Posted on 03/07/2007 2:34:46 PM PST by qam1
What happens when a twenty-something manager tells an older worker to turn up her hearing aid or take an herbal memory medicine? In this Oregon case, it got the employer in trouble with the feds.
Scott and Patty Corp., formerly Woodburn Fertilizer, Inc., agreed recently to pay Carolyn Arzino, a former longtime 55-year-old accounting secretary, $85,000 to settle age discrimination claims brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The case arose, agency trial attorney Teri Healy told The Oregonian, from the actions of a female manager in her 20s, who criticized Arzino's work, telling her, among other things, that she should take ginkgo biloba, an herbal memory tonic, and turn up the volume on her Miracle Ear.
The manager gave Arzino a poor performance evaluation, withheld her raise and placed her on a 30-day probation before firing her on July 20, 2004, according to the EEOC's complaint. But EEOCs investigation revealed that Arzinos coworkers said she was an exceptional performer.
Scott and Patty Corp. denied liability.
This case, noted EEOC district director Joan Ehrlich, illustrates a phenomenon of today's workplace: It spans four generations -- Millennials, Gen Xers, Baby Boomers and the last of the Silent Generation born before the end of World War II -- and their members don't always speak the same language or work quite the same way. Employers need to be aware and sensitive to those dynamics.
I love busting on baby-boomers: the young, dumb hippies who became old, dumb hippies....
"a female manager in her 20s, who criticized Arzino's work, telling her, among other things, that she should take ginkgo biloba, an herbal memory tonic, and turn up the volume on her Miracle Ear."
Ordinarily I might sympathize with a company who is held responsible for something that ONE manager did but in this case you have to wonder how a company could be foolish enough to give a women like this who is only in her 20's that kind of power - you suspect she had to be related to someone in power to have climbed to a management position at that age with such a hateful outlook.
Those can be a really scary breed! ;)
Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.
Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.
bump for later
Bingo! Sounds to me like some major power-trippin' going on...
And where was the manager's boss and/or HR in all this? In my last position I had responsibility for about 60 people, and there's no way I could enact any of these actions without the approval of my boss and HR.
20 is the new 40.
The greatest generation that spent the social security surplus.
"I'll be going to jail I suppose....
I love busting on baby-boomers: the young, dumb hippies who became old, dumb hippies...."
Me and you both
When asked how she felt about the settlement, Ms. Arzino said, "What?"
But I thought have woman managers would make the workplace more civil.
Please add me to your xer list
I don't know, I'm a female and was supervisor (not manager but supervised a floor of 10-25 call center operators) and a lot of times I supervised people 2x my age. (I was 18-20 during that time.) I would have never spoken to someone the way this manager did - it's disrespectful and in poor taste. I certainly had some difficult people to work with who didn't like having a supervisor half their age, but I respected them and they learned that I was okay and knew what I was doing. /end rant
bump for later ref
RE #15
This is exactly what I was thinking. This 20 something suffers from an extreme lack of manners. Disrespect seems to be the cornerstone of today's youth.
Careful son, many of us here are old enough to be your father, and some your grandfather (mothers and grandmothers too)
A$$holes come in all shapes, sizes, ages and sexes. They also come in all creeds and colors. A$$holes are universal.
"Get off your butt and do some work you hippie scum! And no more using the color printer to make ANSWER communist posters!"
I am really surprised...finally, the EEOC actually did something to help someone who was definitely and outrageously discriminated against. The EEOC sides with the employer in 99.9% of the cases they hear.
So true and there are lots of them everywhere.
Amen. There's some baby boomers here, but we're not all hippies.
You younguns ain't too swift. If you were, you'd know that social security is penny ante stuff. Take a look at what medicare is going to cost you. How's your back feelin, sonny? Stay strong. You've got a load to carry. :-)
let that be a lesson. Don't trust anyone under thirty.
The twenty-something manager is a jerk, end of story.
Oh, I had a back surgery when I was 18...it hasnt been the same since!
That's one 20-something that won't remain a manager for long. Likely not with the company for long either. Youthful stupidity.
And those boomers among us who were never the former and certainly not the latter, suggest you take up a real hobby.
I have great sympathy. I hurt mine on the flightline stupidly trying to help a crew chief wrestle an F-4 external fuel tank. Ouch.
I recovered after awhile, but I still remember how it felt and how long it took to heal.
R.
See, the mistake that was made here was that the manager should have
"eliminated the position" instead of "firing" the employee.
These young inexperienced managers ...
they just don't know anything about how the system works.
Yup. And, we aren't going to leave you anything in our will.
Most of us boomers were never hippies. And the boomer Vietnam vets might come looking for you over that ...
What the hell are you and Cogadh na Sith talking about? Just because you are a young dumb ass and will become and old dumb ass doesn't mean the woman who was fired was anything but a fine worker.
Why don't you take that mouth of yours and try busting, one on one with some baby boomers of the combat variety.
That's of course assuming this story as reported is entirely true and/or in context
But I got to ask, why is this a federal case? The feds have this little to do that they can investigate a simple workplace dispute like this?
Dont wet your depends. Those things cost money.
Mrs Magslinger would argue against that. She would much rather work for a man than a woman. She says that the backbiting is much worse with a woman in charge. With limited experience of working for women, I find that hard to believe, but I take her word for it and count my blessings.
Somewhat like Ann Coulter, I fear I might be banned if I told someone that he talked like a man with a paper anus. So I won't.
Federal workplace discrimination laws were passed by Congress at a time when state governments could not be trusted to enforce equal rights -- often as not, they were as guilty as any company they were supposed to regulate. You could make a case that the EEOA, and a lot of other federal civil rights laws, are no longer necessary, and that the states could take over that duty -- but politically, no one's gonna want to touch that.
The odds are pretty good that a "longtime 55-year-old accounting secretary" was never a hippie, just a longtime productive worker.
It is the EEOC's job to enforce Federal law in employment disputes where discrimination occurs due to someone's age, race, sex or religion.
For more information, contact EEOC.gov.
I'd like to know the context in which these were delivered. If it's during an evaluation and as an excuse for substandard work the employee says;
1. "I'm having trouble remembering things" then the herbal suggestion would have been helpful.
2. "I'm a having trouble hearing things"
Do you have a hearing aid?
"Yes, it's a miracle Ear."
Try turning it up.
Having been involved with the EEOC in the past, unless you are part of a protected minority being a business person is the same as being guilty.
I was never a "hippy" and was born in 1960, which makes me a "baby boomer", right? You going to "bust" on me, friend?
I remember a temporary assignment that I went on in early 1998, where I had to do data entry for a law firm. My boss and co-workers were great...except for one 20-something-looking female, who wanted to boss me and other people around big-time, but sucked up like crazy to the management (judging from the one time I saw such an interaction). I hope she has a better attitude these days.
The boomers in highly skilled positions are very carefully filtering those who will follow in our footsteps. If "busting on baby boomers" is your style, be assured that you won't be among the select few that are mentored to replace us when we are ready to retire.
Well, there are two other ways she could have gotten the manger's position. One is, she was qualified. That doesn't seem to be the case. The other involves extreme friendliness with a male superior.
Her opinion? "When the Baby Boomers retire there are going to be a lot of businesses that go bankrupt."
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