Employees wrongfully terminated under suspicious circumstances.
I worked at Just Brakes as a technician for about a year. It's true that Just Brakes takes the attitude that they should try to get the customer to fix their car right, however, sometimes their definition of the right way to fix a car could be construed as extending the limits of what really needs to be done to bring the car back to an acceptable level of repair. In fact, they have a bonus program in place that apparently acts as an incentive to sell more parts. I am an honest guy, but I needed a job, so I hung in there and decided to just do an honest days work for an honest days pay, and try to stay out of the "sales" end of it. Unfortunately, Just Brakes pays at a rate that is considerably less than the industry standard for that type of work. With that said, I'm sure you can imagine that they have a hard time attracting the quality mechanics most people expect to have working on their brakes when they take their vehicle to a 'specialist'.
I was fired from Just Brakes for something I had no control over. They wrote on my separation notice that I was discharged for negligence. That is wrong, I was not negligent. I have several character witnesses to testify on my behalf. Yet, the Department of Labor has denied me any unemployment benefits based on what Just Brakes has told them.
One Saturday afternoon in November, the center manager told me that I was to make sure the deposit got to the bank on Monday, as he was to be at a training class. He showed me a paper envelope in the top left drawer of the desk. He now says that after I left at 6:00 pm he put two more deposits in the same drawer and then left at about 6:20 pm, and that the corporate operations manager and one of the new employees were still there. I assume it was the corporate operations manager who locked the door that night. What actions or amounts of time transpired between the time the center manager left the premises and the corporate operations manager locked the door is unknown. The deposit(s) were NOT locked up (the desk drawer is not lockable) and were available for anyone who wandered into the office after the center manager left until later that evening when the corporate operations manager locked the building.
Because I was not in an active management position in any way, shape, or form, at any time on that Saturday, and am not the one who put the deposits in the drawer, and I was not the last one to leave and lock the door Saturday night, it is clear to me that my responsibility for the security of the deposit(s) was to begin Monday morning when I arrived on the premises to fill the role of "acting manager".
Thus, firstly, I was unaware of the existence of the deposits in question, and secondly, there was opportunity for the deposits in question to be removed from the premises before I arrived on the premises to open the door Monday morning.
I did follow the rules, orders, and instructions of my employer to the best of my knowledge and ability. I did not know that there were supposed to be two other deposits (the deposits in question) in the drawer. I did make a deposit on Monday, the afore mentioned paper envelope. That was the only deposit in the drawer.
Unless Just Brakes can prove that the deposits in question were in the desk drawer on Monday morning, and that those deposits in question were under lock and key and unavailable to any other employee from the time that the center manager placed them in the desk drawer, until Monday morning, they are the ones guilty of negligence, and wrongful termination. The deposits were NOT locked up and were available for anyone who wandered into the office after the center manager left until later that evening when the corporate operations manager locked the building.
Also, I was told that the deposits in question amounted to somewhere around $1300 in cash and checks. It makes sense to me that if Just Brakes is making the accusation that someone has stolen the deposits in question the theft should be reported to the police. It seems very suspicious to me that no police report was ever made.
Please listen to a former employee of Just Brakes. If you decide to exercise your right to take your vehicle to Just Brakes, ask them to give you an estimate on the cost of repairs. Then exercise your right to take your car somewhere else and get a second opinion, even if they make it sound like your car is unsafe. Have it towed if necessary. But, don't let Just Brakes rip you off!
In my experience, I have found Just Brakes to be a company unworthy of my services, or my business. I am very unhappy with Just Brakes.
Rolf
Newnan, Illinois
U.S.A.
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