EXCLUSIVE: Scarolie’s employee claims she was treated unfairly after mother’s death

Tammy Cleaveland was very close to her mother.

So, when she was diagnosed with bladder cancer in January, Cleaveland said she needed to be by her side.

“I was being called in by her doctors for anytime there was a scheduled surgery or any type of consultation, to be there because my step-father is very hard of hearing and my mother’s memory was very bad,” she said.

According to Cleaveland, on Jan. 17, she requested compassionate care leave from her job at Scarolie’s in Pointe-Claire.

She said she filed the paperwork with the employment insurance, but as it was being processed, her mother passed away.

Cleaveland said she immediately cancelled the leave and shortly after, returned to work.

“I dealt with her funeral and everything that needed to be dealt with and on Feb. 6, it was a Monday, I went into work,” she said.

“Into Scarolie’s and I said ‘OK, I’m ready to come back on the schedule.'”

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But Cleaveland says managers never put her back on the schedule.

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After going back and forth with the restaurant for about a week, Cleaveland insists she had no choice but to find another job.

“I think what they did is wrong,” she said.

“I didn’t do anything wrong, I didn’t lie about anything, I produced all the documents of my mother from the unemployment and they didn’t give me my job back.”

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However, Scarolie’s co-owner Costa Kouniaris tells a different story.

“We didn’t officially let her go,” he said.

Kouniaris said the restaurant has always been flexible with Cleaveland’s schedule and they don’t understand why she’s trying to damage their name.

“We built our reputation based on honesty, trust and good food, great service,” he said.

“We have an individual who’s trying to ruin our reputation and I think it’s wrong.”

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Global News reached out to Cleaveland’s union president, who also claims that Cleaveland was fired.

The union said its lawyers have filed an illegal dismissal complaint on her behalf.

However, they argue that Cleaveland isn’t an isolated case.

The union said it has filed seven other illegal dismissal complaints.