overseasloser
Junior Member
Wow. I really do not know where to begin. I not sure of the correct place to post this.
I work overseas (Korea) for a company that is a contractor for the US Army. I am considered an "exempt" employee, although I am starting to wonder if that is a correct status. My job consists of battle simulation (computer war games). I work in a building that was built for large simulators but we use it as an office. It is extremely dusty/dirty and has huge blowers that I am sure OSHA would not approve of (headaches/ringing in the ears). When concerns are raised (to company management AND the government rep) we are blown off and told we are just "bitching".
But this is the tip of the ice berg. We are all veterans and now work for the US Army as contractors. They play on our patriotism and regularly abuse us. Just this last two weeks, many of us have worked 40 days straight on an exercise and they won't even allow us a day off (138 hours for the two week period, which is light, can be 168) . I know we could quit, but that seems to be the only recourse.
I really like my job and my coworkers but the government/management-employee relationship is nothing short of insane. I really do not know how to get across a true feel for the work environment and situation we are in here. “Management” has an answer for everything, “if you don’t like it quit”. The company and government know they are exempt from US labor laws and play it to the hilt. I can’t get over it. Here I am: a US citizen, working for the US government, on a US military installation and I am not afforded basic labor protections. The management goes from one extreme to the other, those that have Korean spouses are given Korean holidays to be with their families and so forth. I could go on and on… I would like to find a good lawyer. I am feed up and pissed off. I have worked here for 5 years and could tell some interesting tales. Discrimination, insults, dangerous work environment, and more! I would think a law firm might have a field day with us.
What protections do we have? What recourse do we have?
Sorry for the long post, but it should be about 40 pages long...
I work overseas (Korea) for a company that is a contractor for the US Army. I am considered an "exempt" employee, although I am starting to wonder if that is a correct status. My job consists of battle simulation (computer war games). I work in a building that was built for large simulators but we use it as an office. It is extremely dusty/dirty and has huge blowers that I am sure OSHA would not approve of (headaches/ringing in the ears). When concerns are raised (to company management AND the government rep) we are blown off and told we are just "bitching".
But this is the tip of the ice berg. We are all veterans and now work for the US Army as contractors. They play on our patriotism and regularly abuse us. Just this last two weeks, many of us have worked 40 days straight on an exercise and they won't even allow us a day off (138 hours for the two week period, which is light, can be 168) . I know we could quit, but that seems to be the only recourse.
I really like my job and my coworkers but the government/management-employee relationship is nothing short of insane. I really do not know how to get across a true feel for the work environment and situation we are in here. “Management” has an answer for everything, “if you don’t like it quit”. The company and government know they are exempt from US labor laws and play it to the hilt. I can’t get over it. Here I am: a US citizen, working for the US government, on a US military installation and I am not afforded basic labor protections. The management goes from one extreme to the other, those that have Korean spouses are given Korean holidays to be with their families and so forth. I could go on and on… I would like to find a good lawyer. I am feed up and pissed off. I have worked here for 5 years and could tell some interesting tales. Discrimination, insults, dangerous work environment, and more! I would think a law firm might have a field day with us.
What protections do we have? What recourse do we have?
Sorry for the long post, but it should be about 40 pages long...