West Telemarketing West.com West Teleservices Workathomeagent West Teleserviceswest Communications, rip off on final pay check by putting just temp block on acct! Omaha Nebraska

When I first started with West as workathomeagent, they were IC status and that changed to employee status in 9/2007.

I was told my employment had been terminated, effective 9/19. I work two lines for West. The lines I worked, the first one blocked on 9/19, but I was told by 4 different people, on 4 seperate phone calls one line did not affect the other, that I should still be able to work the other. 9/20 that line was "temp blocked" making taking any kind of schedule not possible. I was fine with that, began putting in more applications and job search immediately.

I filed for unemployment 9/22 because effectively this is termination and I was told it was termination, which I was fine with, having mentally decided the job needed to go because of all the games and garbage they pull on us as employees, even before actually being terminated. I had decided to look for new work, but had not found a new job. The date of termination was put in as 9/19 for unemployment claim, based on what I was told by west on the first line (D line).

West makes nothing easy for any person that works for them, it's all about screw the employee any way they can, be that with no hours, or pay cuts, hours capped or thier practice of over hiring, so we have to stalk the scheduling system and hope to be able to get a few hours of work in each week. I can still sign in to employee page, as of today, and the accts still both show just a temp block.

I have not yet received a final paycheck, but law here in Colorado says that they have 24 hours after termination to issue the final pay check. 24 hours would have started 9/19 when they said I had been terminated. West is apparently trying to get around that 24 hour final pay check law for Colorado by setting just the temp block not a termination, which gives them as much time as they want to hold the last check, or keep it in limbo if I try to file for unemployment claim.

West will likely say that it is temp blocked, and deny the unemployment claim, since they did not enter as a termination yet and have it just blocked. This is yet another game being played with the employees, making it hard for us as employee or an x-employee, to do what we legally have rights to like the unemployment we pay the tax every paycheck for!

They could keep the accts blocked for months if they choose to, keeping any form of unemployment claim not paid, because then they could say termination based on inactive status for 90 days or longer, or even 30 days on some of the lines can result in termination for being 'inactive' and you're sitting there with a blocked account and couldn't sign up for any hours but could sign in to thier employee page.

They can in effect call it anything they want and do anything they want and apparently get around the laws of the states in doing so! I will be filing a complaint with dept of labor today on this, having even been told by the unemployment claims person it did NOT appear to be a legal termination. There is no question in my mind they have again bent laws and rules to suit thierselves, and we as the employee or x-employee are left in the limbo to suffer while west does no suffering at all!

On the information I had seen there as of when I accepted the pin, and then dropped the first of the lines immediately following accepting it, they had a date of occurance as 9/17. Now as of tonight, that has been changed to 8/18 when I just looked at it, so I worked a month in terminated status? That isn't even logical! I dropped one line, thier dreaded D line, and kept the other intact, 9/19.

I was able to take an hour shift, in two half hour increments, there on the second line 9/19 after the first line showed blocked, however thier software issues prevented an actual log in, as had been the case since I had accepted the second line in July, and I spent the entire time on the phone with thier pal desk, trying to get it fixed for the duration of the shift time and beyond the shift time an extra 20 minutes!

That time that was extra is on my time, they do not pay for any time spent on the phone with the pal desk if you call in or if an issue makes it take longer than the shift was scheduled, you are not paid if you can not log in and take calls! I was on the phone with the pal desk 50 minutes of a scheduled 30 min shift! I expect to not be paid for either the shift because I couldn't actually get logged in, nor for the overage on the actual call to the pal desk because this is another thing west does to it's employees! Time on anything other than a call you take for them is free to them, no matter what the company business is, or if you have called them or if they have called you. You are NOT paid for any of that time you are not taking a call!

They did a password reset and didn't tell me the new password, so then I had to call thier help desk and have it reset again 9/20 in the middle of the night, when I tried to log in and kept getting invalid password errors. I was going to try to take some shifts for 9/20 and couldn't log in because it said invalid password (that password having been changed 9/19 and me not knowing what it was changed to because the pal was "new" and failed to tell me she changed it, she never mentioned it, then I called back and got her again and she said "I think I changed it to xyz password but I am not sure, you may have to take a week off work before you can set a new password. I am sorry. blah blah.) The helpdesk set a new password, and I was then able to get logged in, and could still take hours for the 9/20 available hours but did not know what my schedule looked like for the day yet so didn't take any. Later 9/20 morning, going into schedule system, I found all hours removed for days following and the account then said blocked for the second line.

As IF that wasn't enough yet, There has been no ET time issued there either, for the missed hour due to login issues, but they did manage to knock down 5% show up rate for it and I was on the phone with thier pal desk! The phone calls are documented and also time stamped when you call in, they get your id and go into your account and note it! I found out the hard way make them TAKE your ID or you will not see any notes on the acct entered, and they will claim you never called in! (another game they play!)

They also enter into a book, if I understood the person on the other side of the phone correctly, the id, and reason for missing the shift, and that gets the time excused, but you will not be paid for it. You are also not paid for time when their systems go down and you are working. If you get dumped off the system, you are not paid for that time.

I suggest anyone considering working for this company really think twice and research them fully, as well as be prepared to put up with many games, have your attendance rating dropped for missing shifts because of thier constant system and software issues, have pins and coachings for stupid things like the caller hung up or did not want more offers, or the call simply drops for no reason.

This experience has been eye opening, annoying and mostly a huge STRESS situation for me and my family, due to this latest game now with unemployment and employment status, not to mention the lack of hours for much of the time since the beginning of the year, and now the the final paycheck issue! When we work we need to be paid. If money is supposed to be paid upon termination West should not be getting away with not paying it when due, based on setting a block not the termination they are claiming, to hold the final money as long as they like and also to keep the filing of the unemployment claim in limbo! They could keep that there long enough that we find other work and they would never show any kind of claims, and although I don't have any proof that's what they do, I would highly suspect that is exactly what happens!

This company truly reeks of unethical practices from pay to the way they treat thier employees! I have never experienced such an unethical way to conduct business or such an unethical employer in many many years of being in the work force!

Peggy
Northglenn, Colorado
U.S.A.

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