Just Not Right
I worked for a placement agency at a manufacturing facility. I had worked 7 hours of my 8-hour day when one of the supervisors came by to ask anyone on the crew if they would stay for another 4 hours. We all looked at each other and politely declined. They came back one more time a little while later to ask and again, we declined.
Then they came back and demanded that one of us stay behind for the 4-hour shift or ALL of us were going to be written up for attendance. This angered everyone but because we were work placement instead of employees, we were unsure who to talk to. Some of the other crew told the supervisor they can’t because they have to pick up their kids, etc.
When the supervisor left, the crew had multiple people saying they can’t get written up again or they would lose their job. I had scheduled a dinner with my in-laws so I called the husband and told him the situation and that I would stay. Told the crew, I’ll stay—don’t worry. Told the supervisor, and got put on another crew.
I ended up only having to work for 1 hour but was required to stay for the full 4 hours. But that wasn’t the end…Next day, I called the main office and explained the situation. They said they had a representative on-site due to this manufacturer being such a large client. Called the onsite representative, and explained the situation. I was told they have a lot of attendance issues.
Again, I explained I had never had attendance issues and everyone on my crew was threatened with being written up for not staying 4 hours AFTER their scheduled shift. The on-site representative still defended the actions of the supervisor and threw attitude at me. Fine, I don’t need you—I quit. And that’s the story of how I learned about my worker’s rights and workplace harassment!