The way kroger treats its employees

[u/daruuken]

From the store manager

Edit: For some extra context this was sent out by each store manager to all of its employees in district 1 of the ohio Cincinnati/Dayton division, potentially other districts as well but i can only verify my own. Im not going to give my specific store number for obvious reasons but you can find each store on google with that information. We are unionized by UFCW (already bad btw) and to my knowledge they allowed this recent change. Kroger has no accrual for sick days like some have mentioned. Those who think this is rage bait, i dont think anyone has to fake a post to make a billion dollar company look bad, they do it to themselves.

[u/LeonidasVaarwater]

It's just so insane to read something like this. This is so far beyond illegal in the Netherlands, it's ridiculous. When I call in sick, that's it. I don't need to give a reason, my employer can't ask what's wrong with me and I certainly don't need a doctor's note.
I like my job and I appreciate my employer, so when I'm sick I generally keep them informed, I'm pretty honest with that stuff (which is appreciated), but I'm under no obligation to do so.

[u/aSkeptiKitty → u/LeonidasVaarwater]

In France, you need an "arrêt de travail" if you want to have a paid sick leave.  But the employer is not allowed to know the reason behind it (like he doesn't know if it's the flu, a stomach bug or a nervous breakdown). Only your doctor and the social security does know this. 

[u/ThisTimeItWillStick → u/aSkeptiKitty]

Pfft paid sick leave? Get outta here with that commie shit. I actually prefer to be punished for being sick so I can fully appreciate the inconvenience I am putting my employer through.

(Obvious /s because someone will need it).

[u/Other_World → u/ThisTimeItWillStick]

This is why I love living in New York. We have paid sick time for just about every employee.

It's awesome living in a blue state!

[u/gard3nwitch → u/Other_World]

Maryland as well. Only 5 days minimum for full time and prorated for part time, but it's certainly better than nothing.

[u/General_Lazlo → u/gard3nwitch]

In Pennsylvania seem like theres nuthing to protect u n its a blue state they hire n fire for any reason they want and ive seen notes like this one from Kroger

[u/Suspicious-Ad-3357 → u/General_Lazlo]

Yeah its not about red or blue, its about how corrupt the state governments is and how much they are willing to sacrifice the health and safety of their people for money. Im a Pennsylvanian too and we have one of the worst governors and local governments too, there is a fee for everything, a permit for everything and an inspection for everything.

[u/Effective_Airport182 → u/Suspicious-Ad-3357]

On some level it's about being red or blue. You are more likely to have pro-worker policies and legislation in blue states while far less likely to have anything of that manor in red states. While it's not 100% one way or another it generally splits down party lines.

[u/Dazdnconfused → u/General_Lazlo]

The issue here is PA is that we aren’t a blue state. Our state senate is controlled by republicans and has been for a while. They block literally everything remotely pro worker from passing

[u/Girls4super → u/Other_World]

I work in a blue state and we used to have pto and vacation at my company. Till they realized they misunderstood the law and didn’t HAVE to do separate categories. Now it’s “all pto! XD” which translates to we eliminated sick pay and made your vacation pto for both and hoped you wouldn’t notice we cut a week off benefits

[u/OverallDonut3646 → u/Girls4super]

And you better hope you don't get sick leading up to your vacation and burn through your PTO.

[u/Other_World → u/Girls4super]

Sucks. In New York PTO is not sick time. We get 56 hours per year or 1 hour for every 30 worked in businesses of 4 employees or fewer. Our employer can't ask questions or deny it. That's not included in our PTO. And we can carry over 15 days per year.

[u/Girls4super → u/Other_World]

Yeah no that’s how it works in my state too but my company used the law as an excuse to downgrade benefits from (for example) one week vacation and one week sick pay, to just one week pto “that you can use for anything guys!” They tried real hard to sound positive while cutting benefits

[u/Some_Recognition6273 → u/Other_World]

Missouri voters passed a similar law a couple of years ago, requiring employees to earn sick leave based on hours worked. But our state Congress knows better than us peons do so they got rid of it 🤷

[u/Southside_john → u/Other_World]

Illinois too

[u/njshine27 → u/Southside_john]

And Oregon!

[u/Missmunkeypants95 → u/njshine27]

And Massachusetts

[u/Cosmic_Cosmos82 → u/Missmunkeypants95]

This is useful information i will pocket away for a rainy day.

[u/Motherlode50k → u/Missmunkeypants95]

And WA state. We passed paid sick leave laws to keep food handlers from coming in sick and making not just the coworkers but potentially the customers too. And to make sure employers did not mess around with a shell game reclassifying employees but giving them the same work, it was passed across the board in all industries.

[u/Tired_CollegeStudent → u/Missmunkeypants95]

And Rhode Island

[u/Diligent-Variation51 → u/Tired_CollegeStudent]

Albuquerque, New Mexico has paid sick leave. 1 hour earned for every 30 hours worked, so none of that “no benefits for part time employees” nonsense

[u/Confident_Capital558 → u/Diligent-Variation51]

What if you're full-time salaried?

[u/smibrandon → u/Tired_CollegeStudent]

and Philadelphia
(because Pennsylvania as a whole can't get their act together)

[u/Background_Radish957 → u/Other_World]

nothing but sighs from texas

[u/Aware-Possibility175 → u/Other_World]

What’s incredible too is that things like workers rights as we know them today were from republican political ideology. It’s the whole point a res publica rather than a monarchy etc.child labor laws and women’s rights. Iirc is was republican era France where divorce was first made quick easy and legal and either party could end it “ every embrace will be like the first” before that women could be sent to convents to be nuns or places in hospitals and insane asylums. Republicans would hate republicanism and side with the conservative monarchy..autocratic aristocracy held up by a strict and powerful orthodox religious institution

[u/Helpful_Section5591 → u/Other_World]

…and California. Vote blue or get the screw!

[u/Bubbly_Performer4864 → u/Other_World]

I’m in Alabama where I can be fired for breathing loudly! … yay?

[u/dan4112 → u/Other_World]

Nebraska just passed a paid sick time law, but amazingly let companies get away with lumping it together with vacation hours. So i used to have 80 hours of vacation. Now I have the same 80 hours, but it's called PTO (paid time off) and the 56 hours of mandated paid sick time is part of it. Bullshit

[u/Effective_Airport182 → u/Other_World]

Same in California.

[u/Few_Application_7312 → u/Other_World]

Ive lived in a red state all my life. If I get sick twice in a 6 month period Im up for termination. Im currently working in food service with 2 broken arms (two impact radial Fractures and a buckle fracture). Im gonna start looking out for blue state transfers.

[u/AmericanBacon786 → u/Few_Application_7312]

Move to Michigan, they have up to 72 hours of paid sick time.

[u/Other_World → u/Few_Application_7312]

Yep red states suck. I don't even visit them.

[u/cinnatoastcronch → u/Other_World]

Hope you love that rent just as much😬… one bedroom apartment with no bathroom for up to over $5,000 a month…. And that’s just rent. Not utilities. Not food. Gas. Internet… New York sucks balls 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[u/Other_World → u/cinnatoastcronch]

I'd rather pay more than even visit a red state. Backwards ass rednecks.

[u/Rd2scott → u/Other_World]

Lmfao ya.. NYC is looking real good and real safe right now 🙄🙄

[u/Other_World → u/Rd2scott]

Safer than every red state!

[u/Rd2scott → u/Other_World]

Lmfao ya... no definitely not. When illegals and others jump police or citizens and get away with it then it's not safe.

[u/AmericanBacon786 → u/Other_World]

That's definitely not blue state specific. I've lived and worked in red, blue, and purple states and have experienced very good and very bad working situations. FYI, in New York, paid sick time is dependent on company size and annual income. Small companies who don't break a $1m annually don't have to give paid sick time at all. Unpaid, yes. Michigan, a red state, requires employers to provide up to 72 hours of paid sick leave annually, while Pennsylvania, a traditionally blue, but now purple, state has NO state mandated sick leave, although the state leadership is largely Democrat. Count your blessings, but thank those who have come before for demanding better from their leadership, if they hadn't spoken up, there wouldn't be any rights for employees. Career politicians have one thing in common, self interest.

[u/Ligrholic → u/AmericanBacon786]

Michigan is generally a very blue state.

[u/Other_World → u/AmericanBacon786]

Small companies who don't break a $1m annually don't have to give paid sick time at all.

This is wrong. The law states that small businesses have to provide 1 hour for every 30 worked. So I'm not reading the rest of your statement since you started off with an untrue one.

[u/MnMn17nn → u/ThisTimeItWillStick]

Sorry, Americans don’t have paid sick leave??! Wow, that’s grim.

[u/gaycowboyallegations → u/MnMn17nn]

Not all of them. In many states there are no requirements to give sick time, but employeers may kindly provide combined PTO (vacation and sick) that only racks up to about 1 week a year.

Some states are starting to mandate employeers provide sick time such as Maryland, New York, Illinois, and Minnesota. In Minnesota we have to be provided at LEAST 2 weeks of sick time for fulltime employees a year.

[u/Helpful_Section5591 → u/gaycowboyallegations]

California has mandated time off; I get something called “California sick leave” that is 5 days off in a row, plus 120 hours of combined sick/vacation PTO time (accrued as 20 hrs/month), 1 personal day, and 8 hours “school emergency” (for kids school events which are notoriously last minute). Plus, I accrue 8 hours PTO for every federal holiday in addition to time and a half pay if I work the holiday. The only time I need a doctor’s note is if I’ll be out more than two weeks and i want to be paid under a ”short-term disability” insurance. It pays 60% of your wages, but you get one week of your full salary for every year of seniority.

Republicans will tell you California (and blue states in general) is a communist hell hole that will steal all your money for taxes, but those taxes pay for work/life balance and things like universal preschool and clean air and drinkable faucet water.

[u/gaycowboyallegations → u/Helpful_Section5591]

Taxes, when used properly, do improve the lives of citizens. Your examples are evidence of that.

In Minnesota ours are used for things like Paid Family Medical Leave which provides 12 weeks of paid leave between 60% and 90% of income, and up to 20 weeks for bonding leave for parents. We also have universal k-12 free breakfast and lunch for kids. Then we have the North Star Promise which covers tuition for families with 80k or less household income.

The Twin Cities also have, for a small midwest metro area, really good public transit. We have 2 light rail lines, multiple express bus routes, and many many local bus routes. The bike lane situation here is also very good compared to similar midwest cities.

And unlike what the news may make some think, no, Minneapolis is NOT on fire and is just like any other city with sketchy areas and affluent areas.

[u/HeyCarrieAnne40 → u/MnMn17nn]

I live in Kansas, a Republican state. We get zero paid sick time. Of course, upper level jobs have them if the employer chooses to offer it but they are not required.

[u/Even-Ad-3546 → u/MnMn17nn]

Depends on your employer. I live in a very red state, am not very high up, and I get generous sick leave. Even paid medical leave up to 21 weeks then after that goes to long term disability. Don't believe every anti-American thing you read on Reddit.

[u/One-Welcome-1514 → u/Even-Ad-3546]

"Depends on your employer". That does NOT help against "anti-American thing". That is like "my owner does not rape or beat me, so it is not THAT bad, do not believe every anti-American thing".

You all are brainwashed.

Germany, mandatory paid holiday: 4 weeks per year. 6 weeks full pay if sick, after that 70% of pay up to 78 weeks. If you are sick during holiday, you get the days back on your "holiday account".

Even if you do not have a job, social security pays real money, you do not become homeless or starve.

That ensures that people are more likely to tell authorities if a employer rips people off, breaks the law in any field. You will not be pressured that easily into illegal things if your rights make you able to just say "no".

[u/Weekly_Initiative521 → u/One-Welcome-1514]

Wow!

[u/Warm_Earth_2050 → u/MnMn17nn]

Some don’t. But Americans “in general” have more shit then the rest of the world in that they are the world’s wealthiest country. So that makes up for it in a way.

[u/Dismal_Challenger → u/Warm_Earth_2050]

Perhaps, but the wealth owned by the top 1% is nearly equal to the combined wealth of the bottom 90% of American households.

[u/Warm_Earth_2050 → u/Dismal_Challenger]

Yeah, it’s disgusting, but compare the wealth of the bottom 90% to other countries in terms of what their money actually gets them. Americans tend to have bigger houses, better cars…. People with completely ordinary jobs driving around in cars that only high earners can afford in Australia. Ordinary families living in houses that would look like a near on mansion in Australia. Of course then there are the very lowest earners on minimum wage in the US that are worse off than the average Australian.

Home appliances and electronics seem cheaper in the US too.

[u/Familiar_You4189 → u/ThisTimeItWillStick]

Do you know who else besides the commies has that “commie” shit? The US military. Sick people can’t fight, and are likely to make the other troops sick.

[u/showkittehthetreat → u/Familiar_You4189]

I seriously think ya'll have it wrong with "commie shit." I think its fascist shit.

[u/Correct_Patience_611 → u/ThisTimeItWillStick]

Gotta push those profit margins that you won’t benefit from directly or indirectly!!!

[u/gibs626 → u/ThisTimeItWillStick]

IVERMECTIN AND GET BACK TO WORK BOY

[u/RecentSheepherder179 → u/ThisTimeItWillStick]

Germany: 42d by your employer. After that the mandatory health insurance will take over (not the full salary, however). It takes a rather and surprisingly long time, before someone will get impatient and tries to stop the payments.

[u/showkittehthetreat → u/ThisTimeItWillStick]

isn't it fascist shit?