What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NY
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NYC
Hello, ( I apologize before hand that his is super long, I just wanted to be detailed )
I was recently employed with a company that I was already having issues with. I have come to this forum previously to discuss some of there harassment towards me.
Some presvious issues:
-Emails saying that all my work was bad and needed to be done over, followed by emails by my direct supervisor stating that there was nothing wrong with the work.
-Miscategorized as salary though I am pretty sure from speaking with people on this forum and off that my job was not.
-Working 12-24 hour shift with no breaks or rests.
-Forced to work over 4 weeks without proper equipment leading to minor wrist and arm pains.
~~~~~~~~~~~
So it finally happened they "terminated" my sister and I. I beleive the meeting was misleading. Th HR person stated that we were being terminated (which I thought meant being laid off for a reason which would deny my unemployment benefits.) During the meeting we were told we were being terminated, but could still apply for unemployment. I am not an expert but that sounded odd to me.
They then handed us a contract to sign saying they would give us one pay period severance pay, letter of reference, but then went on to outline a lot of other things that have made me not want to sign it. Going as far to say that if at a later date any of the things they stated in the contract are found to be illegal, that it won't make the contract void and can be adjusted to fit within the confines of the law.
We asked for the reason for the our termination. They gave us reasons but they were either to no fault of our own, or were just isolated incidents that were handled and fixed months prior to this. Since I am at at will employee I know the they can let me go for any reason. However, they stated that they are terminating us but have no real reason for it.
This has lead me to have a few unanswered questions about the reasons they gave.
1) They sated that when I was on site that I would lay my head down on my desk. She said it looked bad for people coming in and I shouldn't be doing it on company time.(this is an internet based company).
This was to no fault of my own. Ever since starting there in october, up until I was moved off-site in January, I worked through my lunch, so all nine hours I was there I was working. They told me in December that I could no longer do this. They made it very clear that I could not work on their work or my own personal work during lunch. However, I was told I could stay at my station during my lunch (most people ate food at there station for lunch as well). So during my lunch period I would just sit there and sometimes lay my head down to wait for the hour to pass so I could continue work again. No one ever told me I couldn't do this and now they are bringing this up 6 months later as a reason for firing me.
2)That I skipped work
I work off-site and my daily quota is much higher then the onsite employees. To finish the work load they set aside for me I was lucky to get by on a 10 hour day (with no lunch periods), but my days got as high as 11,12 and even 13 hour days with just a break or two to allow me to go to my kichten and put together something to eat. They would ask me to work on all of the harder type of images; Where finishing up 80 images by the end of the day usually meant I just finished looking over and editing 700-800 images all on my own. On top of that, the job has already admitted and knows that quite often very hard image would pop up that they take alot of time to fix up.
My co workers are allowed to fluctuate in there numbers to accomodate for the different types of images. However, for my sister and I we were not allowed to fluctuate. If we got stuck with these images it just meant that our 10 hour day just turned in to an 11 or 12 hour day.
To alleviate this issue I would do extra overtime the night before to download the work to my computer and in most cases look over it so I knew what I was in for the next day. Becasue of this I would end up taking a straight string of folders and would often end up with strings of very hard images that were impossible for me to finish in a decent time (with in 12 hours) and still make the daily quota they enforced with us. If this happened I would sometimes skip a folder or two in the sequence of 6-8 straight folders so that I could meet the high quota without having to work crazy hours every day.
Please keep in mind that if I was taking the work out along side my co-workers during the day, and not putting in the extra work the night before, this wouldn't be an issue. The work is usually naturally broken up and shared as each person takes folder through out the day. No one else has EVER been forced to do straight strings of folders but us.
When emailed by my supervisor and told that I could no longer skip. I didn't argue with her or tell her no. I replied with an email stating nicely why I was skipping (Everything I said above), but I ended the email saying that if she doens't want me to do it, that I will stop. After that I didn't skip any folders. I either took straight string the night before and dealt with it or just took folder during the day with them. In both cases I just had to work more hours to compensate there demands. After the issue was addressed it hasn't happened again.
3) That I ignored emails and refused to do corrections.
This is also out of context and untrue. When they moved me offsite, they didn't provide me with any equipment. I am using my computer which I love but does have some issues. I made it very clear to my employers that I dont have a mail client of my own (Not sure what happened to it but when opened complete messes up my computer) I tried a third party like thunderbird and it still would not work. From when I first started it has been common knowledge (while on-site, I would sometimes do work at home for them, and they understood to email me on my gmail account)
For some reason one of the supervisors started emailing my corrections to my company email which I couldn't access from home. Becasue of this I never got them. This was very odd since she complained to my direct supervisor/team leader who absolutely KNEW that I couldn't not access my comapny email. My team leader never said anything to me even though she continued to email me on a daily bases on my gmail. I eventaully got an email from the high up supervisor asking me to explain and it was the first time me hearing about it or even seeing the emails (He forwarded them to me). I told him again about the mail client, I guess he forgot. He didn't discipline or get mad at me. Instead he set up my company email to automatically forward my company emails to my gmail.
Ever since then there was not been a problem.
Another incident: my tablet broke. I told them I needed a new one. Working off just a laptop with no tablet it is impossible for me to cut out hard images without the use of a tablet. I went 5 weeks without one, and in that time they requested I do a crystal chandelier. I politely told her that without the tablet not only can I not cut the image to there standards but I also would be hurting my wrist and arm (It started hurting after the first week). (all employees have a station with a computer and tablet standard)
Another incident: I have reminded (by email) all my supervisors on numerous occassion over the past 6 months that I did not have access to certain sections of the site. They never fixed so I let it go. A mid supervisor (the one who usually harasses me) assigned work for me to do in one of these sections. The downside to this is that since I can not log in to the section, there was no way for me to ever know she assigned it to me. She never sent me an email. I eventually got an email from my team leader telling me that I had work sitting in this section for a few weeks. Yet again I had to remind her I do not have access to this section. AND yet again the issue was finally resolved and there were no issues about it afterwards.
There is one more incident involving my sister that I will ask about later
Something that also confused me was by the end they said "In the end we just look over all the work and we are unahppy with the performance" Despite the fact that we were doing more work the everyone else, with very little mistakes.
So I am a little confused... Any advice or knowledge about this would be greatly appreciated.
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NYC
Hello, ( I apologize before hand that his is super long, I just wanted to be detailed )
I was recently employed with a company that I was already having issues with. I have come to this forum previously to discuss some of there harassment towards me.
Some presvious issues:
-Emails saying that all my work was bad and needed to be done over, followed by emails by my direct supervisor stating that there was nothing wrong with the work.
-Miscategorized as salary though I am pretty sure from speaking with people on this forum and off that my job was not.
-Working 12-24 hour shift with no breaks or rests.
-Forced to work over 4 weeks without proper equipment leading to minor wrist and arm pains.
~~~~~~~~~~~
So it finally happened they "terminated" my sister and I. I beleive the meeting was misleading. Th HR person stated that we were being terminated (which I thought meant being laid off for a reason which would deny my unemployment benefits.) During the meeting we were told we were being terminated, but could still apply for unemployment. I am not an expert but that sounded odd to me.
They then handed us a contract to sign saying they would give us one pay period severance pay, letter of reference, but then went on to outline a lot of other things that have made me not want to sign it. Going as far to say that if at a later date any of the things they stated in the contract are found to be illegal, that it won't make the contract void and can be adjusted to fit within the confines of the law.
We asked for the reason for the our termination. They gave us reasons but they were either to no fault of our own, or were just isolated incidents that were handled and fixed months prior to this. Since I am at at will employee I know the they can let me go for any reason. However, they stated that they are terminating us but have no real reason for it.
This has lead me to have a few unanswered questions about the reasons they gave.
1) They sated that when I was on site that I would lay my head down on my desk. She said it looked bad for people coming in and I shouldn't be doing it on company time.(this is an internet based company).
This was to no fault of my own. Ever since starting there in october, up until I was moved off-site in January, I worked through my lunch, so all nine hours I was there I was working. They told me in December that I could no longer do this. They made it very clear that I could not work on their work or my own personal work during lunch. However, I was told I could stay at my station during my lunch (most people ate food at there station for lunch as well). So during my lunch period I would just sit there and sometimes lay my head down to wait for the hour to pass so I could continue work again. No one ever told me I couldn't do this and now they are bringing this up 6 months later as a reason for firing me.
2)That I skipped work
I work off-site and my daily quota is much higher then the onsite employees. To finish the work load they set aside for me I was lucky to get by on a 10 hour day (with no lunch periods), but my days got as high as 11,12 and even 13 hour days with just a break or two to allow me to go to my kichten and put together something to eat. They would ask me to work on all of the harder type of images; Where finishing up 80 images by the end of the day usually meant I just finished looking over and editing 700-800 images all on my own. On top of that, the job has already admitted and knows that quite often very hard image would pop up that they take alot of time to fix up.
My co workers are allowed to fluctuate in there numbers to accomodate for the different types of images. However, for my sister and I we were not allowed to fluctuate. If we got stuck with these images it just meant that our 10 hour day just turned in to an 11 or 12 hour day.
To alleviate this issue I would do extra overtime the night before to download the work to my computer and in most cases look over it so I knew what I was in for the next day. Becasue of this I would end up taking a straight string of folders and would often end up with strings of very hard images that were impossible for me to finish in a decent time (with in 12 hours) and still make the daily quota they enforced with us. If this happened I would sometimes skip a folder or two in the sequence of 6-8 straight folders so that I could meet the high quota without having to work crazy hours every day.
Please keep in mind that if I was taking the work out along side my co-workers during the day, and not putting in the extra work the night before, this wouldn't be an issue. The work is usually naturally broken up and shared as each person takes folder through out the day. No one else has EVER been forced to do straight strings of folders but us.
When emailed by my supervisor and told that I could no longer skip. I didn't argue with her or tell her no. I replied with an email stating nicely why I was skipping (Everything I said above), but I ended the email saying that if she doens't want me to do it, that I will stop. After that I didn't skip any folders. I either took straight string the night before and dealt with it or just took folder during the day with them. In both cases I just had to work more hours to compensate there demands. After the issue was addressed it hasn't happened again.
3) That I ignored emails and refused to do corrections.
This is also out of context and untrue. When they moved me offsite, they didn't provide me with any equipment. I am using my computer which I love but does have some issues. I made it very clear to my employers that I dont have a mail client of my own (Not sure what happened to it but when opened complete messes up my computer) I tried a third party like thunderbird and it still would not work. From when I first started it has been common knowledge (while on-site, I would sometimes do work at home for them, and they understood to email me on my gmail account)
For some reason one of the supervisors started emailing my corrections to my company email which I couldn't access from home. Becasue of this I never got them. This was very odd since she complained to my direct supervisor/team leader who absolutely KNEW that I couldn't not access my comapny email. My team leader never said anything to me even though she continued to email me on a daily bases on my gmail. I eventaully got an email from the high up supervisor asking me to explain and it was the first time me hearing about it or even seeing the emails (He forwarded them to me). I told him again about the mail client, I guess he forgot. He didn't discipline or get mad at me. Instead he set up my company email to automatically forward my company emails to my gmail.
Ever since then there was not been a problem.
Another incident: my tablet broke. I told them I needed a new one. Working off just a laptop with no tablet it is impossible for me to cut out hard images without the use of a tablet. I went 5 weeks without one, and in that time they requested I do a crystal chandelier. I politely told her that without the tablet not only can I not cut the image to there standards but I also would be hurting my wrist and arm (It started hurting after the first week). (all employees have a station with a computer and tablet standard)
Another incident: I have reminded (by email) all my supervisors on numerous occassion over the past 6 months that I did not have access to certain sections of the site. They never fixed so I let it go. A mid supervisor (the one who usually harasses me) assigned work for me to do in one of these sections. The downside to this is that since I can not log in to the section, there was no way for me to ever know she assigned it to me. She never sent me an email. I eventually got an email from my team leader telling me that I had work sitting in this section for a few weeks. Yet again I had to remind her I do not have access to this section. AND yet again the issue was finally resolved and there were no issues about it afterwards.
There is one more incident involving my sister that I will ask about later
Something that also confused me was by the end they said "In the end we just look over all the work and we are unahppy with the performance" Despite the fact that we were doing more work the everyone else, with very little mistakes.
So I am a little confused... Any advice or knowledge about this would be greatly appreciated.
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