I work in a distribution warehouse in Georgia, it’s a shitty job but pays the bills (I thought). Last week I got an alert to take cover due to there being tornadoes touching ground in my area an hour before I was expected to go into work. I’ve never experienced tornadoes being anywhere within a 50 mile radius of me so I was shitty bricks during this. I called my job to tell them I wasn’t coming in due to the tornadoes and made the bold assumption they’d be understanding.
So the storm clears up a bit and even though it’s pouring rain I decide to go into work the next day since I need this job. I assumed my managers would understand me not wanting to go in during TORNADOES but apparently not. My manager walks up to me while I’m working to tell me yesterday would be counted as an unexcused absence and my pay would be docked for the week.
Now I got this job because they advertised it as paying $16/hr but during training I heard about that only being the case with the attendance bonus. Apparently the base pay is $11/hr and if you don’t call out or come in late for the week your’e scheduled to work they add $5/hr to your pay. I knew about this but I really didn’t expect them to drop my pay for not coming in during a fucking tornado storm.
I confronted my manager about this later that day and her excuse was that the bonus is put in place to encourage you to come into work no matter the circumstances. Despite the fact that there was a tornado warning for the area, power lines and trees in the road and red lights not working, I should’ve come to work anyways. So I made the decision call out the next two days of the week. If I’m already gonna lose my pay for the week might as well use my time to apply for other jobs and try again next week🤗