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Boss denies time off to donate kidney

Claudia Pinto, The Tennessean

Pam Melson wants to donate a kidney to her friend Donnie Hammack.
(SANFORD MYERS / THE TENNESSEAN)

Pam Melson wants to donate one of her two healthy kidneys to a dying friend.

But officials at the Waynesboro, Tenn., factory where she works refuse to give her time off, even without pay - a decision that a business ethicist and organ donation experts find troubling.

“They said letting me off to get this surgery would be like someone getting let off for getting breast implants,” said Melson, who has worked at the factory for four years. “I think what I’m trying to do is a little more important than getting breast implants.”

Dave Roberts, Tennessee Apparel’s vice president of manufacturing, said he’s not trying to discourage Melson from going through with the donation. But, he said, the Tullahoma-based company won’t hold her job for her.

“If she decides to do that we’ll give her every consideration to come back to work,” he said. “She would come back as a new employee.”

Melson, 31, is her family’s sole financial provider since the store where her husband worked went out of business, and she said she can’t afford to lose her job.

So, the transplant operation originally scheduled to take place this month at Vanderbilt University Medical Center has been postponed until officials at Tennessee Apparel relent or another donor is found.

Read the rest of the article at Tennessean.com