Author Topic: what would you do in my situation? (Read 803 times)

Rett · « **on:** March 13, 2005, 10:19:15 AM »

Before I pose this question to you I will give you a bit of background info on my job and a little about myself...
I work for a medium sized amblance transport company in Daytona Beach, FL as a Paramedic. I've been at this company for a bit over 3 years. It is the only one in the county and contracts for all the 911(thats 999 for you euro-types) calls in the county from crashes to chest pain. Not only do I work there my wife does as well.
Florida is a right-to-work state and has unions but, the unions are totally powerless due to there being no binding arbitration(basically the managment can do anything to you at any time for any reason within the law) and all i can do is smile and grind my teeth about it. There is no civil service protection like a police dept or fire dept.

My company has recently undergone managment changes to include re-hiring a street supervisor that was FIRED several years ago for ineptness. Now he oversees the operation of the entire company

makes perfect sense huh?

Now that you have a bit of background on the company I'll get into my main issue. Every year we have a annual performance evaluation. Once this evaluation is complete we all receive merit raises that used to range from 3% to 5% depending on the evaluation. Well last year when the re-hired arsehat that i now work for "revamped the evaluation system" and the evauations now range from 0% to 5%. Well there is also a cost of living adjustment figured in but.....it works out to about $330 per year.

You would think that somone that has actualy OBSERVED you at work would be the person completing the performance evaluation. Well, this isnt the case the person that did mine is middle managment that works 0600 to 1800...i work 1800 to 0600 on the OPPOSITE shift. So, basically I never ever see her. Now this is idiocy at its finest.....she completed my evaluation and i received a whole 0%.... It isnt that I am a poor performer, exactly the opposite....I do my job to the letter...never have i been complained about by my patients or co-workers.
this particular manager is my wife's direct supervisor and they well.....dont get along to put it lightly....my wife also received a 0% raise.

So, basically this person is taking food off my table and making it more difficult to make ends meet. I lodged a greivence with the re-hired director of operations and got the following response:
(and this is verbatim) "You work for me, and I am the one who approves all the raises in the company as well as the day to day operations, If you have a particular issue with this desicion I suggest that you go put an application in at McDonald's beacuse you have no place here. I'm not going to entertain this complaint beacuse you are just upset that you didnt receive a pay-raise you obviously dont deserve"

Needless to say i was floored. What would you do in this situation that is blatantly unfair. Anyone of ya lawyer types have any input? Medicboy(or any other medics) how bout your view on this? Would you quit? Go postal? Or just act like an employee that is actually worth a 0% raise?

Jackal1 · « **Reply #1 on:** March 13, 2005, 10:22:14 AM »

Does Forida have a labor board?

Rett · « **Reply #2 on:** March 13, 2005, 10:27:17 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Jackal1
Does Forida have a labor board?

Not that I'm aware of...but i'll look into it

Siaf__csf · « **Reply #3 on:** March 13, 2005, 10:27:44 AM »

Rett this is one example of the situations where you need unions. If the employer treats you unfairly they could help you there.

Personal grudge should not be a reason for bad evaluations and if you can show this was the reason for the 0% you can sue this person to high hell.

Rett · « **Reply #4 on:** March 13, 2005, 10:30:25 AM »

We tried unionizing once.....The rest of the lemings i work with were intimidated out of it. But once again in florida the unions cant really do much except bring in the lawyers and even that, usually doesnt do much

storch · « **Reply #5 on:** March 13, 2005, 10:33:34 AM »

go into business for your self that way you can raise your salary when ever you need to. that's what i did after working for people who couldn't do 1/2 of what i did and pretended to "tell me what to do".

Siaf__csf · « **Reply #6 on:** March 13, 2005, 10:35:33 AM »

Do you have anyone in your company tha t you could talk about this problem? Someone above him. You could have a confidential talk, express your concerns and figure out how to handle the situation.

If you're indeed a good worker your employer won't want to make you dissatisfied _or_ have a person evaluationg others on false reasons.

Rett · « **Reply #7 on:** March 13, 2005, 10:39:59 AM »

no, unfortunatly he is the final word....we have a board of directors that i could appeal to but, being an at will employee and leapfroging the chain of command would well....poop in the cornflakes of the director of operations. I probably wouldnt get fired for it but, the consequences eventually would. This guy has the middle managers ducking for cover, they are afraid to do anything without his approval and/or order. So it would be highly satisfing but, realisticly would probably put me on unemployment

Sandman · « **Reply #8 on:** March 13, 2005, 10:43:22 AM »

Are there other ambulance companies in the area?

Rett · « **Reply #9 on:** March 13, 2005, 10:48:45 AM »

not in this county, but there are some in the surrounding counties though. Some require you to go to fire school (which i have no intrest and besides that have a wee bit of a clostrphobia thing) and others are a 60+ mile commute to work for a major company such as Rural-metro which is a nationwide publicly traded fortune 500 company but, pays less than i make now.

Siaf__csf · « **Reply #10 on:** March 13, 2005, 10:52:27 AM »

Does your company have many workers all in all?

Rett · « **Reply #11 on:** March 13, 2005, 10:56:52 AM »

the company is comprised of approx 90 fulltime and 100 part-time emts and paramedics plus i would guess 30+ billing,clerical,collections ect....office types. We are actually a pretty big company in this line of work.
this is the website for the company

employers website

Siaf__csf · « **Reply #12 on:** March 13, 2005, 11:02:52 AM »

It's a shame you don't have a union rep there, you could talk to him and this guy would be booted before he found out what hit him.

That is if you have proof.

Rett · « **Reply #13 on:** March 13, 2005, 11:14:42 AM »

proof.....well easier said than done. i made copies of the evaluaion and of my entire personel jacket. 0 negative info in personel jacket for the past 3 years....loads of it in the evaluation. Calling labor attorney after lunch today and handing it off to him i think. Probably a good thing my neighbors son is one, which i just found out about 5 mins ago....this could become interesting.

Comments and suggestions have been greatly appreciated. Still would like to hear more from the AH community. At least i know that some of you out there will answer this lurker's post( not even 20 posts in over a year registered). This is just something that makes me really re-evaluate what i do for a living. I mean I love my job but, wouldnt urinate on my bosses head if it was on fire.

eskimo2 · « **Reply #14 on:** March 13, 2005, 11:15:55 AM »

How is your current pay compared to similar national and state positions?

eskimo

Author Topic: what would you do in my situation? (Read 803 times)

storch