Fired Orange Workers Couldn't Speak Over Cubicle Walls?

[Tommy_Carcetti]

Source: ABC Good Morning America/Yahoo News

Six of the workers fired from a law firm in Deerfield Beach, Fla. on March 16 for wearing orange have retained a lawyer and may pursue legal action against their former employer, who allegedly would not allow workers to speak to each other over their cubicle walls.

Attorney Donna Ballman now represents six of the 14 support staff who say they were accused of staging a protest against workplace conditions and then fired abruptly, as first reported by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

............

Ballman said Elizabeth Wellborn's husband gathered most, though not all, of the employees who were wearing orange that day and they were "told that management thought they were wearing orange shirts to protest working conditions, and they should pack their things and leave," Ballman said.

Ballman said some workers may have been wearing orange to mimic the uniform color often used by the Florida Department of Corrections. Those workers may have been protesting new work rules imposed by a new manager earlier this month. She said, for example, that they could not speak to coworkers over the walls of their cubicles, even to discuss work-related matters.



Read more: http://gma.yahoo.com/fired-orange-workers-couldnt-speak-over-cubicle-walls-175508952--abc-news-money.html

---

Knock, knock....

Who's there?

Orange.

Orange who?

ORANGE you glad you don't work for Elizabeth Wellborn, P.A.?

Yes, Florida is at-will. But the NLRA protects "concerted activity" regardless of whether or not you are a member of a union. And going to happy hour with fellow co-workers to complain about a crappy workplace environment could definitely be construed as "concerted activity."

[LiberalEsto]

1. My husband can't speak to co-workers either

H works for a federal IT contractor, and word came down several months ago that people in his division were not allowed to talk to one another,

This is insanity. How can people work together and solve problems?

[drm604]

13. IT people can't talk to each other?

That is insane. IT people have to constantly communicate. It makes for better problem solving. Many problems are solved, or better ways of doing things emerge, through things like chance hallway conversations. A certain amount of camaraderie makes thing work better, not worse.

[LiberalEsto]

14. Exactly

I suspect more and more upper management people are afraid that their minions will talk to one another... and conspire... and possibly unionize... and overthrow their overlords.

[MADem]

2. What an INGENIOUS form of protest!!!!! Not only does management know how people feel, but others do

as well!

[JHB]

4. The thing is, it wasn't a protest...

...it was just their "group color" for going out for drinks after work (easier to find each other when they get to the place at different times, etc.).

But the office manager imagined they were getting uppity, and fired the bunch on that whim.

[MADem]

24. Bwahahahaha! That's even funnier!

And it's certainly "plausibly deniable!"

If they worked for a paranoid martinet, it's certainly more appropriate than, say, sunshine yellow, or electric blue....!

I hope they sue 'em blue!

[NYC_SKP]

3. How are businesses to succeed if employees just jibber jabber all day?

And what's the point of High School lessons in compliance and no tolerance and no child left behind and you must go to college so you can get a job for a federal IT contractor????


Just WHAT is the point of it all, anyway?







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FWIW, I work in a school program that basically says FUCK YOU to the NCLB and RTTT and federal mandates in education, or most of them.

And we let kids use smart phones and talk.

Fuck this other shit.

[ZenLefty]

5. We're encouraged to speak over cubicle walls

Over, around, through, whatever. We do it all the time. Sadly, all we ever talk about is work.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. At my old job, from which I recently retired, we talked over,

under, around and through the cubicle walls all the time. It was encouraged. In some areas they deliberately set up cubicles with low walls so we'd be more inclined to talk to each other. We also tossed small food items (jelly beans, wrapped candies) to each other over the cube walls. Management was not concerned at all with this.

[ZenLefty]

18. It makes for a really productive environment.

We collaborate quite a bit in making decisions. Our job requires a pretty high level of expertise and no one person knows everything. But when four of us put our heads together we usually come up with something non-stupid.

Of course, the occasional gummy bear projectile sometimes get launched over the walls, without warning.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

28. Yes, it does.

My old job was highly technical and we needed to work together to get stuff done. Management encouraged this kind of collaboration. However, contrary to another comment on this thread, we didn't have mandatory baby showers (since most of the employees were men), although sometimes somebody would bring a cake if they knew somebody else was having a birthday. It was a good, productive environment - not at all like the frivolous, silly situation that was implied elsewhere in this thread. I was glad to be able to work with people who took their jobs seriously and at the same time realized we could get more done by working together instead of being all grumpy and holing up in a cubicle and snapping at anybody who presumed to speak to them. We did have a guy like that for awhile, a big, crabby PITA, and everyone was glad and relieved when he retired.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. This law firm is a foreclosure mill.

Check it out: http://www.erwlaw.com/

Elizabeth R. Wellborn, PA focuses on the representation of mortgage lenders, servicers and private investors since its inception. We provide foreclosure, bankruptcy, eviction, litigation, loss mitigation, title claims, REO Closings and title insurance throughout the State of Florida. Through our well trained, multilingual staff of attorneys, paralegals, legal assistants, and business professionals, our office is able to deliver comprehensive legal services to the mortgage banking community.

I can't imagine why anyone would want to work there, but these days a job's a job, and it looks like the fired orange-wearing employees were mostly poorly-paid clerical workers.

[Enrique]

8. they made a huge mistake

foreclosure mills don't like publicity, and this incident is giving them a ton of publicity. Kudos to these brave orange folks for making a stink.

[freshwest]

12. Nice visual aid there. Hope it goes viral.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

26. It's already the featured picture on the Google review site for the Wellborn firm

http://maps.google.com/maps/place?hl=en&sugexp=pfwe&gs_nf=1&cp=13&gs_id=18&xhr=t&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1920&bih=885&wrapid=tljp1332865910331027&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=elizabeth+wellborn&fb=1&gl=us&hq=elizabeth+wellborn&hnear=0x88d9012720facaf5:0x7602be7540bf8ebe,Fort+Lauderdale,+FL&cid=18327126010068371794&ei=futxT9aECabb0QH8ysjKAQ&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=placepage-link&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CD8Q4gkwAA

[freshwest]

27. Oh, wow! With their map and everything! Official looking, huh?

Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of not-nice-people.



Thanks for bringing it here.

[JDPriestly]

31. But it's easy to imagine why the attorneys don't want support staff

talking to each other.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

35. A foreclosure mill law firm not wanting its support staff too independent?

I have no idea whatsoever why that would be the case.



http://www.housingwire.com/2011/09/27/miami-judge-certifies-class-action-against-david-j-stern-djsp

<SNIP>


Miami judge certifies class-action against David J. Stern, DJSP
By Kerry Curry• September 27, 2011 • 12:54pm

A lawsuit by former employees of the Law Office of David J. Stern and the firm's processing arm, DJSP Enterprises, received class-action certification Monday in a Miami federal court.


The lawsuit, originally filed in November, names four plaintiffs who alleged they lost their jobs in a mass layoff that began on Sept. 23. They claim they were terminated without the 60 days notice required by federal law under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, commonly called the WARN Act.



<SNIP>

Stern's firm imploded in late 2010 after a national scandal involving improper documentation and filing of foreclosure documents — what became known as robo-signing — enveloped several large foreclosure law firms. By October and November, some of the nation's largest servicers, along with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, began began pulling their foreclosure cases from Stern's law firm.

The Plantation, Fla.-based Stern firm at one time employed more than 1,000 employees. It ceased all foreclosure work in March and now operates with a handful of employees who are mainly providing documentation services to handle this lawsuit and more than 20 lawsuits that Stern filed this spring against servicers, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac alleging they owe him money related to the removal of foreclosure cases from his firm.

[Tracer]

9. It's a shame that these people were fired, but

I've worked in places where some people nattered, non-stop, all. day. long. about every aspect of their lives -- to the point where I was silently screaming "shut the f*** up!".

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. That was also a result of poor management.

There's got to be a happy medium - obviously it doesn't do for the work environment to be so noisy nobody can concentrate, but at the same time it can't be an oppressive gulag where nobody can utter a sound. Your manager should have taken control of the natterers and insisted they be considerate of other employees by taking their non-work-related conversations elsewhere.

[cap]

39. People don't realize how noisy it can get

When folks are shouting over partitions. My husband has clocked 85 decibels at his workplace with an iPhone app. Over 80 decibels and the workplace must provide ear protection. Noise Over 80 decibels leads to high blood pressure. Also hubby has high frequency drop off in his hearing which means sound goes right to the brain...very stressful. All this is an OSHA or NIOSH violation.
Low partitions are evil.

[One_Life_To_Give]

11. Headphones and Whitenoise

It's the only way I can focus. That or work nights/weekends when the place is empty.

[xtraxritical]

16. Exactly, get the recess babies out of the workplace.

Work is not a personality contest nor happy hour. People have break rooms and breaks when and where they can socialize. Go to a restaurant after work for your birthday parties (which no one gives a crap about) and baby showers (again who cares).

[snooper2]

17. Somebody doesn't get invited on Friday afternoons

[Tommy_Carcetti]

19. Looks like somebody has a case of the MONDAYS!!!!!!

Sorry, just had to add that one.

[drm604]

20. In my decades of working, it's been my experience

that a certain amount of camaraderie and informal communication improves performance. That even includes the occasional party.

Good workplace morale is important for performance and for the retention of good employees.

[Enrique]

21. Elizabeth Wellborn, is that you?

welcome to DU!

[Marrah_G]

33. Work doesn't have to suck

[frylock]

37. you must be a real charm to work with

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

38. I'm glad the people I worked with didn't have your attitude.

We liked conversing with each other, and even occasionally having birthday parties (which people actually did care about and appreciate). There was one crab who wouldn't have much of anything to do with any of his co-workers, and nobody was sorry when he retired.

[SamG]

22. Proving only that people differ in work styles and

the nature of one's work. Some jobs lend themselves to group approaches and discussions in the problem solving nature of the final product or service. Some jobs require undivided attention to the task in order to avoid distraction and error in the final product or service. Most jobs fall somewhere within that wide spectrum.

[efhmc]

29. Exactly. Welcome here.

[KansDem]

23. No pity from me! When I'm at work I don't have time to "speak over cubicle walls."

I'm on DU all day!

[Redneck Democrat]

25. Florida

[DonCoquixote]

30. you have to build a group spirit

and talking is who it is done. The employers like Wellborn do not realize that, because they think that they can shovel in any number of depserate people who are only smart enough to follow their orders,which is the only thing they think needs to be done to run a business. They do not nrealize that without an espirit de corps, nothing will get done, as that it was makes people burn the midnight oil needed to get things done.

You know, part of me wants to see the day many of these "law firms" get outsourced and a bunch of creeps in suits finally see the world we live in.

[Enrique]

32. Boehner has commented on this

he said, "if I had a son, he would look like the employees' shirts".

[Snake Alchemist]

34. Anyone know more of the history of Elizabeth Wellborn? Love the reviews.

http://maps.google.com/maps/place?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=XXH&rls=org.mozilla:en-US fficial&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1169&bih=525&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=Elizabeth+Wellborn&fb=1&gl=us&hq=Elizabeth+Wellborn&cid=18327126010068371794&ei=6AVyT53CKcLBgAfelZ1k&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=placepage-link&resnum=1&ved=0CDYQ4gkwAA

[frylock]

36. sounds like my asshole manager