I actually think that the WWE made a mistake in firing Punk. When they did, they gave him every reason to go ahead and put them on blast. They were the ones who then breached the contract and gave up every legal right they had.
Let's face it, CM Punk had all but left the WWE. He can put any spin on it that he wants but, at the end of the day, he had no intentions of going back to the WWE. I don't know why so many people think that he was fired, when he openly admits that he went into Vince's office and told him and Triple H that he wasn't going to be wrestling any more. They share a hug and Punk leaves the building. He is then asked if he wants to go back to work and he tells his boss no; albeit for really good medical reasons. Then, he is contacted by Triple H to talk about his status in WWE and tells him that he can't talk right now...
Honestly, if this were any of us, is it any wonder that he was fired? If you work in a call centre and you tell your manager that you can't and wont work for however long you deem to be necessary, do you actually think that they are going to continue paying for you? Nope.
Punk needed medical attention and I appreciate that. But he was also a world class cunt about leaving. He should have made it clear that he was coming back to the WWE when he had gotten his treatment. But he didn't. And actually, he made it seem as though he would never be back. I don't blame the WWE for firing CM Punk but they should have sued him for breach of contract. You can't just walk out on your job and then take the high road, it's a dick move.
Actually, yes if I worked in a call center and had legitimate health reasons that required time off to heal properly, my employers would be legally REQUIRED to give me the time off. Depending on where you live, this could mean up to 9 months paid time through workers comp, or as long as doctors require, possibly not paid, but the company would not be allowed to refuse me the time off needed, or permanently replace me without confirming that I would not be returning to work.
And you exposed a very biased take on what Punk was talking about, completely ignoring the timing of the so called talks with HHH and the notice of his firing. It's no accident that it happened on his wedding day, of that HHH and the office people ignored Punks calls for weeks or months before making a call at a time Punk didn't have the time to talk to them and requested to arrange a more appropriate time to talk. They also tried to refuse to pay him money that was owed, though it was kind of stupid of Punk not to cash any checks when he got them instead of waiting, I think he said a year?, before calling to have it reissued.
I just had a similar issue in some ways at my work. Finally got full time as person in direct line ahead of me was promoted to manager, broke my foot and was off for a month, call in to find out schedule for when I return, the person who was promoted was demoted as work decided they didn't need a manager for the tasks involved, which means I come back from broken foot and am back to part time. Union actually hurts here, as our union rules mean that when someone is promoted, they can be demoted or choose to self demote at any time within the first 6 months. But if they had asked me to come back before I could work and I told them no, of if I had extended time off request as doctor wanted me too, they could not fire me and hire a replacement. When I return(or returned if extended) they can not put someone else in my position and I maintain my senority.
Punk had every right to tell them no when they tried to order him back before he was healthy enough to do so. He could have done so at any time during any of his injuries but was lured back by false promises fed to him by Vince. Eventually he had enough and decided to take what he had the right to take.
As for the issue of the comp paying him, wwe contracts as we learned with issues with Rey, almost all have a clause in them that basically means that if someone is injured and needs time off the contract is on hold. They don't pay you while you are injured but also no time on contract passes. So injured with say, 2 months left on contract, but are out for 6 months, when you come back unless renegotiated you still have 2 months on contract.
In your call center scenario (which happened to me a few years ago- I had to take a few months stress leave, they couldn't just fire me and had to hold my job until I returned) the comp might not pay directly, but where I live we have Employment insurance that pays at least a partial amount of salary while you are hurt depending on what you were making and what bills you have to pay.
