Local 2205 Fights For Veterans Job
02/10/2009 10:27 AM Filed in: Local
Michael Ortega broke a cardinal rule for new hires:
He missed too many days while still under probation.
Within six months of starting as a customer support
analyst at a
Verizon
call center in Hampton, 37-year-old Ortega was 45
minutes late one day, took three days off because of
illness and, finally, left work once before his shift
ended. As a result, Ortega was canned. And ever
since, he's been fighting to get his job back. He
should get it.
No, I'm not nuts. And, no, I don't have a stake in
this fight, other than wanting to see a guy catch a
break because he earned it. The day Ortega was late?
A bridge-tunnel back-up because of an accident.
That's when Ortega got his first warning. "He can't
control the traffic," says Jerry D. Rogers, one of
Ortega's supporters and president of the
Communication Workers of America Local 2205. Ortega
is not a union member, but Rogers says he went to bat
for him, anyway, meeting with Verizon supervisors on
his behalf because he doesn't like to see workers
"mistreated." "It gets under my skin," Rogers says.
"It's wrong." And that three-day absence? Ortega
spent it in the
Hampton
VA Medical Center. Ortega is a U.S. Army veteran who
served nearly a year in Iraq as a driver, gunner and
tank commander. From November 2003 to October 2004,
he says, he worked motor patrols, swept for
improvised explosive devices, conducted raids and did
escort duty. And he came home — like so many other
combat veterans — with mental health issues. He also
came home to a marriage that would eventually
disintegrate. In January 2008, after a bad day in
court over divorce and child support issues, Ortega
says, he ranted against his wife to his doctor, who
urged him to check himself into the VA hospital for
treatment. He was there five days. His medical
records show a diagnosis of "depressive ... consider
PTSD," or post-traumatic stress disorder. His
supervisors at Verizon wrote him up for that absence
and gave him a final warning. Then in April a mix-up
over his work schedule, his Army Reserve weekend
obligation and child care ended with him leaving work
early one evening — after clocking in more than eight
hours — because he had to take care of his kids. That
was the last straw for Verizon, which fired him soon
after. "You have not been able to sustain
satisfactory attendance for new hires under six
months of service," his written notice reads. "You
are being terminated from Verizon effective 4-9-08."
According to a written response Thursday from Verizon
spokesman Alberto Canal, Ortega's military service
was never an issue in his firing. "Mr. Ortega was
never charged for absences related to his military
service," Canal says, and his "absences in connection
with military service were always excused."
The Communication Workers local filed a grievance on Ortega's behalf and met with Verizon Communications representatives later that month. "What we have here," Rogers says in his notes of that meeting, "is a failure of communication. "We need to give this man his job back." During that hearing, Canal says, neither the union nor Ortega contended that any of the three attendance issues was due to military service. According to Rogers' notes, they didn't address Ortega's late day or the hospitalization — only the mix-up over his drill weekend. The appeal was denied. The next month, Ortega's transition patient advocate at the VA wrote a letter pleading his case. "Mr. Ortega placed his life on the line to keep our country safe from terrorism..." wrote Lydia Acosta. "While transitioning from military life to civilian life he has endured social and financial hardships that forced him to seek professional help." Acosta asked Verizon to reinstate Ortega and give him the chance to prove himself: "Please do the just (thing) for this wounded veteran." No go. After a thorough investigation of Ortega's case, Canal says, Verizon "found that the termination was indeed lawful." Verizon, he adds, has "long supported our employees who serve in the Armed Forces." The company's generous military leave policy includes paying the difference between an employee's base pay and military base pay, giving reservists time off for military service and reinstating them upon return, providing continued health and life insurance for employees and their dependents during active service, plus full service and pension credit for time served. Ortega's options are about gone. "I hit a dead end," he says. He'd been unemployed till he got a temporary job last week at a tax service call center. He's living with a couple of roommates and making do. I'll concede that Verizon reps might not have known the whole story when they fired Ortega. Maybe he kept them in the dark about why he was really in the hospital. But now that they know, the question becomes: What are they willing to do about it?
The Communication Workers local filed a grievance on Ortega's behalf and met with Verizon Communications representatives later that month. "What we have here," Rogers says in his notes of that meeting, "is a failure of communication. "We need to give this man his job back." During that hearing, Canal says, neither the union nor Ortega contended that any of the three attendance issues was due to military service. According to Rogers' notes, they didn't address Ortega's late day or the hospitalization — only the mix-up over his drill weekend. The appeal was denied. The next month, Ortega's transition patient advocate at the VA wrote a letter pleading his case. "Mr. Ortega placed his life on the line to keep our country safe from terrorism..." wrote Lydia Acosta. "While transitioning from military life to civilian life he has endured social and financial hardships that forced him to seek professional help." Acosta asked Verizon to reinstate Ortega and give him the chance to prove himself: "Please do the just (thing) for this wounded veteran." No go. After a thorough investigation of Ortega's case, Canal says, Verizon "found that the termination was indeed lawful." Verizon, he adds, has "long supported our employees who serve in the Armed Forces." The company's generous military leave policy includes paying the difference between an employee's base pay and military base pay, giving reservists time off for military service and reinstating them upon return, providing continued health and life insurance for employees and their dependents during active service, plus full service and pension credit for time served. Ortega's options are about gone. "I hit a dead end," he says. He'd been unemployed till he got a temporary job last week at a tax service call center. He's living with a couple of roommates and making do. I'll concede that Verizon reps might not have known the whole story when they fired Ortega. Maybe he kept them in the dark about why he was really in the hospital. But now that they know, the question becomes: What are they willing to do about it?