So my mom has worked at a pretty well-known department store for ten years. Two years ago she got me on there working nights. We both work two jobs, and sometimes we are late because of the other job. We have always called, we have always been told that it's okay and that they understand. Last month the store manager told my mom out of the blue that she had one more tardy before she would be let go. She hasn't been tardy since that warning.

This week we had an issue with the schedule because her other job had her working nights and she needed to leave this job early on certain days. The store manager was not in on the day we were going to bring it up to her, but the store admin was. My mom had asked the admin if she was available to talk, and she had said she was, but she was very huffy about it. My mom asks her about the schedule only to have the admin interrupt her to tell her that there is nothing that can be done about her hours because it is the holidays. I also had an issue because they scheduled me beyond my availability and would have me working until 1 am when I have to be at my morning job at 7 am the next morning. The admin was very hostile and hateful towards us, very dismissive all the while she was very overly friendly to another associate who was in the room at the time. So the admin makes it clear that she is not going to help us, or even point us in the right direction of who we actually need to be talking to.

She starts walking back to the office and my mom mutters the word 'bitch' under her breath, which I know was really not a good idea and deserves some kind of repercussion. She was sent home while I had to work that night. So she has to call back the next day to talk to the store manager who tells her that she has to get ahold of HR and she doesn't know when my mom can come back. She doesn't tell me anything the next day when I'm at work. It ends up being three days with no word until today when my mom is told she is being let go because of being tardy.

I know that we can be terminated for just about anything but it really feels like this was just a 'well we can't get you for anything else, but we really don't want you to work here anymore' kind of deal. I haven't been terminated. But I really do not want to work there anymore, considering how they treated my mom. My real concern is do we have any grounds for going above the store manager and trying to get into contact with the district manager? Neither of us really want to work there anymore, but it has been very obvious for a while that these people play favorites. Other people get by with so much more than others, and it really isn't fair. Would a district manager even care, considering that is the holiday season? I just need some advice, I don't work again until Saturday.

What happened is unfortunate. And it sucks that they don’t treat everyone equally. But based on the facts presented it doesn’t seem like there’s any support for wrongful discharge, nor discrimination based on a protected class. I don’t think it’s worth the fight, personally, but you could always seek the advice of a lawyer!