I have no sympathy for an executive at Amazon who was “fired for upgrading to business class” (which doesn’t seem to be the case at all). If he abused company travel policy, he deserved to be fired.
Don’t Abuse Company Travel Policy If You Want To Keep Your Job
Marc Sadeghi was hired to run the visual effects department for Amazon Studio, located in Southern California. Amazon’s travel policy is clear: everyone flies coach. If you want to upgrade, pay for it on your own dime. This was not only communicated to Sadeghi, but part of his written contract.
Nevertheless, when it came time to travel to New Zealand he demanded business class, citing his scoliosis and sciatica. He we rebuffed, even though he claimed it would take him two weeks to recover from flying coach (he was allegedly told “bummer” in response).
While he did seek a medical clearance, the bureaucracy within Amazon moves slowly and it was not ready ahead of his trip.
Sadeghi then ordered his assistant to find a way to upgrade him. Eventually, he instructed his assistant to use a company credit card to upgrade him to business class.
When Sadeghi returned from New Zealand, he was called into Amazon’s HR office where he was quizzed on his conduct:
- “Have you ever asked your assistant to run personal errands?”
- “Have you ever sent your assistant a picture of a cartoon penis?”
- “Have you ever instructed your assistant to break policy?”
Busted.
He was forced to turn over his laptop and badge on the spot.
But now he is suing Amazon, claiming:
- disability discrimination
- failing to provide a reasonable accommodation
- wrongful termination
If he misappropriated his company credit card and knowingly violated company policy, I see little merit for this lawsuit.
CONCLUSION
Trustworthiness is perhaps our greatest asset in the workplace. I have no desire to work with the smartest person in the room if s/he is going to stab me in the back to get ahead. By all accounts, this man agreed to the travel policy, did not stick to it, also seemed to run up other personal expenses on his card, and therefore deserved to be fired.
And can I get on my soapbox for a moment? We have a lot of these types of clients at Award Expert and are proud to help them get upgrades or award travel at very attractive rates. But there’s a certain profile (and yes, I will generalize here). Notoriously stingy. I’ve been stiffed on so many bills from these types. Business class is not free and no one is entitled to it without paying for it, even if you work for a fancy studio. Rant over…
Don’t abuse company travel or credit card policy! It’s that simple. It’s not worth it and it’s not right.
(H/T: Paddle Your Own Kanoo)
I wonder if he thought of citing his back problem to fly coach with several stops. For example, flying to Honolulu and stopping overnight then flying to Sydney. I don’t know if there were any pre-pandemic HNL-AKL flights though decades ago there used to be.
I have flown LAX-AKL in economy class and it isn’t that bad. I also have flown LAX-SYD in business class and it’s sweet.
When flying from the US to London, I think the most comfortable way is the daylight flights. Economy class JFK-LHR 9 am-8:45 pm is better, in my opinion, than business class JFK-LHR 8 pm – 7:45 am +1.
But my sciatica! I’m a victim!
Amazon’s policy sounds pretty reasonable. Ours is the same, and I like the fairness of it. And at least for us, we pretty much control our own travel arrangements. And I’m happy to pay with cash or miles for my own upgrade.
But if you charge something on the company card that you are not supposed to, that’s it.
Even before the pandemic, one is really lucky to get to travel for business even in coach. Meeting can easily be done with Zoom, MS Team… You were lucky that you got to travel. Think about it, not only Amazon has to pay your airfare, but also Uber, hotel, meals… You are probably the dumbest person in the planet to violate the company’s policy, then sue the company. You were the “head” of the department/division and you don’t know the phrase “employment at will”??? Amazon does not need a reason to fire you, let alone you violated its policy. Your career at Amazon was over, and good luck finding job (at that level) in this pandemic time. The good thing is that you have become so famous that your name, Marc Sadeghi, will be remembered by any potential employers as well.
Employment at will
@Arthur: I did not mean to respond to your comment. I apologize.
If it is important enough to the company that I travel overseas, then they send me in business class. Simple as that. If this is not the company policy, I’ll work elsewhere. The amount of travel I need to do, the type of work I need to do when on travel and the value of the deals I am closing, it is a necessity. Frankly the teeth gnashing about travel costs by some companies is ridiculous. In the grand scheme of things, it is a small cost compared to overall income.
That’s nice to know, Ryan. Not sure how that furthered the conversation around this article, but now we all know your thoughts.
Amazing how quickly it all changes when it’s your company and not just a faceless corp that you work for and try to leverage for max personal gain.
Just to be clear, at my company, which has a similar policy, anyone traveling internationally is likely to be making enough money to easily afford to pay for their own upgrades. And is likely to be savvy enough to know how to get that upgrade at a reasonable price or with miles.
I’ve travelled globally w/Amazon employees on engagements…they do not mess around w/the class of service policy.
Also goes to show how most of us are replaceable, even executives.
I’m a bit confused here – was the executive upgraded to business class or premium economy? I’m seeing conflicting accounts. Business Travel News suggests Amazon’s travel policy forbids the use of business class for air travel, which is technically different than a policy that requires coach travel. If Amazon’s policy demands you pay the lowest fare there is much less executive wiggle room than if company policy demands economy class fare (premium economy is a form of economy class by definition) . That said, the “Have you ever sent your assistant a picture of a cartoon penis” question tends to make me think there is a sexual harassment angle here with damning evidence in the company email system. Often sexual or racial harassment policy is one strike and you are out.
That question is a giveaway that there are other issues in play. I’ve had my share of discussions with HR in my (so far) 45-year career, but I’ve never been asked whether I sent anyone a picture of a cartoon penis.
I worked in toxic environments (they are disproportionate in IT) and I have had 2 such accusations in my long career by people looking to get me for some personal grudge or for the fun of it. Knowing the shark tank I swam in, I calmly and confidently pointed out the context of the accusations and circumstances and the charges were dropped. If I hadn’t already been cynical and “red pilled”, I probably wouldn’t have fared as well. It was the “nice guys” I know who got sideswiped and said they were “sorry” which was taken as a confession and admission of guilt and pushed out the door.
I won’t post a link to it, but you can imdb search “sausage party” and it’s possible that he sent out an email that included a list of movies that included that one (he was a visual effects director).
In one environment I was in, a gal was being “managed out” such as her walking for a cup of coffee and leaving her computer screen unlocked in violation of company policy. The horrors! Yet, EVERYONE we knew did it and we had a running joke with a friend where we would send joke emails from his unlocked screen to (friendly) colleagues such as “Does the wind in the surf smell fresh today?” and they would ask him what he meant and he’d be puzzled until he figured out we did it. But in any case, “managing someone out” means looking for petty stuff that looks bad on paper but is a “code red” and normal SOP.
My guess, and guess here, is that the guy was new to Amazon and didn’t know the culture and get bitten in the shark tank. At that job level, guys are pushed out because they’re not popular or someone has a grudge against them, not performance or even compliance.
Matthew, you left out don’t make your assistant run personal errands and never under any circumstances send your assistant a depiction of a penis. The penis thing was definitely getting him fired regardless.
So agreed! I work in this field, and he was not right! These cases often take time to sort out, he should have asked for this earlier.
Were the clients who stiffed you Award Expert clients? If so, why not simply explain that if payment was not forthcoming by X date, the contract is not being upheld by both sides and the reservation will accordingly be cancelled?
I would never accept a job requiring economy class travel ( and its 30 + years since to do so was the norm in my salaried roles). If they really want you, they’ll pay. There have been many occasions though when I’ve chosen to fly economy ( short sectors, outrageous fares, lack of J availability, etc). Not negotiating it upfront is courting disaster, and instructing a junior to circumvent the policy is inviting disaster…
My parents took me on holiday to New Zealand in the Spring of 1978. We flew nonstop LAX-AKL on Pan Am Boeing 747SP. We were in Coach (there were only two classes back then) and I remember the estimated flying time outbound was 12:15 and 11:30 on the return. That was long flight but not bad and the service was not all that bad either. The only think I don’t miss from back then was the smoking section.
In regards to the Penis thing that alone sounds like grounds for termination to me. Very inappropriate.
In regards to the travel policy Sadeghi should have either upgraded using his own money or miles (I don’t know if Amazon allows employees travelling on the company dime to keep their miles) or he should have simply followed the company policy. I don’t have much sympathy for the guy.
Even as an Army General Officer, I always traveled in coach, including internationally. This is true for all Government employees. I have no sympathy for those that say they would never work for a company that required coach. This seems much more about ego than health.
Random question. What airline/plane is pictured at the top of this article? It’s beautiful.
That is Air New Zealand’s business class. While I used a stock photo, my review is here:
https://liveandletsfly.com/review-los-angeles-london-air-new-zealand-777-300-business-premier/
This just goes to show how shady of an employer Amazon is.