My temporary boss was abusive: What now?

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(MoneyWatch) Dear Evil HR Lady,
In my last temporary assignment, we were required not to work above 40 hours, but our assignment company made it difficult to complete the increasing workload within that time period. I arrived early as a courtesy, although we were told not to work above 40 hours. I was also given more work with an advanced specialized position without an increase in pay. My recruiter told me to alert her of position changes, so I can be compensated; nothing was ever done to compensate me. I also told my recruiter about the toxic work environment and workload.

The assignment company was a state agency, and due to cuts and lean staff, I was overworked, bullied and sabotaged. As a temp, I couldn't report the abuse to human resources at the state agency, so I reported my experience to my recruiter. My agency's recruiter cared more about keeping contracts with this company, and did nothing to protect me. The assignment company with the abusive staff wanted to hire me, but entrap me in a position with less pay and more specialized work. I ended my assignment due to an onset illness, and at the advice of the recruiter, who retracted her suggestion when I decided to leave. I also documented this abuse and onset illness in my exit interview for the temp agency.

I discovered 14 months after I left the assignment that the recruiter placed a termination mark on my record and banned me from working with the company. It was evident in the few call backs I received for work. I had to seek legal counsel and send information to senior human resources management at the temp agency to get the "termination" and "banned record" removed. It was removed and I could work at the agency, but the damage was done.

I experienced a case of slander and defamation from my recruiter; bullying and sneaky workload time abuse from the assignment company. I believe my experience ran past the statutes of limitations.

What can I do avoid explaining this false termination?

First, if you were working and not being paid for it (or working over 40 hours a week and not receiving overtime --assuming you were non-exempt), then you can file a complaint with the Department of Labor. You have two years (generally speaking) to file a complaint, so if you want to do so, do so now. (If it was only a small amount it may not be worth the hassle to you to do so. Up to you.)

Second, being treated poorly, having the recruiter care more about the contract then about you, and having the staffing firm mark you down as "not eligible for rehire" are all legal things.

Do temporary workers have rights?
How do you explain being fired?
Why workplace bullying should be legal.

They are not nice things. They may be unfair things. But they are legal things. What is not legal is giving a false reference for someone. For instance, they can legally say, "Sheila was always late, complained about everything and produced terrible work," in a reference check, as long as those things are true. If they are not true, then you can make a case that they are slandering you, but only if that is the case.

I think you need to make a big mind shift. What happened to you was terrible, no doubt. But it's over. When you use phrases like "entrap me" it indicates that you feel like you had no power, and furthermore that you still have no power. This is what will damage you, more than the actual bad management. Nobody can trap you into a job. You can quit, which you did and you are still alive.

This whole episode was over a year ago. You need to remove this temporary agency from your list of places you want to work for. There will be another temporary agency. Apply there.

What you do need to think about is references. You can call the temporary agency and ask what they will say in a reference check. If there was someone at the state agency who can give you a good reference, ask that person. As for what you say as to why you left the job, you can say "I left for health reasons. Now that I'm healthy again, I'm happy to be back in the work force!" (For most temp jobs you can simply state, "assignment ended," as your reason for termination.)

You do not say, "The recruiter was incompetent, my manager was a bully and they refused to pay overtime!" All these things may be true, but the hiring manager has no real way of determining the status of that, and since there is always a possibility that you're the crazy one in that situation, it will be a big black mark against you.

The big thing is, though, let this bad experience go. Lots of us have been through really bad bosses and bad coworkers and all sorts of nasty things. If you focus on that, you won't be successful in the future.

Have a workplace dilemma? Send your question to [e-mail].

[LouLou4026]

You have had a terrible experience but remember work references go both ways. You are now in a position where you can pass on your experiences to anyone that is working for, or thinking of working at this agency. If you come across any customers or suppliers that deal with this agency, they may also be interested in knowing how this agency actually treats people. The good news is you escaped and can move on a wiser person. Good luck

[gls334]

Let the bad experience go. We've all had bad bosses Right, tell that to someone who has been bullied so severely that they started having seizures and remain on that medication. Perfectly legal, and of course if it's legal it sure as heck doesn't matter if it's right or wrong.

[PrayOnJobs]

I find it odd that the CDC, American Heart Association, and many psychology, academia, and research institutes can give statistics of the financial loss and medical illnesses from toxic work environments, but few people care to acknowledge this end.

I sent the original letter, and my former department had an unbelievably high turnover from staff and temps, and had their share of absentees.

[stellzbellz10]

I agree with EHRL here. This was a crap job and you left. It was not a false termination because you were not terminated. They offered you a full time position at the end of your contract and you rejected it because it was a bad work environment, didn't pay enough, and was "more specialized" (which I'm not sure how this is a bad thing, but I'll take your word for it). In a state agency that was constantly dealing with cutbacks, they still made you a full time offer (using the word entrap here is so misleading for many reasons) so (a) apparently your work was great because despite the layoffs and the sabatoge you were still good enough to bring on and (b) if you had taken it then you could go to the office's HR department and reported any "abuse"

Also, you say you sought legal counsel about your being "banned" but the lawyer didn't advise you to go for backpay on overtime worked? That doesn't make any sense to me.

I'm not one to bash the OP, but your letter makes you sound ridiculous. You are mad because the job you had was horrible, and now you act like it is the agency's fault that you don't have a good one yet. Could they have handled that situation better? Absolutely! But why would you go through all that trouble to remove being banned to work for an agency that couldn't care less about you or the law?

[PrayOnJobs]

I am the OP, and I am not bitter.

When I worked there, I dealt with sneaky time abuse from the assignment company. And yes, I left, but didn't find out about the marked "termination" on my account until 14 months later because the same agency sent another recruiter to hire me. When this recruiter looked into my record, they discovered a "termination."

Why is it so easy for you to accept workplace bullying when a "superior employee" leaves? I was offered the position, and was begged to stay by the director a month earlier.

If someone offers you a management position---in from of the chair and CEO---and reneg on their offer with a much lower paying position with more work, do you think I should take that lying down.
How am I the victim? If an employer promises one thing, and turns around and does another.
I didn't explain the meaning of "ENTRAP," here it is.
This employer not only offered me a lesser paying position from the one promised , they also made it salary, which meant unpaid overtime. The lesser paying position was vague and all-encompassin, unlike the specialized position. If I worked salary in the "specialized promised position," I would have been compensated for the extra hours because of higher pay.

Again, why do we turn a blind eye to workplace bullying?

This division was high performing with a super-high turnover, and we were still exceptional---and yes, I was one of the exceptional employees that made us LOOK good, but the individuals were suffering. That's why so many left.

[NewsFan71]

Sorry, but what a victim mentality.

[PrayOnJobs]

Sorry, but what a "bully" mentality.

It's called a high performing worker leaving and getting retaliation from two ends.

I'm done.

[jtdev1]

Hey, It's the wave of the future.

No liability at all by anyone.

No union, HR, nothing... Work them to death, and get another one.


(Lather, rinse, repeat)


What are you, Stupid??? We do it all the time. No more hiring full time idiots who might complain.. Hire warm bodies to do the work, beat them up, and when they complain or drop dead, Bye Bye Baby...

No health care costs, worker's comp, no responsibility, no nothing.


It's really nice to get those people from India. All they want is that visa and then start with the anchor babies...