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Rights as a Temporary Employee

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Mouskatear

Junior Member
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Texas

My son has been working a temporary assignment through a Temporary Agency on and off for approximately 8 years at a company. A regular employee of the company has gotten him released from his assignment 3 different times. The last time she went to HR and accused him of threatening to kill her daughter through an e-mail, he didn't do anything to her daughter.

This last time when he went back to work for this company, he was cleared by the head of security for the prior thing he was accussed of. The head of security said "there was absolutely no evidence he did anything wrong and there is no reason why the company should not hire him".

He applied for a position in the company and when a specific person in HR saw his application, he was released the following day from his temporary assignment.

What recourse, if any, does my son have to stop this harrassment from this woman? It is personal and she needs to understand she cannot continue to interfere with someones life. Is there anything that he can do where she is concerned? Is there anything that he can do where the company is concerned.

If he had been employed by the company, he would have been sent home with pay until there was an investigation. As soon as security came back and said there was no evidence he did anything wrong, she would have been in trouble.
 


cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
As far as his employment with the company is concerned, he can complain to HR and to the temp agency. Other than that, there's really not much he can do to force them to hire him. Barring a contract that specifically says otherwise, he does not have a guaranteed right to work there. If they find it too aggravating to have to deal with her attempts to keep him from working there, they can (legally) either fire her or refuse to hire him, whichever they prefer. Obviously, not hiring him is the easier of the two.

There's really not enough information to say if he has any recourse, legally, against her.
 
I notice that you mention he didn't do anything to her daughter, but you don't say he didn't THREATEN her daughter, which is what the woman is apparently claiming he did.

Whether or not he acted on the threats, if I had an "outside" temp employee threaten another person's child, he'd be out of there. Being a temp employee just makes it that much easier to get rid of him!

You mention that security cleared him saying there was "no proof," but the woman said he made the threats via e-mail. What happened to the e-mail? If the e-mail containing the threat does in fact exist, the security guard is off base (and regardless, security guards don't make hiring decisions), and there is NO WAY I'd let someone who threatened an employee or an employee's family member back in my door.
 

Mouskatear

Junior Member
First off, he didn't threaten her at all.

Second, it was the Head of Security of Region 5, someone who is responsible for the Southern states of the U.S. This is a $160 billion/yr company, therefore this Head of Security holds a very prestigious title and position.

Nothing ever came up about any of the threats, emails, etc.; he was never reprimanded, other than being released from his job. Being a temporary employee, he cannot exactly go ask why he was released; he cannot clear his name; he is stuck in a corner. If he retained a lawyer, would he be able to get the answers? Are they obligated to answer questions? When and how can he go about this to force some answers to come out?

He understands that Texas is an 'at will' state and it was through a temporary agency, but what she has done needs to come to light, and there needs to be some kind of closure. There is no way someone should be able to get away with slander, defamation of character, and the elimination of employment.

Who does he need to go to?
 
The employer isn't obligated to tell your son why he was terminated.

The biggest obstacle here is the temporary status. Whether or not the accusations were founded, the employer decided, "Hey, this is a temporary employee. I don't have to deal with this! I'll just get a different temp!" That's the downside to working temporary jobs...employers don't have to, and often won't, "jump through hoops" for you as they might their own staff members.

This is an unfortunate situation, but I don't see that anything illegal has occurred. The company decided they didn't want to deal with or investigate any complaints made against a temporary employee. They didn't want to waste the resources, so they took the easy way out - they got rid of the temp!

The temp agency, if they have decided not to place your son at any other jobs (and therefore, have also "fired" him), are also free to do that, as he has been released from one of their clients, which probably, at least on some level, sullies their reputation with that client.

I suppose on a very very minimal level, there may be some defamation being perpetrated by the woman who leveled the accusations, if they are indeed, false, but pursuing that is not going to be viable. The burden of proof will be on your son, and since this is more of a "he said/she said" situation than anything else, proving a falsehood is next to impossible.

My advice for your son is (1) Get over it; (2) Look for another job.

And Mom, although I know you are just trying to help, if your son is old enough to hold a job for such a long time, he is old enough to get indignant and handle those emotions on his own. You really need to step back and let him handle his own affairs. ;)
 

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