“Maurice will forgo 3 weeks pay for simply being a human being looking to help one of our 4 legged friends.” – Keith Morales (a friend of Maurice, the man who rescued the cat)
Update: the fund raiser has raised $5,705 of $4,650 goal at 24th March and climbing (total: $7,210). This reflects the feelings of people towards this guy. They are very supportive of him.
The Verizon worker who made the headlines last week for rescuing a cat in a Port Richmond, Pennsylvania neighbor has been suspended for 15 days for his act of kindness.
The cat had been suck on top of a power pole for about 12 hours. The owner had contacted the fire department, animal rescues and the telephone company with no success.
It was then Maurice German, who was working in the neighborhood, was asked by a resident to help rescue ‘Momma’ the cat. Maurice used his boom lift to reach the cat as the rescue was videoed and later went viral. No one was harmed during the rescue.
Being suspended for 15 days means Maurice will go without three weeks of pay. In an interview with CBS Philly, Verizon spokesperson Rich Young stated
“We take no joy in this job action. However, we’re committed and responsible for keeping our employees and customers safe while working in a particular area. Unfortunately, while this employee’s goal was admirable, he potentially put his life and those around him in jeopardy. While our actions may not be popular, it’s in the best interest of our employees and the communities we serve.”
Young did state Verizon is making a donation to the Pennsylvania SPCA in Fishton to support their rescue efforts. Meanwhile, Maurice has some good friends at work who have started a GoFundMe webpage to raise money to make up for the loss of income. His co-worker, Keith Morales, is in charge of the fundraiser.
More than $3,600 has been raised in the first day or so of word getting around. A second fundraiser is also set up (I didn’t find a link for it).
Amanda Boyce of Port Richmond said a neighbor attempted to rescue Momma between 12:30 am to 1:30 am Saturday morning. The community is outraged at the treatment but Verizon said field technicians must follow procedure and by rescuing a cat with company equipment he violated procedure.
Despite calls to Verison where Maurice was praised as a hero, he remains under suspension.
🙂 After 52 years! Wow.
Ugh. So very glad I ended my service with Verizon after only 52 years. (They started as New York Telephone). I would have clearly suspended it after this story, The only positive is that I saved $148 for the month….and they call themselves a public SERVICE company.
Sure glad I don’t have Verizon anything (and never have).
This human is rare and should never have been suspended!! Fucking assholes!!
They didn’t have to suspend him. They could have simply made a statement. The statement they did make was a lame attempt to save face for being just another heartless company in the grand spirit of Montgomery Burns. I’m sending the guy some money too. P.S. I never did like Verizon and this means I’ll never send one dollar their way for anything.
Well done to the man and, sorry Verizon, you made a bad decision. Nice story. It shows the shortsightedness of business. They could have used this to promote their company but achieved the opposite.