Fired coal handler alleges Willmar Utilities discrimination
February 9, 2012 at 6:00 pm in West Central Tribune
WILLMAR A terminated coal handler is alleging he was the victim of employment discrimination by the Willmar Municipal Utilities because of his national origin and religion.
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Huh. This is getting more interesting by the day.
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From what I read, I honestly think this place is operating in some by-gone era of HR. With both the employee on leave and this employee, I see glaring problems in how things were handled. I know little-to-nothing about employment law but even I can see problems in both these situations. This situation is a little more complicated because the employee was let go b/4 his probation was over…. Will be an interesting case(s) to follow.
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I smell a rat! If you really have it in for a certain employee you will find something sooner or later.
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I get the feeling the two cases are tied together somehow…
I remember someone posting something complaining about at least one person Gomm hired.
And I see that he’s most likely going to be getting another paid 30 days off.
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I believe your right BAC. No work place wants the EEOC or any other agency putting them under a microscope which is probably whey the Utility company hired a Law firm. The problem is there are times the Law firm works strickly for the company that hires them, and even if Gomm did nothing wrong they may come up with issues? This is sometimes a conflict of interest. I have seen where the law firm acted in the best interest of the company that hired them to investigate and the feds or state came up with proven allegations against the company. Just because a company hires a law firm doesn’t mean they will always get to the root of the entire problem.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Regardless of what is found, this process costs money. Lawfirms know when they have a public utility picking up the tab…there is no such thing as pro-bon in this rhelm. Costs will be deferred to those who pay for the services…along with every tax-paying entity in the municipality. That’s not even addressing the potential for possible lawsuits…it’s not right.
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The utility company did not hire the law firm. The LMCIT chose the firm to do the investigation, since the law firm doesn’t have a dog in this fight. They aren’t from the area, they don’t rely on business from the area to stay profitable, they don’t have ties here. The insurance trust wants this figured out and figured out correctly, since they are the ones who will be cutting the check-regardless of who the payee on the check is. The LMCIT is the administrator for the insurance trust-it’s not their money. The money comes from all the cities in the League.
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Good info;)
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purple girl – who pays the premiums to the insurance trust? The local utility does and am sure they will be seeing an increase in their premiums to cover risks and increased settlements that have come about.
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I was going to add that…there is no way the cost won’t eventually land on the consumer and/or tax-payer. Money doesn’t come out of thin air and nobody gives their services away for free.
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As a taxpayer and local resident, I highly suggest these “occurances” with the Municiple Utilities get straightened out…and fast. As we citizens and businesses OWN the Utility, these kinds of problems and the costs associated, come out of our pockets. There have been obvious problems and those of us that care are running out of patience. As my employer would say, “Fix it now. I don’t care how, just fix it”.
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It’s sad that this issue had to become federal. By the looks of things there seems to be a resentment because of who the employee knows. Now let me ask this question, is there anyone else working there or who may have retired who now have a relative working there? The EEOC will look at that and will go through all the employee’s personal files with a federal court order if need be. I have heard of this process being done and it is telling especially if the company does not have their ducks in a row. We all know in many work places there is always a degree of discrimination whether you are white, black, asian or hispanic, and it is the responsibility of the workplace and their supervisors to ensure there is no retaliation due to Religion origan or race. You probably ask yourself do these types of problems occur in the workplace? Probably more then you think, it is just a matter of how far or what actions a company chooses to take to resolve it before it gets this far.
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I want to know why it is a problem the the employee and the GM knew each other. This is a small town-if my job options were limited to places where I didn’t know someone, I’d never work in Willmar again. Plus, just because they knew each other, I don’t think the GM is out there in a hardhat directing the activities of the coal handlers. I’m thinking that is someone else’s job. And-don’t you love how one of the acting GM’s let the guy go after they got Mr. Gomm out of the way?
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purple girl. EEOC and others are very diligent when researching the comparison of the qualifications required , the qualifications of the applicant, and the performance reviews. Regardless, yourshould be looked at your qualifications and the qualifications of the job – if they match, you have an opportunity for that job. If not, there are many job discrimination law firms looking for work( hope it nevers goes that far). Small town, medium town, or big town/city locations are being looked at and HR Depts are very careful of what they can do and say.
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I guess this is what you get, with a service-based economy. lol
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Sometimes its not the HR dept, but rather other employees or supervisors who act with indifference or outright malace towards an employee, and it becomes a gang like mentality. They listen around corners or spy on a certain employee they don’t like or they feel should have not been hired. I am sure after they let this employee go they quickly added their documentation, but there is one thing wrong with that, If an employee does not sign off on any of the paperwork it never happened!
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did any one catch the convo between Mr.Baker and Mr.Gomm in the closed october meeting sounds like there was possible discrimination before hire??Or did i read that wrong?
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You read it correctly, michelle.
And, you may have seen the comments from the ‘gone’ poster who claimed his wife worked there.
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Thanks Bac, no i didnt see that post could you fill me in?
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Well, michelle, it was a couple of months ago, when the story first broke. The guy posted some ‘inside info’ that he claimed he got from his wife, who worked there. Under his real name, no less.
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Unbelievable. A complete review of every employee and who they know needs to be done, and those with any ties to commissioners or other employees need to BE FIRED. Get rid of anybody who goes to church together or knows Ron Christianson or President Baker. How does that sound? Willmar (all american city-lol) cannot tolerate ONE hispanic mormon COAL SHOVELER?!? HE SAT DOWN?!? I didn’t think I could become more embarrassed. Nice work fella’s.
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I vote we take all of the chairs out of the City Council chambers and make all those old white guys STAND during City Council meetings. I doubt any of them could make it thru one session. It’s nice to see blatant racism alive and well in good ol’ Willmar! Sure am glad we have all that extra money for the upcoming lawsuits! Hee Haw!
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Well said jasond!:)
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So this worker sat down on a coal car and this is used against him? The worker also had a perfect explanation for this moment of leizure, and this is held against him? the worker could have easily ask to go to the ER but choose not to because he wanted to keep his job. All I can say is the utility company better have more documentation then this because it sounds as if they were just waitng for him to screw up once so they could dump him! I have the feeling his relationship with the manager caused resentment! Some companies have that group who never except a certain employee for whatever reason. The utility company maybe settling with two parties before its over? Of course there will be a no disclosure clause if that happens.
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Yeah, jimmy, that’s about the size of it.
I saw a gal at AEC in Alex get fired for about the same thing, after being put through so much sexual harassement that it would make you sick. They all seemed to think it was some kind of joke, but when it came to it, she was fired for the same thing, sitting down when her feet hurt, and it was a ‘time out’ when no one else was doing a thing.
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