Force the employee to apologize

[mikoyan29]

That seems like a case of taking "the customer is always right" a step too far. I don't care what the circumstances are. Number one it's the employee's day off. Number two, noone deserves an apology at their house. Number three if the employee was in fact following policy then it just reinforces the notion that if you yell enough you are above any store policies.

[Zellie Crescent]

It happened to one of Don's employees at his old store about 18 years ago he told me the guy quit the next week.

[Andara Bledin]

Oh, yeah, in the US, making anyone do anything work-related and not paying them for the time (which in most cases has a minimum, too), is a violation of labor laws, and someone just might want to report that sort of thing.

^-.-^

[dougall]

That is idiotic twice over as now the employee knows where the customer lives even if the employee has no intention of revenge if something happens to the SC's house they will be round the store to complain again.

[Dips]

The incident happened 18 years ago.

Not really something that can be reported any more and I doubt that the customer is still nursing thoughts of revenge, even if the employee still lives at the same address.

[RavenStarr]

If you think that's bad, corprate at my company thinks it's perfectly fine to send an employee to a customers house to apologise personally. No bulls**t. They will make the store manager pick up the employee at their house on thier day off and drive them to the customers house escort them to the door and make them apologise.

I know this is the second time quoting you. However I have found a very faint silver lining in this.

At least it's not the manager and customer going to the employee's house demanding an apology.

Sarah, has anyone reported this to the labor board or something?

[Dips]

Sarah, has anyone reported this to the labor board or something?

It happened 18 years ago, so I'm going to guess the answer is moot by now.

[BowserKoopa1]

If you think that's bad, corprate at my company thinks it's perfectly fine to send an employee to a customers house to apologise personally. No bulls**t. They will make the store manager pick up the employee at their house on thier day off and drive them to the customers house escort them to the door and make them apologise.

It sounds like your Cooperate Manager belongs in the Morons in Management section. What kind of jerk actually expects the employee to go over to the customer's house and apologize, and on their day off too?! Talk about a manager kissing the customer's ass! I'm pretty sure that's illegal, but it did happen 18 years ago, so I think after quite a few employees left after this bullshit, they were forced to change things.

[RavenStarr]

It happened 18 years ago, so I'm going to guess the answer is moot by now.

I meant the policy of manager taking employee to customer's house for an apology. I know after 18 years nothing can be done. But if the policy is still in effect, someone should report it, because it's just wrong.

[RxBoy]

I happen to have a friend who is a paralegal. I asked her about the situation we are discussing. Here's what she said.

It is legal for a manager to require an employee to apologize to a customer and to terminate the employee if he or she refuses. But...

1. There is nothing wrong with making the employee apologize to the customer in person at the place of business, over the phone, or in a letter. If the employee is hourly, this must be done while the employee is on the clock.

2. There is nothing illegal about the manager driving the employee to the house of the customer, but if the employee refused a judge would most likely rule that it was a bit extreme to require this, especially if the employee stated they refused on ground that they felt it may be unsafe. The judge would probably order the employee rehired with the stipulation that they apologize as described in #1. The judge would definitely side with the employee if they refused to make the trip while off the clock.

3. If the employee made the trip with the manager while off the clock and told the customer off rather than apologize...it would probably not have any consequences for the employee. If the manager then fired the employee and the employee sued for wrongful termination, the company would then be forced to admit what they did and the customer could be issued a subpoena to appear in court as well. Most likely at that point the legal team for the company would tell them to just hire back the employee and give them lost backpay rather than risk a huge wrongful termination settlement.

4. She also threw in the opinion that it would be extremely unwise to let the employee know where the customer lives. Not only for possible vandalism or revenge at a later date, which would probably not ever be proven to be linked to that employee. The worst case she was thinking about was if the employee who the manager took to the customer's house happened to do something crazy like punch the customer in the face. She said that because the employee and the manager were at the customers house on official business, the company would be legally responsible for what the employee did--even if the employee was arrested for assault and terminated by the company. The customer who was punched would have a legal case against the company and would probably collect a huge settlement.

Sorry this was so long, but I thought you'd be interested in hearing what my friend had to say.

[Soulstealer]

I happen to have a friend who is a paralegal. I asked her about the situation we are discussing. Here's what she said.

Sorry this was so long, but I thought you'd be interested in hearing what my friend had to say.

Your paralegal friend is right on all the counts stated. It's seriously a bad idea and I would assume that a company wouldn't enforce it if they haven't already taken it off the books.