Read the facts below, then sign the petition by clicking on the petition link below. How can anyone be silent and sit on your ass when something likes this happens to other human beings.
Geez- Where does a sub human, cruel, piece of shit, like his boss come from??? Certainly not from a mother or of this world. Not one ounce of compassion "It's business". The husband will do his job , give him a break, but not from an evil female boss like this who doesn't deserve to be breathing air.
PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION
Tell Haynes Management: Don't Fire Employees Over Lung Cancer!
- signatures: 14,272
- deadline: ongoing
- signature goal: 20,000
- Target: Haynes Management Inc.
- Sponsored by: Care2.com
Carl worked for Haynes Management Inc. for 14 years and was even awarded a raise in November, but when he asked to be able to work nights and weekends in order to be there for his wife Kathy during her painful chemotherapy treatments, the company decided to make "workforce modifications" and fired him. He later saw an advertisement for his exact position on the company's website.
Haynes Management is technically within their legal rights to fire Carl, but their actions completely undermine Carl's loyalty to the company and his willingness to work nights and weekends just to help everything run smoothly.
Join us in asking Haynes Management Inc. to rethink their callous and heartless decision and give Carl Sorabella his job back.
THE ORIGINAL STORY
Man Gets Fired After Wife Gets Cancer
By Lisa Johnson Mandell, Posted Jun 16th 2011 @ 11:17AM
Massachusetts accountant Carl Sorabella had every reason to believe that his employer would grant his request for a more flexible schedule so that he could assist his wife, who had just been diagnosed with stage four cancer and given only months to live. After all, he'd been with Haynes Management in Wellesley, for 13 years, and had just been given a raise in November.
But instead of a more accommodating schedule, he got a pink slip in response to his request, even though he had made it clear that he was willing to work nights and weekends to make up for the time he intended to spend taking his wife in for treatments and tests.
"It shocks me," said Kathleen, Carl's wife of 23 years. "People are supposed to help each other. I guess corporate America is different." When AOL Jobs reached her, she had just finished her first round of chemotherapy, and was "wicked nauseous." Their current financial troubles are not helping matters. With Carl out of a job and Kathleen too sick to work, they're not sure how they're going to cover her expenses.
Carl was sure he would be able to arrange a more flexible schedule -- after all, he was head of the accounting department at Haynes, and had been with the company almost 14 years. But his boss was afraid that if Carl wasn't there during regular business hours it could cause problems. "It's business. I'm running a company here, and I need to make sure the department runs," she told him. Sorabella assured her that he would see that the company runs well, working at any hour of the day or night to make up for the time he spent caring for his wife, but to no avail.
Sorabella says that his boss told him they were thinking about laying him off anyway, due to "modifications in workforce requirements." He thought, "you can't do that!" reports Boston's ABC affiliate WCVB. He says that he later saw an employment ad for his old job with the same company.
No one from Haynes Management has been available for comment, but in an email to WCVB reporter Susan Wornick, Vice President Mary Butler wrote, "this is a private personnel matter and we are not going to comment publicly."
Harsh treatment for a dedicated, longtime employee. Unfortunately, Sorabella has no legal recourse. Federal and state laws that protect workers from this kind of treatment only apply only to larger companies with more than 50 employees.
For now, Sorabella is on unemployment, and his wife is on disability. But the two have always been fighters, and have faith that they can get through this together. Kathleen was homeless when they first met. Carl was a bus driver and found her sleeping in the back of his bus. The two have accomplished much since then. After they got married, he earned an accounting degree, she set up a homeless shelter and earned bachelors and masters degrees in social science, the latter which she just completed three years ago. She's still paying off her $60,000 student loan.
Both Kathleen's cancer, and her treatment, are aggressive. The colon cancer had spread to her lungs when they found it, and doctors were able to remove the main tumor, along with part of her colon including ten inches of intestine. They're hoping the chemo will take care of the more than 55 nodules in her lungs.
Carl's Cobra payments for his health plan were too expensive, but the couple still has minimal coverage from his wife's disability. She had been employed as a social worker in the prison system.
Carl is still looking for work as an accountant -- he says he'll take part time -- anything he can find. But after they get through this and his wife recovers -- and they're confident she will -- he'd like to go back to school and get a nursing degree.
In the meantime, however, there are more urgent matters to attend to. "We don't know how we're going to pay our bills," says Kathleen. "But we keep telling each other as long as we love each other -- it doesn't matter. We'll get through this. I'm going to get better."
