troopergirl714
New Member
I was a substitute school bus driver for a local school district here in the Sacramento area. I have driven a school bus for 6 years, working for 3 different companies within that time. I had a spotless record before this situation. I had worked for this district for almost exactly one year and during that time, I had no accidents, no write ups, was always on time to work, had a good relationship with staff, co-workers, children and their parents. I had never been called into the office for any infraction. On July 11 of this year, while I was attempting to park my bus, I hit another bus and took out the mirrors on my bus. The bus next to me had minimal damage; a broken clearence light that was fixed while I was there and a scratch and dent on the battery compartment door. The bus I was driving needed the mirrors on the passenger side to be replaced as the damage was to the point where the bus had to be downed. The boss came out and took pictures of both busses and told me not to worry about it. Parking there was difficult because it's like a sardine can. She said many other drivers had had accidents there and that it was okay. She gave me paperwork to fill out and told me to go see the on site trainer to set up an appt to retrain (that is mandatory when you have any kind of accident.) The trainer and I set the appt for July 21st. The next morning, when I reported for work, my supervisor in dispatch told me that I needed to retrain immediately and asked me if I could come in at 11 am. I told her that I would call the babysitter, who happend to be one of the dispatcher's daughters, and see if I could drop my 9 month old grandson off early. When I got home, I repeatedly called my babysitter and got no answer. Her mom, from dispatch, called me and asked me if I had gotten ahold of her daughter and I said no. She then informed me that if I could not retrain before my afternoon route that I would have to do it after and that would hold up everyone in dispatch. I never got ahold of her daughter, so I called her back and told her that I would just have to do it after route. When I reported for work for the afternoon route, I was feeling very stressed out. When I walked into dispatch, I told her that I would have to fire her daughter because I was concerned about the safety of my grandson when she was obviously in bed while her children were running around. I seen that she was busy with the supervisor, so I apologized and left to sit at the break room table. I was sitting there for approx 5 minutes, when my babysitter called me in tears saying that her mother had just called her and told her that she was going to be fired and that she was stupid. She told me her mother was cussing her out. I told her that we would talk about it when I got off work. I went and did my afternoon route and was called on the radio that my boss wanted to talk to me when I got back, before going to retrain. I went into the office and she asked me if I had told the dispatcher that her daughter was fired. I admitted that I had and she told me that that was unacceptable conversation in the dispatch office and would not be tolerated. I apologized and told her that it would not happen again. She then told me to go see the trainer for my retrain. When we finished it was about 4pm. When we returned to the office, the doors were locked and no one was there, so I gave my keys to the trainer and left. The next morning, after my morning route, I completed my retrain and went home. I had been home for maybe an hour, when I was called by my boss who told me they would no longer be using my services. I asked her why and she said I would get a letter from Human Resources. I filed for unemployment the next day. When I had my telephone interview with unemployment, I was told they had contacted the employer and was told that I was laid off due to lack of work, however, when I recieved my letter from HR, my boss had written that I didn't have good relationships with staff, co-workers, and children, that I was late for work, that I did not dress appropriately for work, and that I did not follow rules and procedures of the district.
I have applied for 6 school bus driver jobs since my termination and have not had one call back. For someone with a spotless record and a clean dmv, this is unheard of, as this is a high demand job. I want to know if I have a case for wrongful termination and defamation of character as I have her accusations to me in writing. She cannot backup anything that she has accused me of as like I stated in the beginning that I was never written up for any infraction and had no parent complaints during my employment with them.
I have applied for 6 school bus driver jobs since my termination and have not had one call back. For someone with a spotless record and a clean dmv, this is unheard of, as this is a high demand job. I want to know if I have a case for wrongful termination and defamation of character as I have her accusations to me in writing. She cannot backup anything that she has accused me of as like I stated in the beginning that I was never written up for any infraction and had no parent complaints during my employment with them.
