'Dog Whisperer' Cesar Millan allegedly fired employee for complaining about shocking working conditions

First topic message reminder :

http://www.tmz.com/2014/09/02/cesar-millan-dog-whisperer-sued-for-wrongful-termination-animal-cruelty/

Hmm. I'd like to know if/how he's going to respond. I wonder if it's true.

Caryll, I do not like the term, "it's not my job". I have replied before... "you're right! It's no longer your job! Thank you for both your time & effort. Your wages will be in the bank tuesday. Good bye."
A.K.A The front door is right there! Please use it!

If she worked in a facility that houses both dogs, Llamas & whatever else? She should expect to come into contact with all different species at some time or another. Unfortunately,  that does mean its possible to be injured by an animal that is not your primary responsibility.

There is also a standard clause here in nearly every employment contract.... "& other duties as directed" for a reason.

I would not expect a cleaner, boilermaker, sparky, painter etc.. to preform brain surgery,  I would ( & have) however expected a tradie to sweep up (a labourers or trade assistants - unskilled job) if he or she didn't have a job to work on at that time.
I do believe if you are being paid at,  (lets say $40 an hour) you do have an obligation to do any job with an equal or lesser rate while I pay you full rate. I do not expect to pay you $40 an hr to do a higher paying job.

Nope. Totally disagree.

All employment contracts have a job description. If an employee is asked to do something outside that contract then they are not obliged to do it. In the UK if someone was sacked in that instance then they could sue for wrongful dismissal. And quite rightly.

However, if an employer is a decent one that has earned respect then the employee will probably do what's been asked. If, however, the employee is injured doing the out of contract job, then they are still entitled to sue.

Rightly. That's why I would always be a union member. Employers are known to 'forget' their employees' rights.

I'm not saying she is right to sue or not.

She was sacked for confronting him about poor & unsafe working conditions & that was wrong. In the UK she would certainly be able to go to a work tribunal for unfair dismissal. In the USA the norm is to sue, so that's what she has done.

Thus the clause in our standard contract. It's always the last clause in every employment contract here.

I'm also not saying she is right or wrong to sue. I don't know him or her, the work conditions or anything else bar the article.

Please don't start me on unions, (i am well aware of both the good & bad sides) I have dealt with them all in labour hire for many, many yrs.

I will give one insight & then say no more...

A sparkie, A grade, worked on a site that paid B grades higher than a standard A grade rate. Classified as a B grade earning more than he could anywhere else. He was happy, good pay, close to home, he got to go get his daughter at 3.30 everyday from school.

ETU (Electrical trade union.) Said he had to be paid as an A grade or taken off site. He wanted to work for the higher rate close to home. They said no! He lost his job & they hired an apprentice.

Job well done to the unions!

I ran a labour hire firm. Unions end more jobs than they create." We want more money or we go on strike" well, if the company can't support the wages you will all be out of work as the company closes down & moves off shore.

Yes, I have heard bad things about Unions, but I have also heard & have had personal experience of, so many more good things for their members.

The case you quote is a prime example of an employer not paying fair wages. Yes, I know it went wrong for the sparkie & I feel sorry for him, but the employer is at fault, not the union!

The days of "raise wages or we strike" are long gone, certainly in the UK. But a fair & equal wage for a fair day's work is something that is every worker's right, and unfortunately most employers will try to avoid this if at all possible. A worker on his own has no clout, but backed by a union he can make his voice heard.

Anyway, that's got nothing at all to do with the thread!

Perhaps I was not clear?
He WANTED to work there as a B grade, he was being paid more on the site as a B grade than he would have been paid as an A grade on any other site in the state! The union tried to take a stand where their member did not want them to & it cost him his job, money & time with his daughter! Thanks to their interference he now earns LESS being paid as an A grade on a site far away from his child & now pays child minding fees till he finishes work.

Unions should be FOR their members not make it harder for them to advance their own agendas. I don't know about your unions but ours line their own pockets before giving a #@$^ about their fee paying members.

Want another eg.... full time staff & contractors both pay the same union fees. The unions comes in & says all contractors have to be put off site in favour of full time staff or the site shuts down! How is that fair? They all have families to support....All blokes are paying members & deserve equality!

Blokes sitting in the shed for days not working because some nuff nuff cant read an RDO accrual or do math!

Strikes & picket lines are alive & well in this country.

A worker does have clout standing alone! If you are good at your job an employer will barter to retain you.

I think I have said quite enough.

In that case the worker should have made his wishes clear with the union.

No union (in the UK at least) will act against their member's wishes. Maybe it's different in Australia?

Anyway, as I said, this has nothing to do with the original post, so should be dropped. Politics/religion will always be contentious & are best avoided in forums!

Caryll wrote:In that case the worker should have made his wishes clear with the union.

No union (in the UK at least) will act against their member's wishes. Maybe it's different in Australia?

Anyway, as I said, this has nothing to do with the original post, so should be dropped. Politics/religion will always be contentious & are best avoided in forums!

He did make it clear. Unfortunately, the union didnt hear him.

I can only vouch for UK unions, and they would have heard him.

But as I said, nothing to do with this thread!

Unions here are all about what they can get, how much they can push their agenda. I am very much against unions. I could count the good they have done on one hand, yet there are simply not enough digits in the country to count the good points.