On January 1, Lamar and Lindsay Austin were excited to announce the arrival of the first baby born in 2017 at Concord Hospital.
Their son Cainan was a bright spot to start 2017 but soon afterwards Lamar lost his job as a part-time security guard.
While no father should have to choose between witnessing the birth of their child and going to work, that is exactly what Lamar’s boss made him do.
Lamar sent a text to his boss explaining the situation and received a response reading: “You’re forcing my hand, if you aren’t in work by 8 tomorrow we are going to terminate you.”
The next text he received on New Year’s day said he was “terminated.”
A local newspaper picked up his story and it was seen by former town board member and paid family leave advocate Sara Persechino, who created a GoFundMe campaign to ease the financial stresses of the family until Lamar found another job.
The GoFundMe page raised over $10,000 for the family and in even better news, a bunch of local business owners have offered the caring father full-time employment.
Take that evil boss who shouldn’t be in charge of anything!
