09---there are only a FEW white employees. I would guess less than 5%.
ReplyDeleteMost of the employees are KAPPA's and theives!!!!
ReplyDeleteFor Oct 5, 2011 4:53pm, 6:31pm, 9:17pm. Shore is made up of a club you can call it a Kappa club or the Coward Club, because they will not tell you to your face the reason for anything, they will string you a long, and have your live in limbo. Shore Up has always been a boys club, and if you don't play the game by their rules or have something on someone, or be related or sleeping with soemeone, it doesn't matter wheither or not you know your job and could do it well. There is a queen bee there that if she even thinks you said something about her, directly or indirectly, she will wait to find something to help get you dismissed, even if your boss has no idea of what is going on until it presented to him.
ReplyDeleteAnd Energy Assistance, yes some times it could get some what upsetting, but when things are taken our of context and presented the way you want people to see then instead of what actually happen and why, that is when things go wrong. The state sets rules of eligiblity and when you are trying to tell someone that information in a open room, and trying to talk directly to them and then they look at you like a deer in headlights, then you may raise your voice thinking they didn't hear you. and other have no idea of what is going on, and they know they are in there for the same thing, what is the big secrect. I just find people so amazing when it comes down to trying to get some assistance, that they think if I'm nasty to them before they can be nasty to me that will get it done faster. But who is the victim here?
Shore Up has good people that work there, but are not appreciated, and are not recognized until something goes wrong. There should be better check points then what is in place now, and more of the good people would still be working there to make things right.
i am sorry for what happen to you but pray about the whole ordeal and God will work it out for you. whats to come is better than whats been. everything will work out for you.
ReplyDelete