My husband is an A&P and retired military with a government job maintaining a fleet of aircraft on a military base. Last week they had a toolbox audit and his box was missing one allen wrench. He hasn't had to use this tool and it being so tiny he didn't notice it was missing to report it. Today his supervisor pulled him into an office and left, then a union rep came in and gave him two options.
Option #1- Quit and lose the ability to work for the government for 90 days, but retain his security clearance.
Option #2- Be fired and lose both his security clearance and the ability to work for the government for 7 years.
He was told he had to make a decision immediately before he left the room or else it would default to option #2. He obviously chose to quit, forfeiting his ability to file for unemployment in our state.
My father-in-law has held a similar job for over 30 years with a different branch of the military and told me he has seen hundreds of missing tool reports over the years but has never seen anyone be fired over one. It all feels like a set up and my husband is very angry, sad, and confused. He has left a message with civilian HR to call us back but I don't know that they can do anything.
What is the point of having a Union if you can be fired over something so trivial as a $2 tool ?
tldr; Husband lost a small tool and was forced to quit over it.