Update and bump: Morally-Challenged Tennessee Apparel Corporation has been shamed into doing the right thing. But the damage is done in terms of the bad publicity received by the morally-challenged Tennessee business that denied employee Pam Melson time off to donate a kidney and save a life.
The immoral company's lame defense? 1) Employees can take time off to care for sick children OR they can save a life, but they can't do both. 2) The temporary loss of one employee might cause the business to lose money, and people might lose jobs. Hah. Tennessee Apparel gets more than enough government contracts to enable it to hire a temp or pay overtime, for god's sake! [--end of update--]
Tennessee Apparel Corporation, in Waynesboro, Tennessee, says showing up for work is more important than saving lives!
Tennessee Apparel Corporation is run by the Devil himself.
And can you believe it? The Devil is apparently a Republican.
I was looking for contact info for this loathsome corporation (see below) and accidentally discovered that Ted D. Helms, President of Tennessee Apparel Corp., gives money to the RNC. Coincidentally, the cut-throat corporation gets lots of contracts from Bush's Department of Defense and InJustice.
And who else would do business with contemptible creeps like these? We don't call it the Dark Side for no reason.
Pam Melson wants to donate one of her two healthy kidneys to a dying friend.
But officials at the Waynesboro, Tenn., factory where she works refuse to give her time off, even without pay — a decision that a business ethicist and organ donation experts find troubling.
"They said letting me off to get this surgery would be like someone getting let off for getting breast implants," said Melson, who has worked at the factory for four years. "I think what I'm trying to do is a little more important than getting breast implants."
Dave Roberts, Tennessee Apparel's vice president of manufacturing, said he's not trying to discourage Melson from going through with the donation. But, he said, the Tullahoma-based company won't hold her job for her.
Melson, 31, is her family's sole financial provider since the store where her husband worked went out of business, and she said she can't afford to lose her job.
So, the transplant operation originally scheduled to take place this month at Vanderbilt University Medical Center has been postponed until officials at Tennessee Apparel relent or another donor is found.
In 2006, 4,079 people in the U.S. died waiting for a kidney. Eighty-five of them were Tennesseans. . .
Contact info for this ruthless embarrassment to the state of Tennessee is below. I could find only one email address, but it's a good one.
TENNESSEE APPAREL CORPORATION
102 Industrial Dr
Waynesboro, TN 38485
(931) 722-2400
Tullahoma office: 931-455-3491 FAX: 931-455-1209
Marilyn Hiatt, Chairman of Board -- EMAIL -- mhiatt_tac@charter.net
Ted D. Helms, President
Dave Roberts, V.P. / Manufacturing
Rick Francis, V.P. / Administration
Jim Blackwell, Controller
News Politics Kidney Donation Tennessee Apparel Corp Ted D. Helms Waynesboro Tennessee Republicans
