A North Carolina man with Down syndrome was fired from Wendy's after two decades on the job after his manager allegedly said he was 'unable to perform the duties of a normal person's job.'
Dennis Peek, 51, has been a loyal staffer at the fast-food joint in Gaston County for 20 years and was planning to retire soon - only to be ditched with no notice.
It's hard to imagine any circumstance where they can claim that, after 20 years of employment, his disability prevents him from performing "like a normal person" under reasonable accommodations, which the employer is required to offer. For that reason, if the family is smart, that Wendy's will be funding that man's retirement. Unless they want to get a lawsuit under the ADA.
A very conservative business owner I used to work for conveniently fired 3 of his oldest and longest working employees shortly after rumors of their retirement in the course of eight years.
I wonder if it was a new manager coming to town and he was gonna shake up the world. Play Mr. Big Shot. Regardless who ever the maganer was they are a son of a bitch. I hope their day and all their days to follow suck.
There used to be a downs syndrome man that worked at a Long's drug store near me. He was there for as long as the store existed here in town, and every time I'd see him he was nose to the grindstone, doing what he was paid to do stocking shelves. He was probably the most productive person in the store. It put a smile on my face every time I'd see him.
A flim from the seventies, Try Another Way. I'm making up numbers because I've forgotten. They trained say 20 people with Intellectual diabilities how to put together bicycle sprokets. Then trained another 20 of so called normal people. The parts were in bins and if a part didn't fit one way the word was, try another way. After six months most the normal team had quit, they had many mistakes, lots of verbal altercations and call ins were increasing. Of the ID group zero mistakes, no call ins and those with ID loved their jobs and could not wait to get to work. I agree. If I ever had a business I'd be looking hard at people with certain types of disabilities that could be trained.
It does not bode well for that Wendy's. Looks like Dennis is smarter than the manager who fired him. Expect to see a PayPal type full about turn. But business will still dive.
For me this is yet another example of corporate neglect to train managerial hires on what they can and cannot do in employee relations. If corporate bothered to train its managers (and provide refresher training) a lot of bad PR would probably be avoided.
Morons think they are saving money because every employee is not a stallion racing and chomping at the bit to do more. They don't realize most people are donkeys forced to work. Screwing with the guy who is pleasant, a little slow and loved by compassionate people? Expect a drop in stock price. I go to my local Wendy's for a lunch burger once a month. Skipping this month, times a million. Most of America is generically pro-life, happy to see the middle aged guy with Down's syndrome keeping the tables and floors tidy at a McDonalds or other low skilled job. We are a rich country, keeping losers fed and housed and recognize that the limited have something to offer as we ask NOTHING of those that could do more. If Wendy's said they backed firing a Down's employee because he can't do everything most employees do, I would NEVER go to their restaurants and might picket them with my free time. My employer helps trains the handicapped. They are as human as me and deserve the chance to contribute to society as they can. I see a hundred people a week not doing any work to contribute to society and expect more. The divide cannot persist.
My late brother-in-law worked 35 years at a sheltered workshop, which had around 40 workers with varying degrees of mental disabilities. My wife and I visited a few times, and I was surprised at the concentration each and every man or woman showed in doing the job. Amazing. And, the workers knew they were doing something important. On my side, the next to last newspaper job I was fired from I had in a moment of stupid shown my boss my medical discharge papers. When he fired me a couple of months later he said, "I know you have health problems. You've missed some work." I filed an unfair firing complaint, but an investigator said nothing out of the ordinary had happened. So, reading about a stupid supervisor always jacks up my blood pressure. Two days after I was fired, the publisher's son called a meeting in the news room and told everybody, "Bob is a Vietnam veteran, so keep a lookout for him. There's no telling what he might do." That I learned about five years after the firing.
My daughter is a special ed teacher in the DC area. One of her jobs is to supervise kids getting work skills experience at local businesses. The goal is to make kids employable. She set up a cookie/coffee business when she worked at a private international school in Belgium to teach these skills. The special ed kids handled everything (but the books) from making cookies to making change. By the end of the year they had a nice profit to donate to the Special Olympics.
We all are limited in some way. The question ultimately is, does a person have value, even if not as perfect as ME? Sadly, the West is slowing deciding NO. The East is poorer and often says NO because they all starve. I hope we continue to be a society that gives opportunities to those who need help. We give a lifetime of impoverished leisure to millions.
He could switch to be POTUS and do a REAL MAN's job.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to imagine any circumstance where they can claim that, after 20 years of employment, his disability prevents him from performing "like a normal person" under reasonable accommodations, which the employer is required to offer. For that reason, if the family is smart, that Wendy's will be funding that man's retirement. Unless they want to get a lawsuit under the ADA.
ReplyDeleteA very conservative business owner I used to work for conveniently fired 3 of his oldest and longest working employees shortly after rumors of their retirement in the course of eight years.
DeleteThat is also a ploy that often is used by leftist business owners.
DeleteAs an example of a leftist business owner, I offer Microsoft, which dumped an old friend of mine just before he hit 20 years.
DeleteI wonder if it was a new manager coming to town and he was gonna shake up the world. Play Mr. Big Shot. Regardless who ever the maganer was they are a son of a bitch. I hope their day and all their days to follow suck.
ReplyDeleteThis was my first thought also.
DeleteThere used to be a downs syndrome man that worked at a Long's drug store near me. He was there for as long as the store existed here in town, and every time I'd see him he was nose to the grindstone, doing what he was paid to do stocking shelves. He was probably the most productive person in the store. It put a smile on my face every time I'd see him.
ReplyDeleteSame thing with John at Mike's Foodland in Westmoreland.
DeleteIf I owned a business, I'd steal him away from there in a heartbeat.
A flim from the seventies, Try Another Way. I'm making up numbers because I've forgotten. They trained say 20 people with Intellectual diabilities how to put together bicycle sprokets. Then trained another 20 of so called normal people. The parts were in bins and if a part didn't fit one way the word was, try another way. After six months most the normal team had quit, they had many mistakes, lots of verbal altercations and call ins were increasing. Of the ID group zero mistakes, no call ins and those with ID loved their jobs and could not wait to get to work. I agree. If I ever had a business I'd be looking hard at people with certain types of disabilities that could be trained.
DeleteIt does not bode well for that Wendy's. Looks like Dennis is smarter than the manager who fired him.
ReplyDeleteExpect to see a PayPal type full about turn. But business will still dive.
For me this is yet another example of corporate neglect to train managerial hires on what they can and cannot do in employee relations. If corporate bothered to train its managers (and provide refresher training) a lot of bad PR would probably be avoided.
ReplyDeleteMorons think they are saving money because every employee is not a stallion racing and chomping at the bit to do more. They don't realize most people are donkeys forced to work. Screwing with the guy who is pleasant, a little slow and loved by compassionate people?
DeleteExpect a drop in stock price.
I go to my local Wendy's for a lunch burger once a month.
Skipping this month, times a million.
Most of America is generically pro-life, happy to see the middle aged guy with Down's syndrome keeping the tables and floors tidy at a McDonalds or other low skilled job. We are a rich country, keeping losers fed and housed and recognize that the limited have something to offer as we ask NOTHING of those that could do more.
If Wendy's said they backed firing a Down's employee because he can't do everything most employees do, I would NEVER go to their restaurants and might picket them with my free time.
My employer helps trains the handicapped. They are as human as me and deserve the chance to contribute to society as they can. I see a hundred people a week not doing any work to contribute to society and expect more.
The divide cannot persist.
My late brother-in-law worked 35 years at a sheltered workshop, which had around 40 workers with varying degrees of mental disabilities. My wife and I visited a few times, and I was surprised at the concentration each and every man or woman showed in doing the job. Amazing. And, the workers knew they were doing something important. On my side, the next to last newspaper job I was fired from I had in a moment of stupid shown my boss my medical discharge papers. When he fired me a couple of months later he said, "I know you have health problems. You've missed some work." I filed an unfair firing complaint, but an investigator said nothing out of the ordinary had happened. So, reading about a stupid supervisor always jacks up my blood pressure. Two days after I was fired, the publisher's son called a meeting in the news room and told everybody, "Bob is a Vietnam veteran, so keep a lookout for him. There's no telling what he might do." That I learned about five years after the firing.
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/ZvvHXjKloNs
ReplyDeleteThey of course offered him his job back and he said no. He is retiring. I’d make Wendy’s fund my retirement.
ReplyDeleteSounds like if it took that long for the manager to reach that conclusion, it's the manager that's incompetent and unable to do his job.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter is a special ed teacher in the DC area. One of her jobs is to supervise kids getting work skills experience at local businesses. The goal is to make kids employable. She set up a cookie/coffee business when she worked at a private international school in Belgium to teach these skills. The special ed kids handled everything (but the books) from making cookies to making change. By the end of the year they had a nice profit to donate to the Special Olympics.
ReplyDeleteMy wife has her masters in Special ed. She is retired now. She has some wonderful stories similiar to yours. She loved her people and her career.
DeleteWe all are limited in some way. The question ultimately is, does a person have value, even if not as perfect as ME? Sadly, the West is slowing deciding NO. The East is poorer and often says NO because they all starve.
DeleteI hope we continue to be a society that gives opportunities to those who need help.
We give a lifetime of impoverished leisure to millions.
magic words, fixing to retire, makes beans counters tighten their grip on the purse.
ReplyDeleteNormal person would stay retired and grin as they backpedal.
ReplyDeleteIt would be retarded not to...