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Thursday, April 25, 2024
Project Angel Fouls Part 8
Project Angel Fouls Part 7
As a student of both psychology and philosophy, I pay a lot of attention to the whys. Working at Project Angel Food, a well-known Los Angeles nonprofit, has made me realize they operate from a “the end justifies the means” point of view. You may have heard this phrase before, but what does it mean? In my Philosophy classes, I learned this is a logical fallacy (invalid, flawed, error-filled) found in political Consequentialism. Linguistically, Affirmating the Consequences assumes the ending or result of something while also ignoring interferences. In syllagim form it looks like this: if A then B, it’s B therefore A.
For example: recently PAF is having a conflict with my Cesar Chavez Holiday benefit. Our Employee committee voted to have an extra Floating Holiday (8 hrs of basically vacation) on top of our already given one for the year. Thus, every employee would have 16 Floating Holiday hours. However, despite working on the Federal Holiday (my regularly scheduled day) I was informed that I only have 8 hrs of Floating hours because last year there was a glitch that didn’t put a cap on my Floating Holidays resulting in a -8 hrs this year. Despite this being their error and the fact that on my end it shows no request for this third Floating Holiday, they replied “At least you got paid” and “Legally businesses don’t have to give you Holiday benefits.” If (A) you got paid, then (B) you got your holiday benefit. It's (B) therefore (A).
They are ignoring the fact that the pay app constantly has errors and that a holiday benefit is yearly. This can lead to a circular argument.
If (A) you used three Floating Holidays last year and you're only allowed two a yr, then (B) you only get 8 hours this year. It’s (B) therefore (A).
Again they're ignoring Federal Holiday "rules" to pay me less.Another example: In our last Dispatch meeting our Supervisor addressed the ever-present problem of staff conflicts. She called it pride since we weren’t working as a team and to “just help.” She said we shouldn’t ask if it’s within our parameters/scope/department/wants; “we’re here to work so work.” If (A) the staff are not getting along, then (B) it’s their primary fault. It’s (B) therefore (A).
This assumes the problem is one-sided and easy to fix.
If (A) staff just work as a team then (B) there will be less complaints. It's (B), therefore (A)!
This assumes that if staff just do this one thing, everything will get better. As well as ignoring that our complaints aren't about team members. Work culture is created top down.It makes sense that a business would operate in such a way that they are not to blame. It makes sense that a business would justify their ways if it meant making (or keeping) their status (money and power). However, as stated above (and in previous posts), this is a nonprofit. We are for the people, made by the people. PAF time and time again seems to battle this ethical question: who’s important- the clientele, the volunteers, or the staff? When the answer is everyone; however, if the net is weak how will it be a good support? Yes, we serve a very ill clientele. Yes, we need to stay open because hunger never ends. But this does not diminish, rather demands the rights of workers. We need to be constantly reminded of our value just as much as being reminded of our mission.
The logical argument against our flawed one is dennying the consequence: A, then B. It's not B, therefore not A (Modus Tollens) Simply put, it is a logical argument based on deduction and noting the conditionals in either one or both premises. It uses the rule of Inferences. Remember correlation does not mean causation!
If we run this through our two examples without first filter of benefiting profit over people we would change the argument possibly like this:
If (A)all Federal holidays are honored by PAF, there (B) is a benefit for Caser Chavez of +8 Floating holiday hrs by PAF. If there's no (B) benefit given for Cesar Chavez; therefore, not (A).
I am the only I have found having this problem so far. But others has expressed lost vacation and sick hours which runs in the same system.
If (A) the staff are properly equipped and supported with their conflicts, there would be less meetings about not working as a team. If there's no (B) decline in meetings about working as a team; therefore, not (A).
Just telling someone to do something doesn't imply they know how to do it. Although we would want to hire healthy employees, we can't be sure of people's coping mechanisms until the moment arrives. As leaders, will we model the teamwork we expect?
I have studied Principles in Nonprofits, Multicultural Issues in Human Services, Research Methods for Human Services, History of Modern Philosophy, Community Change in Human Services, Multicultural Psychology, and Philosophy of Social Work. I know some things I fear they should have known. We all need to continue to learn and grow. I’ve learned that I can’t trust management at my job. I’ve learned that for PAF, “as long it takes” translates to “by whatever means it takes.” This might seem great, but it’s full of brokenness like the internal fallacies they’ve given sway to. So long story short, I’ve decided to go back to school in hopes of one day taking over my HR’s job…Do you think they’ll cover some of my cost? (It’s in the handbook.)
*For information on this logical fallacy here are some resources to better explain
Affirming the Consequences Video
Monday, April 1, 2024
Project Angel Fouls Part 6
Happy A(ngel) Fools!
As a tribute to this joke-filled day known as April Fools, I thought we could bring to light all the times Project Angel Food has brought tears to our eyes.
Let’s start with the relatively recent investigation conducted by attorney Drew L. Alexis. Mr. Alexis was hired by PAF’s Board of Directors after I wrote an email about concerns with Human Resources and the CEO. The concerns addressed but not limited to were-
HR not assisting employees in understanding insurances/benefits
HR implementing new policies or changes without properly informing all staff
Using photos (for years) without people’s written consent
Using employee’s first and last name (for years) on their website without employee knowledge
HR delaying for half a year in giving two employees proper compensation for doing management duties i.e. Inventory, merchant purchasing, conducting discipline (one of which is still not getting paid)
HR allowing severance pay to a fired employee who had sexual interactions with a minor volunteer-this same employee also threatened a staff member through texting which was never taken seriously (none of this was taken to the police)
HR delaying the termination of a manager who was having inappropriate relations with two employees, verbally abused someone, and sexually harassed another by offering a dollar if they “danced for him.”
HR lacking the tools to de-escalate situations which lead to police being called several times to escort employees
HR not informing department managers about the termination of their own employees
HR showing favoritism by firing one person but suspending another for similar issues
A CEO who bluntly disrespects their workers
And a CEO who makes more financially than what is reasonable
It should come to no one’s surprise that only some of these were found to be “substantiated,” but all of “those facts did not give rise to a policy or legal violation.” I may not know all the laws, but I’m pretty sure the consent thing is a big one. Interviews were only done with some employees and of course Mr. Alexis never interviewed the two people who had physical proof of wrongdoing. It was all dubiously carried out in my opinion. The interviews were sometimes conducted while staff were under management’s eye. I had a coworker directly tell me that they were afraid of what to say since they knew their boss could hear.
Let’s continue being humored, shall we:
PAF continues to have errors in their computer systems causing there to be lost benefit hours and pay. Perhaps their auditor since 2017, Windes, could give them a helping hand…or even the new tech-savvy manager they hired in dispatch who seems to be adding more duties to their job description than originally stated (the other joke is that their job didn't come with a written out duty list)
PAF continues to use vans whose doors have been so busted that sensors beep unceasingly while you drive or just fling open if you don't close them "right;" thus, causing fruit and meals to spill out.
Our Dispatch Supervisor had assumed that all we needed was Clorox wipes for our vans, but after months of working there she finally entered a van to see the grotesque interior. She immediately hired a professional cleaning crew.
It was announced at our recent meeting that PAF offers tremendous discounts through a program giving us deals in electronics, movies, gyms, therapy, etc. This has been around much longer than anyone knew, but this was the first time HR was forced…I mean asked… to send us the information
A recent coworker got into a very bad accident while on duty on a Friday and was told to come back to work from HR that following Monday. HR even argued with the employee’s doctor note that said they needed at the very least three days off. HR told the employee that those days included their weekend.
That same coworker had major surgery last year and was relentlessly asked to work sooner than later. When the employee confronted HR about being more relaxed with a previous employee’s injury recovery time, HR stated, ‘That was then. This is now.’
A whole day was recently dedicated to reorganize, label, and count items in the freezer. Our Supervisor’s idea of attaching wood pegs to each cart to hold colored flags signaling FIFO (first in, first out) was immediately met with struggles that could have been avoided if better prepared. First, the peg attachment was too high for most of the staff to stick the flags in. Second, the peg holes were too small/tight for the stick flags. Third, none of this labeling system was discussed in detail with the kitchen staff leaving them very confused.
Our driver phones that have clientele information accessible when logged into our app still do not have a lock on them despite this being a HIPAA violation and one of the cell phones already being stolen
I had to tell this organization (that's a huge LGBTQIA supporter) that it was inconsiderate to write on birthday bags a person's gender, especially noting if the person was trans.
It was such a big deal that PAF transitioned from using Styrofoam bins to blue insulated bags to transport meals in, but more and more drivers find it a lot more convenient to just put everything in boxes so that they don’t slide while in the van
Numerous times I have heard coworkers know more about the operations of things than my direct managers.
I seem to be missing the punchline for why we’re required to wear hairnets and gloves while packing fruit when they’re already dirty from the previous people and packaging. It would make more sense if we cleaned the fruit for the client; thus, making the gloves necessary. But we don't.
I recently had to take two sick days, but with the amount of sick time I had it wasn’t enough to cover two full days. When I met with my manager about it, my accumulated hours were less than when I last checked. He called HR so he could understand how it was correct. HR then tried to explain all of this to me but stopped in the middle of it and said, “Ohh, wait..no, you are right. Something is off here.” After we agreed I would have both days fully covered I saw my check received only two hours for one of them. Again I reached out to HR who now undermined our last conversation and said there was a misunderstanding. Funny right? Simply hilarious that someone who lives paycheck to paycheck should only get two hours for a sick day when there was vacation time HR could have applied…
And the best for last, even new hires are being told "There's this blog about us..."