Comments on: Banned Without Cause?

By: Christiana

Christiana — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 17:37:21 +0000

Great arcltie, thank you again for writing.

By: sk

sk — Sun, 08 May 2011 21:34:27 +0000

My mother in-law used to work at this location. They treat their employee`s like pure garbage.

To anyone who feels that manic may have deserved this sort of treatment from The Running Room, I can assure you that this location of The Running Room has a long history of treating it`s employee`s VERY badly.

By: Joe Schmoe

Joe Schmoe — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 20:35:02 +0000

You say you did not threaten the company, but you clearly stated : “I suggested I may go to my CF superiors and advise them that Running Room is not supportive in that it is not accommodating of mandatory training.”

Regardless of the ’support’, I highly doubt the only factor was the ‘day’ you wanted off to training purposes. Your story seems a bit fishy. But good luck anyway

By: Sutton

Sutton — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 16:33:32 +0000

Sounds like Peter is a RR employee or mole. Don’t worry about those comments. RR is trying to establish themselves as the Goliath in their industry and is turning into a giant bully along the way.

By: ManicMedic

ManicMedic — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:45:56 +0000

I started with the Running Room and we were both clear that I still had a comittment to the CF. When I started this full-time employment with Running Room they stated that they would allow me time off to attend training as it came up so long as I gave them plenty of notice.

I want you to know that I gave them 8 weeks notice of this 1 particular Saturday. That’s 8 weeks while I was missing other CF training for Running Room work and vice versa. I spoke to them in December and was given the okay to take this 1 day off.

I’m not really sure where your comment comes from as it seems completely unfounded. They went against their word to me and in essence to the CF (in allowing me time off)….something they promised me in June.

I think I had every right to address this issue, not only because they were backing out of their promise, but because they went against the Employment Standards Act. This was training to prepare for possible deployment. I have the right to attend that training, especially since I gave them notice of time off in June when I started.

Any other points you’d like to bring up?

By: Peter

Peter — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 21:36:24 +0000

Okay Manic, so you knew you had to attend MANDATORY training Thursday nights and some weekends, yet you still agreed to work at the RR during that time? Even if you were given that Saturday off, you still couldn’t make the training sessions. You got yourself into this predicament. Instead of being reasonable and talking to your management team BEFORE the Forces wanted you to reinforce your committment, you escalated the situation. How do you expect RR to act, when you, without so many words accuse them of being unpatriotic? Ever think of maybe, when you sent that email off you should have tried to ask to have Thursdays off instead of Friday, that you might still have a job? They fired you because they think you’re a trouble maker and that’s what it sounds like to me. That last post had it right, you are being paid from the Forces still and are required to attend training. It’s up to you to find a happy medium, not RR. Stop blaming other people, I’m sure other people from the Forces can make it work, why do you think you are so different?????

By: JackieR

JackieR — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 20:34:47 +0000

Everyone has to also look at the perspective of the Running Room. You’re asking for a day off (or shifting around the schedule) at the last minute. You should consider the Reserves just like another job. What if you owned a business and an employee wanted to switch shifts for other employment at the last minute…tough to accomodate. You knew what commitment was required of you before you signed up for the Reserves and should consider that in the future, after all you are being compensated from the Resreves also. With that said though, it’s definately not something someone should be terminated for, if that’s just one isolated situation.

By: Uttermost

Uttermost — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 00:58:21 +0000

I was looking forward to joining the Reserves but it appears to me that I was slightly misinformed; I didn’t realize that there is such thing as mandatory training. I will keep my job instead, thanks.

Keep up the good fight!

UMS.

By: ManicMedic

ManicMedic — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 20:21:31 +0000

So the Canadian Forces Liaison Council (a branch that assists members with getting time off from employment for taskings, courses etc) contacted Head Office in Alberta with no success. According to Running Room the matter is closed. However, I am continuing with the Employment Standards Act Claim of course and am waiting any news from that.

I would also value any support anyone can provide, perhaps through a Better Business Bureau Complaint with regards to how Running Room treats reservists or employees in general. Should you be so kind as to support me, the complaint should be made about Running Room in Edmonton Alberta (head office).

I want to assure you that I am completely honest in my ‘telling’ of the story and everyone I speak with feels that despite what I may have said, I was still treated unfairly. My hope is still that you can all see that in having my time off request denied, I was put into a bad situation. There is no reason why that request should have been denied, given what it was for.

Thank you and I’ll keep you posted.

By: jayne_a

jayne_a — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 01:21:45 +0000

ManicMedic,
Do you have any info on what’s happening? Just wondering if things worked out and was going on with the whole situation, keep us posted. ok

By: ManicMedic

ManicMedic — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 05:31:43 +0000

I just wanted to thank you all again for your support. I have forward this up to my MPP and am thinking of contacting the media, any way I can. Sure, I had to get defensive and send a nasty email….but the fact still remains, that they denied me military leave in the first place and backed me into the corner that I had to fight my way out of. And when I questioned them on it and questioned my rights, they terminated me. Wouldn’t mind chatting more with Martin or Sutton….get a back story on your support….we can vent more

Thanks again everyone!

By: Sutton

Sutton — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 20:51:57 +0000

whenever the Running Room hears about something that makes them a wee bit uncomfortable they go for “termination”. Fight it. But more importantly go for publicity - BAD publicity for them. Good luck and BAN the Running Room. Support the smaller stores who really care about their runners and treat their employees well. Every Running Room pays minimum wage so imagine how their friendly staff must feel!!

Ban the Running Room!! They are rich enough now.

By: glowworm2k

glowworm2k — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 20:24:30 +0000

I’m so sorry to hear you were treated like this. In these situations, I find it incredibly ignorant and unfair of the employer to deny a reasonable request. Frankly, instead of being conscientious and proactive in trying to re-book your shift, you could have just called in sick and left them short staffed at the last minute for the shift - you didn’t do this, instead opting for the honourable route, and it turned out very badly indeed. I’m always angry to hear when employees who act in a positive manner are penalized for it.

(The same thing happened to me as a young (under 18) employee at Canadian Tire - the day off that was requested 2 weeks in advance - a Wednesday afternoon, not peak “busy time” - wasn’t accommodated based on their “operational demands.” I ended up booking off sick that day and quitting the job soon after.)

By: Cheryl888

Cheryl888 — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 04:38:14 +0000

This sounds like a legal issue, and if I were you I would ask for this post to be deleted, so once/if you speak to a lawyer (which you should), this wont become a liability for you. If this is how you state, it is a violation of your rights as an employee, and should be compensated as such

By: Martin

Martin — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 21:13:02 +0000

I have a son in the reserves as a medic fortunately for him he works for an employer that actually supports our troops. Boycott the Running Room!