August 24, 2004

Cleaning up after Hurricane Charley costs one man his job.

----------------------------------------

A Sarasota man says he was unfairly fired for not returning to work after Hurricane Charley. He says he had to tend to his storm-stricken family in Charlotte County, and his boss said he'd taken enough time.

ABC 7 talked with Bruce Palmer-Smith's boss at the Badcock Furniture in Sarasota. Kent Williams didn't want to go on camera, but he did say he gave Bruce the weekend to clean up after Charley and he couldn't afford to give him any more time away from the business.

Bruce Palmer-Smith is loading up what's left.

Bruce Palmer-Smith: “Just trying to salvage what we can, get it all out…the house is about to collapse, so we're working every single day.”

But when the work around the house is finished, Bruce won't have a real job to head back to, because he's been at his home.

Bruce Palmer-Smith: “I told him this is why I can't work Monday…I need to be here and help…he told me, "if you don't come back to work, don't bother coming back at all."

Bruce says he was shocked when his boss at Badcock Furniture fired him.

Bruce Palmer-Smith: “Every time it rains, water comes pouring in.”

The couple is separated. Bruce hasn't lived in Harbour Heights with his wife and three kids for a while, but he says he still expected more compassion from his boss of two and a half years.

Bruce Palmer-Smith: “He knows the children…when he calls to ask for a key, he doesn't even ask, "is the family ok, is there anything I can do…nothing.”

When we talked with Bruce's boss, Kent Williams, this afternoon, he told said while he doesn't plan on giving Bruce his job back, he does understand the devastation Charley left behind. His mother lives in Polk County. She didn't have power or water for days after the storm. Williams says he would have liked to go check on her, but because Bruce was gone he had to stay in Sarasota and mind the store.