termination info

[rivulus]

I am in NY.

My problem is in finding out the reason for my termination (I am aware NY is an at-will state). First a little background:

I was employed at a large corporation as a contract employee through a local agency. The initial contract was for 6 months,but the corporation opted to make it open ended. I took a scheduled vacation after working there for 18 months - leaving on a Thursday and returning the following Friday. On the day I was to return to work,I received a call from the agency approx. 1 hour before I was to leave for work. The owner of the agency was the caller and informed me that I no longer worked at the corporation. When asked what happened,the response was "nobody told us anything". That was on Friday. On Monday when I went to the agency to turn in my ID badge,I asked again. Same response - "nobody told us anything". I called my supervisor at the corporation. His response was "I shouldn't even be talking to you. Your agency has all the info." and then he hung up. Contacted the agency again - same response. I applied for unemployment and got the first couple of weekly checks,but was then informed that it was temporaily suspended pending an investigation. It seems that the agency,when contacted by unemployment,told them that I had quit as I had a job (they even named a company!!). Of course,the investigation proved they lied and I was reinstated with unemployment. NOTE: I am no longer employed by this agency.

So far,to date,I have not been able to find out what happened while I was on vacation that caused my termination. From my experiences with interviews and such,it would appear I have been blackballed - but for what reason?? One interview I was sent on was for for a position paying $17 per hour. However,when there,the rate was suddenly $11 per hour. The interviewer was far from cordial right from the start. When I said I'd have to think about it,he said "take it or leave it" and promptly showed me out - not through the front door,but by the railroad tracks next to the dumpster!! Another interview seemed to go well,but later I was told (literally) that "we don't want anyone like you working here" and had the phone slammed in my ear! Based on these type incidents,it would seem that something nasty happened where I used to work that I was blamed for,but what?

I also had one of the online reference check companies do a check for me on the agency (the corporation does not keep records for contract people). After 2.5 months with no report received,I contacted them. Per the person I spoke with,they had not made contact with the agency so far and estimated completion on a certain date. Lo and behold,2 days prior to that date,the report claims they made contact. The report indicated 29 attempts over a 3 month period and they could not make contact until 2 days prior to the "estimated date"?? Sounds fishy. The report listed the conversation and it did not sound like the person at the agency at all and was somewhat unprofessional sounding. The whole thing looked like bad script in a high school play!

I have requested the info from unemployment,but as it is not stored locally,it is a slow process.

Any suggestions on how to get the scoop on what really happened? If I know what happened,at least I could do something about it.

 

[rivulus]

Addendum:

The info was received at the local Unemployment office and I took a look at it. It contained the letter the agency sent in response to the initial request when I signed up for Unemployment. The letter indicated that I resigned because I had another job and specified the company. The only time that company's name was mentioned by me to the agency was when I asked about the policy on getting out of the contract in the event I wanted to change jobs. They asked if I had another job lined up - the answer was "no - I did have one interview at <the company>,but no offer". The file at Unemployment also contained my side of the story as detailed in the prior message. It clearly shows that I did NOT have a job at the named company (easily proven). The response from the agency to that essentially said "we thought he had a job and ended the contract". Wrongful termination??

The aspects that do not add up or make sense are:

- If I resigned as they stated,why did the agency call that Friday all flustered and say they did not know why my contract was terminated by the company I was working at?

- Why did my supervisor at the company essentially refuse to talk to me ("I shouldn't even be talking to you - your agency has the details" and then hung up)?

- Why are companies saying essentially "we don't want someone like you"? Why would I be escorted out by the garbage instead of the front door?

- One other incident that makes me suspect something is rotten somewhere is that an out of state recruiter inquired about me and was told "you don't want to go there!".