Position: Service Leader (Supervisor)
Start date: 09/10/07
Termination date: 01/30/08 (reason for term. poor performance") I believe I was set up for failure by this company due to my hispanic heritage. They are in Virginia and I am in Florida. I work from home and was a regular full time employee (not an independant contractor although I worked with independant contractors)
In mid September while in training for this company the Director of Training, an Independent Contractor working as trainer and myself were having a conversation about where each of us resided. I told them I was from Miami, when the Director of training stated, " Oh Miami, I was dating a Cuban in my Miami a while back ago, (and never again) do you know that he invited me to his house and the house looked exactly like the one in Scarface (the movie ) ! I was extremely insulted by that comment, although born in the U.S. my parents are Cuban and I consider myself as a Cuban-American. However, my last name by my adopted father is American and I have no accent that indicates I would be from a Spanish heritage. I did not report this incident to Human Resources as it was a new job and did not want to jeopardize my position
To my knowledge, no one in the Management staff, Directors, Managers and Supervisors are of Spanish Heritage.
One of the Independent Contractors advised me (Supervisor) and the Manager that she spoke Spanish and if a Spanish customer called should she service the customer the Manager told her no, not to service the customer, it was then that I commented that I spoke Spanish as well, and she brushed it off as if servicing a customer in Spanish was not important. My initial reaction was to ask the rep if she felt she was being discriminated against, as I felt the manager was discriminating against Spanish speaking employees, Again, I did not report fearing that I would lose my job.
After I made the Manager aware of my Hispanic background she began making my life impossible by:
a) Giving me wrong directives, making me generate reports that were not relevant or appropriate to give to Independent Contractors as many of the reporting and coaching sessions implied 'employer employee' relationship', thus compromising the Independent Contractor contract.
b) The Director of Brand Ambassador Relations advised the Manager and I that in no way should we call the Independant contractors at home, or tell them to call us to coach, or train them, that we were to email them inviting them to call us should they need assistance from us. The director also advised us that the coaching sessions, reports and overall demeanor that the Manager and I were portraying was indicative of 'employer employee relationship, compromising the Independent Contractor contract. When I spoke to the manager alone in regards on what the director had said, she told me not to really listen to the director that she tended to exaggerate. Thus giving me mixed messages designed to make me fail, as I was following the manager's directives to do one thing while the director were advising to do otherwise.
The manager asked me to generate elaborate and complicated Excel spreadsheet that included expert formulas that she herself did not know how to do, only for most of the reports to be turned down by the Director due to being used implied 'employer employee relationship'. I constantly had to change all forms and reporting used to track performance, thus forcing me to change things at a moment's notice and not giving me an opportunity to offer attention to my team as I deemed necessary.
Requesting reports from Workforce Management Director of Workforce Management in order to complete reports were never given to me, making me unable to complete my projects.
The workforce management Director- Humiliated and spoke down to me at a phone conference where the Senior VP, the Director (Independant contractor Relations, Director of Workforce, the Manager (my boss) were present. We were talking about something technical and I asked a question and she yelled at me and said that I did not know what I was talking about and that my question did not matter, that I should follow her instructions and not inquire about them. Although the Director of B.A. Relations contacted me to apologize on the company's behalf , no apologies were given by the person that comited the offense I believe that I was spoken down to and humiliated by her due to my Spanish heritage, as the Directors and Managers are tight-knit and small group, and suspect that the manager advised her that I was Spanish.
Also the manager (my boss) and the VP are very good friends and all anglo.
I had to send a picture of myself to the VP for id purposes and from then on our relationship changed also.
The VIPdesk Employee Handbook, indicates that employment with the company is 'at will' and employment could be terminated at any time. In spite of this policy I feel that the reason why I was terminated was not because of lack of performance but because of my Spanish background.
Start date: 09/10/07
Termination date: 01/30/08 (reason for term. poor performance") I believe I was set up for failure by this company due to my hispanic heritage. They are in Virginia and I am in Florida. I work from home and was a regular full time employee (not an independant contractor although I worked with independant contractors)
In mid September while in training for this company the Director of Training, an Independent Contractor working as trainer and myself were having a conversation about where each of us resided. I told them I was from Miami, when the Director of training stated, " Oh Miami, I was dating a Cuban in my Miami a while back ago, (and never again) do you know that he invited me to his house and the house looked exactly like the one in Scarface (the movie ) ! I was extremely insulted by that comment, although born in the U.S. my parents are Cuban and I consider myself as a Cuban-American. However, my last name by my adopted father is American and I have no accent that indicates I would be from a Spanish heritage. I did not report this incident to Human Resources as it was a new job and did not want to jeopardize my position
To my knowledge, no one in the Management staff, Directors, Managers and Supervisors are of Spanish Heritage.
One of the Independent Contractors advised me (Supervisor) and the Manager that she spoke Spanish and if a Spanish customer called should she service the customer the Manager told her no, not to service the customer, it was then that I commented that I spoke Spanish as well, and she brushed it off as if servicing a customer in Spanish was not important. My initial reaction was to ask the rep if she felt she was being discriminated against, as I felt the manager was discriminating against Spanish speaking employees, Again, I did not report fearing that I would lose my job.
After I made the Manager aware of my Hispanic background she began making my life impossible by:
a) Giving me wrong directives, making me generate reports that were not relevant or appropriate to give to Independent Contractors as many of the reporting and coaching sessions implied 'employer employee' relationship', thus compromising the Independent Contractor contract.
b) The Director of Brand Ambassador Relations advised the Manager and I that in no way should we call the Independant contractors at home, or tell them to call us to coach, or train them, that we were to email them inviting them to call us should they need assistance from us. The director also advised us that the coaching sessions, reports and overall demeanor that the Manager and I were portraying was indicative of 'employer employee relationship, compromising the Independent Contractor contract. When I spoke to the manager alone in regards on what the director had said, she told me not to really listen to the director that she tended to exaggerate. Thus giving me mixed messages designed to make me fail, as I was following the manager's directives to do one thing while the director were advising to do otherwise.
The manager asked me to generate elaborate and complicated Excel spreadsheet that included expert formulas that she herself did not know how to do, only for most of the reports to be turned down by the Director due to being used implied 'employer employee relationship'. I constantly had to change all forms and reporting used to track performance, thus forcing me to change things at a moment's notice and not giving me an opportunity to offer attention to my team as I deemed necessary.
Requesting reports from Workforce Management Director of Workforce Management in order to complete reports were never given to me, making me unable to complete my projects.
The workforce management Director- Humiliated and spoke down to me at a phone conference where the Senior VP, the Director (Independant contractor Relations, Director of Workforce, the Manager (my boss) were present. We were talking about something technical and I asked a question and she yelled at me and said that I did not know what I was talking about and that my question did not matter, that I should follow her instructions and not inquire about them. Although the Director of B.A. Relations contacted me to apologize on the company's behalf , no apologies were given by the person that comited the offense I believe that I was spoken down to and humiliated by her due to my Spanish heritage, as the Directors and Managers are tight-knit and small group, and suspect that the manager advised her that I was Spanish.
Also the manager (my boss) and the VP are very good friends and all anglo.
I had to send a picture of myself to the VP for id purposes and from then on our relationship changed also.
The VIPdesk Employee Handbook, indicates that employment with the company is 'at will' and employment could be terminated at any time. In spite of this policy I feel that the reason why I was terminated was not because of lack of performance but because of my Spanish background.
