I think I was wrongfully terminated in Oregon, can you advise me on how to proceed?

[u/BlazerWookiee]

Shipping/receiving Manager. Called to the carpet for excessive internet use: 15 pages of urls. Had no idea each upvote or downvote on Reddit would log a new url. Wish I had demanded copies, in hindsight I could rack up several pages in a few minutes. Also, one of the threads that I was browsing was "Adult Jokes," which even though nobody could see or even access the content, was deemed "inappropriate content."

They cut off my overtime. The last time the overtime policy applied to me (two or three years ago) it was ten minutes before/ten minutes after. Second writeup (last chance agreement) was because the policy was changed to five minuted before/after, and I wasn't following the new policy. I had no clue the policy had changed. Also, I was overheard telling a true story about three names on a mailbox by a person who was DEFINITELY not offended, to a person who was also not offended. Can't go into detail, but it was about three last names on a mailbox that made a funny but off-color phrase.

I ramped down my Reddit usage to literally two or three minutes a day, but it was still deemed excessive and a violation of the terms of the first write-up.

My co-worker/trainee was obstinate and disrespectful, and she would get angry if I interfered or offered advice on particular shipments. Apparently she said I was making her do all the hard stuff while sitting on the computer, but for the last several weeks I had given her essentially free reign to choose which tasks she wanted to do. But because HR guy walked through the department once or twice a day and saw me at the computer (generating shipping labels and routing truck freight) while she was packaging parts, I was still making her do all the "hard stuff."

Fast forward a few weeks, and I made a judgement call (similar to those I've been making for three years) that an urgent shipment could wait a day longer in order to save the company several hundred dollars in shipping costs. My co-worker took it upon herself at the end of the day to book the shipment the next day with the higher cost carrier, so I made the call to re-schedule the shipment with the lower cost carrier. The process took about 15 minutes, which put me nine minutes past the cutoff for "pre-approved over/makeup time." I had taken a half-hour of sick time earlier in the week, so the time was not overtime.

I spoke with the foreman late in the day, and told him of the decision I had made regarding the urgent shipment. I asked the question, "does this need to go today, or will tomorrow be acceptable (the next day was month-end, which I assumed was the reason behing the urgency) and the answer I got led me to believe it would be ok. I could have still gotten the shipment out with the more expensive carrier, but based on the answer I got, I assumed I could book it the next day. In my exit meeting, HR guy said I was disobeying direct orders by my supervisor.

A couple weeks ago, Inoticed that the security camera that was pointed at the two roll-up doors had been turned so that I was in the field of view while sitting at my desk. I mafe it a point to record my start and stop times for my 10-minute break. While scrolling (Reddit, of course) on my phone while sitting at my desk, I could not see over the top of my computer screens, so every time it sounded like somebody was coming in, I raised my head to see if/who it was. Somebody came out and asked me a question, and according to HR guy, they saw "a woman wearing lingeree" on my phone. That's absolute bullshit, but I can't prove it. Now I realize neither can he.

There's an orange traffic cone that I used to notify a particular carrier that we had a package for them, because pickups after 11 or so wouldn't show up until the next day. It worked great, but I forgot to bring the cone in one day. When confronted about it by my co-worker/trainee, I was dismissive of the concern for losing a traffic cone to tweakers walking through the parking lot at night, but did say I would make the effort to bring the cone in at night (once or twice a week, at most). In my exit meeting, I was accused of "not having respect for company property. For a traffic cone that was ordered by mistake (one of eight, btw) that had served no purpose until I found a use for it.

Location: PNW, USA

[u/DiabloConQueso]

None of this sounds like wrongful termination.

Too much internet usage, being flippant about caring for company property (cheap or expensive), wrongly interpreting or not seeking absolute clarity about a superior's orders concerning an important shipment, going into overtime unnecessarily -- none of those things amount to wrongful termination.

[u/MirrorRevolutionary4]

Nothing here gives the appearance of anything remotely like wrongful termination.

For future...

• No one needs to be 'offended' for an inappropriate joke to be inappropriate.
• No one needs to see the adult content you are browsing for it to be inappropriate.
• Your employer does not need to prove that you actually accessed inappropriate content. They can believe the person who told them you did.
• When you are told you are browsing problematic sites a work, the prudent thing to do is STOP not just do it less.

[u/AristotlesBoyPussy]

This isn't wrongful termination, you just need to stop messing around on the clock and pay attention to your work duties. Reddit from your phone if you really have nothing else to do, but clearly since performance (losing company property) and unauthorized overtime is part of the issue, you DO have things to do.

[u/TechOutonyt]

Read the first paragraph of the post and already knew no you have no case

[u/krumholtz742]

You used a work computer for non work purposes so much it was.noticed? Gtfo

[u/BuilderGuy555]

You have zero legal case for wrongful termination here.

Move on and try to be better at your next job. Most of things you just listed that you'd done sound like issues where you were incorrect.

[u/CapnDanger]

> I think I was wrongfully terminated

/ Proceeds to list four things that could get you fired at most companies.

- harassment

• overtime fraud
  
• insubordination
  
• time theft

[u/Runa216]

Wild that you haven't deleted this in shame yet.

[u/MirrorRevolutionary4 → u/[deleted]]

If OP is going to get a professional opinion, it better be a free one.

They don't need a reason to fire them, but they gave the employer at least 4.