What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Louisiana
I just started a new job in which I was hired by a staffing agency. This agency works onsite in a LARGE company and the position I was hired for is a "longterm temporary" position (aka an indefinite job that takes away the company's liability from paying me benefits or unemployment and places it with the agency). I've been working about a month now and the job is great and I've been told by my superiors that they are all very pleased with my performance, the only problem I have thus far is with the staffing agency.
For starters, I am being paid slightly less than the amount I was originally told. Upon seeing my first paycheck when I noticed the amount was different, I called my contact at the staffing agency and was basically told that I was incorrect and I had somehow magically made up the figure I was expecting to be paid. Sadly, I have no written proof of this and have basically resigned myself to write that one off as a loss though I am seriously bothered by the fact that my staffing contact willingly lied to me and gave me a big "who cares" whenever I questioned him. My company supervisor has, however, told me that she can get that straightened out.
The bigger problem is my insurance. Since this job is not classified as a temp job, I am offered group insurance by the staffing agency. Whenever I interviewed for the position I asked my staffing agency contact about the insurance they offered and his words to me were "I don't know anything about the insurance we offer, but we do offer insurance". That answer made me slightly uncomfortable so I pressed him a little more with questions and he finally said "Well I've never been asked anything about the insurance before but it can't be that bad because I havent received any complaints". I REALLY wanted this job, this company is fantastic and to even get my foot in the door there is a total coup so even though I was somewhat worried about the insurance, I happily took the position when it was offered to me.
On my first day of work when I was being oriented, I signed a form in my new hire packet that stated that the staffing agency would pay 50% of the costs of my insurance premium. This was also explained to me by my staffing agency contact who suddenly understood how their benefits were dished out. I was given a website to go to to get an explanation of benefits and to sign up for the insurance package of my choosing. After going to the site I had questions and after two weeks of leaving messages and emailing I finally got someone on the phone to explain the benefits to me. At that time I was told that the previously stated offer of paying 50% of my premiums was not true and that the agency would only be paying $75 a month towards my insurance. This is going to make a HUGE difference in my contribution which will be around double what I was paying for insurance at my last job. The agency is basically saying now that it was some silly clerical error in the paperwork and that they never intended to pay that much.
Are they allowed to do this?
My company supervisor has suggested that I report the agency to the insurance commission or the workforce commission but I fear some kind of retaliation from the agency. My company supervisor also informs me that although I am being paid through the staffing agency that they, not the agency, are the only ones who can decide to terminate my employment or not and that they have a contract with the agency that states that. Do I have any legal recourse to protect myself from this agency if they are penalized for lying about their benefits? I really love this job and I really don't want to rock the boat, but it's not right of this agency to falsely portray benefits like that.
Also, a few other negative and random notes about this agency: After quitting my last job to start work on a date that my agency contact told me I'd be starting, my start date ended up being a week later because of a mistake he made. He did not inform me that my start date had been pushed back, I found this out the day before when I called to ask him where I needed to park on my first day. At orientation he told me that I would never be hired on by this company as a permanent employee because they were no longer hiring any permanent employees, completely contrary to what he told me in the interview. My company supervisor informs me that this is completely false as well.
I just started a new job in which I was hired by a staffing agency. This agency works onsite in a LARGE company and the position I was hired for is a "longterm temporary" position (aka an indefinite job that takes away the company's liability from paying me benefits or unemployment and places it with the agency). I've been working about a month now and the job is great and I've been told by my superiors that they are all very pleased with my performance, the only problem I have thus far is with the staffing agency.
For starters, I am being paid slightly less than the amount I was originally told. Upon seeing my first paycheck when I noticed the amount was different, I called my contact at the staffing agency and was basically told that I was incorrect and I had somehow magically made up the figure I was expecting to be paid. Sadly, I have no written proof of this and have basically resigned myself to write that one off as a loss though I am seriously bothered by the fact that my staffing contact willingly lied to me and gave me a big "who cares" whenever I questioned him. My company supervisor has, however, told me that she can get that straightened out.
The bigger problem is my insurance. Since this job is not classified as a temp job, I am offered group insurance by the staffing agency. Whenever I interviewed for the position I asked my staffing agency contact about the insurance they offered and his words to me were "I don't know anything about the insurance we offer, but we do offer insurance". That answer made me slightly uncomfortable so I pressed him a little more with questions and he finally said "Well I've never been asked anything about the insurance before but it can't be that bad because I havent received any complaints". I REALLY wanted this job, this company is fantastic and to even get my foot in the door there is a total coup so even though I was somewhat worried about the insurance, I happily took the position when it was offered to me.
On my first day of work when I was being oriented, I signed a form in my new hire packet that stated that the staffing agency would pay 50% of the costs of my insurance premium. This was also explained to me by my staffing agency contact who suddenly understood how their benefits were dished out. I was given a website to go to to get an explanation of benefits and to sign up for the insurance package of my choosing. After going to the site I had questions and after two weeks of leaving messages and emailing I finally got someone on the phone to explain the benefits to me. At that time I was told that the previously stated offer of paying 50% of my premiums was not true and that the agency would only be paying $75 a month towards my insurance. This is going to make a HUGE difference in my contribution which will be around double what I was paying for insurance at my last job. The agency is basically saying now that it was some silly clerical error in the paperwork and that they never intended to pay that much.
Are they allowed to do this?
My company supervisor has suggested that I report the agency to the insurance commission or the workforce commission but I fear some kind of retaliation from the agency. My company supervisor also informs me that although I am being paid through the staffing agency that they, not the agency, are the only ones who can decide to terminate my employment or not and that they have a contract with the agency that states that. Do I have any legal recourse to protect myself from this agency if they are penalized for lying about their benefits? I really love this job and I really don't want to rock the boat, but it's not right of this agency to falsely portray benefits like that.
Also, a few other negative and random notes about this agency: After quitting my last job to start work on a date that my agency contact told me I'd be starting, my start date ended up being a week later because of a mistake he made. He did not inform me that my start date had been pushed back, I found this out the day before when I called to ask him where I needed to park on my first day. At orientation he told me that I would never be hired on by this company as a permanent employee because they were no longer hiring any permanent employees, completely contrary to what he told me in the interview. My company supervisor informs me that this is completely false as well.
