Thursday, January 03, 2008

~no light @ the end of the tunnel~

Well, so much for thinking 2008 was going to be a better year..sure it's early, but at only 3 days in, things have not started off well...

~I had a phone interview today. It was going really well and we were about to line up an in-person interview. I decided that I would share that I am PG because there's no hiding it @ this point and why waste my time/energy driving there if they aren't going to consider me in the end anyway. I told the gal I would be ready for work in early-March since I'm due Feb 5th. She then says that they are hoping to have the position filled by mid-February and basically says they won't be interviewing me since I'm not available 'til early-March.

~To me - this is STILL discrimination. I wasn't even given the chance to interview BECAUSE I'M PREGNANT. I could be their 'ideal' candidate for the position and maybe worth waiting an extra 2 weeks for, but we'll never know now. Also, having worked in recruiting for a million years now, I know that positions often don't get filled as quickly as companies want them to, so it's highly unlikely they'll have the job filled by mid-February. I did ask her to keep me in mind if that happens, but I'm still pissed off. I'm fighting off the urge to shoot off a nasty email to the lady.

~Now let's move onto the current job...I thought I had 7 hrs of OT on my last pay period, well, it turns out that I only had 1 hr of OT. Their timesheets are very unclear and confusing to fill out and it gave the impression that anything over 8 hrs/day was OT as opposed to anything over 40 hrs/week. So that 16 hr day when I flew home from OH and didn't get home 'til 11:30pm and had to be back at work at 8am the next day...yeah, none of that was compensated at a higher rate...hello folks, I'm not a salaried employee!! What really irks me is that when I interviewed for this position I was asked if I can work more than 8 hrs/day, to which I responded that I can.

~Yesterday a bunch of phone calls went around between the company and the agency that hired me to figure out whether OT is approved or not. My 1st paycheck was short because they paid me all the hours in straight time as opposed to OT. So, today I receive an email from the lady I report to and she says that she has the project budgeted for 40 hrs/wk and if the workload gets crazy and is going to require OT, to advise her ahead of time...in other words, no OT. That is fine too, BUT why did they bother asking me if I could work more than 8 hrs/day then? How freakin' ridiculous is that?

~This has been the most poorly communicated job opportunity EVER...(1) the fact that I'm being paid on a 1099 was not explained 'til after I accepted the offer AND ultimately it is more costly to me and now (2) I was given the impression that I would be able to work OT and now that's not the case. WTF?

~I'm so disenchanted with the whole thing at this point...and sure 'at least I have a job' but that's hardly consolation @ this point.

~So since it's quite likely that I'll not be granted an interview ANYWHERE until after Ethan is born, it's also quite likely that I'll either (1) be forced to return to SBUX to maintain health benefits (while O gets to stay home @ night to care for Ethan) OR (2) pay $250-300/month to get benefits elsewhere. Obviously neither scenario is all that wonderful.

~And as for O getting a 2nd job...we've discussed it and honestly it would be quite challenging as he often works late during the week in his current job as well as on Saturdays, so his availability wouldn't be too great for a 2nd job and pay-wise, he's better off sticking w/his day job and trying to get extra hours (OT).

~Sucks to be me...at least that's how I see it right now.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

The OT laws are confusing. Sometimes it's OT only if you work more than 40 hours a week. Others it's OT for any minute worked over 8 hours a day.

As for the interview. . .that I'm not sure. I'm not a real employment expert. Maybe you should call the local EEOC, to either 1) file a complaint or 2) at least find out if it is discrimination.

*krystyn* said...

Apparently the Dept of Labor says that OT is only after 40 hrs/wk..which is fine, but it they way their timesheet is formatted that brought about the whole situation. I am, however, annoyed that I worked a 16 hr day that first week but still fell short of getting any significant compensation for it. I didn't book my flight and they wouldn't change them for me, so I had no choice but to fly back at 11:30pm!

As for the interview...yes, I could file a complain with the EEOC, however (1) it's still hard to prove and (2) if it's discrimination, I'm not about to waste my money on getting a lawyer to fight it..besides, I certainly wouldn't want to work there then...it's just that it completely pisses me off.

I guess I'm just at my wits end and I think I'll just give up trying to improve my living situation...in fact, maybe I'll embrace the hippie lifestyle like my co-worker @ SBUX - she just qualified for Medicaid...heck, I've never been one to live off 'the system' -but trying to do the opposite isn't working for me either.

Anonymous said...

Yes, it's hard to prove, but maybe it will make you feel better?

~**Dawn**~ said...

That was a pretty crappy way to handle that interview. I'm sorry they acted that way. Of course, if *that* is how they treat their employees, maybe you're better off not working for them.

As for OT, having worked in payroll before, the law *does* state that anything over 40 hours is mandatory to pay at OT rates. I know that many companies will also consider anything over a 10-hour day to be paid OT after 8 hours, regardless of whether you make 40 hours for the week. That was pretty crappy of them to not even consider some of those hours from the day you travelled at least. =/ And employers wonder why loyal employees are so rare these days.

CB Mauro said...

That 1099 thing is just wrong on so many levels, especially if they did not tell you when you were hired! My company said they were going to switch to 1099 at one point & I said "Then we will be renegotiating my pay rate because I wasn't hired as a contractor." I know your situation is probably different but just hearing about it fires me up as I know it does you too. I'm so sorry that things are so crappy for you right now. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you that things get better!

*krystyn* said...

Cathleen-thanks for your supportive words...I hate that things are so crappy for me too. :-) Yep, I definitely feel like they 'pulled one over on me' w/the whole 1099 thing. I did find out today though that I can write off the 1/2 of the SS tax that I'll have to pay...not that it helps that much in the long run, but I guess it's better than nothing.

Dawn-yep, the interview lady sucks...she is actually recruiting for the company and isn't an employee, so hard to say what they might be like. As for the current job...I ended up with 1 OT hour as opposed to 7...and now I'll only be working 40 hrs/wk...what a bunch of dorks.