Temporary Employment Agencies

[tkabi]

I live in Oregon. I have been working on and mostly off with an employment agency doing temporary work. My total hours working would be around 200 over the past 12 months. Then they placed me in a temp to perm position with a small appliance repair company. I have been there for four weeks and things are great. They don't want me going anywhere. This last week, my agency made a mess of payroll and I didn't get paid. It took a herculian effort to get money so that I would have to pay late charges on the water, electric, and a few other bills that were due. At the end of it all, I was told that that daym, Friday, would be my last day. I talked to the owner of the business I was working for and his response was "Great, you don't work for them any more, you work for us".

I am worried that the agency may try to retaliate. What can they do to me or the company that has now hired me?

 

[cbg]

Please clarify. Who told you that Friday was your last day? Your last day with whom? The agency? The company that hired you?

 

[tkabi]

It was the agency who told me that Friday was my last day. The appliance shop where I work made a HUGE effort to make sure I knew I was welcome and they wanted me back bright and early Monday morning.

 

[cbg]

Then whatever action the agency can take will depend entirely upon whatever contracts they may have with you and with the hiring company, and whether they have been breached. Although from your description I suspect that the agency may have been the one to do any breaching.

I'm not quite sure what it is that you're concerned about. Just what is it that you think they might try to do? Maybe if you explain that, I can give you an estimate of the likelihood.

 

[tkabi]

I am concerned that they will say I can't be hired unless they receive the "fees" the would have received in the form of payments. I got paid a certain dollar amount, they charged the company 50% more than that. I don't want them trying to collect the fees they would have had if I had continued with the "temp to perm" situation. They had told the company that before they could have me, I would need to work in the temp position for 500 hours.

The people I am working for are good people. It's a family owned business who have worked this business for 25 years. The parents, who owned the business for 25 years, are just now finishing the legal documents that sells the business to their son, who I now work for. I truly do NOT want them to have any grief because a problem I had with this agency spilled into their business.

My payroll problem was that I turned in a correct time card for a week that included a holiday. I worked, the business was open, most other businesses were closed. They faxed my local agency office for verification. It sat on the agency fax machine for the better part of a week, until I started complaining. As usual, the one person who runs my local office was not on payday and I had to track down someone at another office who told me that my time card had "never been processed". When I complained, I was given a "pay card" (debit) that they "forgot" to put my pay on. When I complained again, I was fired. Silly me, I expect to get paid for my work.

 

[cbg]

Okay, you have two separate issues. I can't give you an absolute answer to either because it really does depend on the contract that you and the agency, the agency and the employer, or the employer and the agency, may have with one another. But I'll give you my best shot, based on more years than I want to tell you on both sides of the agency-hiring desk.

The agency CANNOT tell the company that they cannot hire you. Who the company hires is strictly up to them. However, depending on the contract the agency and the company have (which you are not a party to) the agency MAY be entitled to the fees for the entire temp to perm time frame. That will depend entirely on the wording of any contract (and it's about 99% certain that there IS a contract - again, you are not a party to it) and while I understand your concern (and wish more employees thought like you) it is not your problem. It is solely between the company and the agency and you are not responsible for it.

The other issue you have is that you MAY (again, I don't have enough information to say for certain) have a wrongful termination suit against the agency. It is illegal to fire someone because they exercised a right they have under the law, and most (though not quite all) states have a law that makes it mandatory for an employer (and in this case the agency was your employer) to release a paycheck within a certain number of days after the close of the pay period. If you were fired SOLELY because you demanded your pay (to which you were entitled) that may constitute a violation of public policy, and violation of public policy is a form of wrongful termination. It will be very fact specific, however, so if you want to pursue this possibility, I suggest you contact the Oregon Department of Labor. I have a phone number if you want it.

Good luck. It sounds as if you've found yourself a good place to work. I hope it all goes well.

 

[Beth3]

P.S. The agency enforcing the terms of an agreement they have with their client (the appliance company) is not retalliation. It's extremely likely there is a "buy out" agreement in place, i.e. a client compay is required to pay a fee if they decide to directly employ a staffer placed with them within a certian time frame. That's just the way it works and it's how staffing agencies generate revenues. The issue is entirely between the two employers.