I want to report Phoenix Protective Corproation as a company that is not fair to its employees and is engaged in a process known as the customary 'force out' of certain workers. My experience with the company ended with this procedure, and i predict they intend to keep using it.
The company is non-union so a worker has no representation from a 'shop steward' or individual that has the workers's interests in mind. As it is fairly new, it is very disorganized and as result has a very high turnover rate of employees. The company works like this, an employee gets no paid training and to advance they have to come in on their own time to get training and or certification. The schedule is emailed and can be modified at anytime without prior notice.
An employee apparently can be forced out based on accusation rather than proven fact. This is what happened to me. There were several things that represented unfair tactics:
(a) I was taken off the schedule without my knowledge in excess of three days.
(b) I was then sent a message that I was to report to the office for a scheduled 'mandatory' meeting. In the message I was told to bring my uniform and 'paperwork' for inspection.
(c) Robert Minnick the Operations Manager and Ernest Brunzelle, the Regional Mananger, called me into the office and started to question me and told me I was supposed to sign several documents they put before me. One was supposed to be a compaint by a 'client' and the others from Control (dispatch division, constantly sending guards to the wrong locations!) in Spokane.
(d) I did not sign any of these because I did not recognize the names on the forms. Since I did not sign, I was told this was 'considered my resignation'. This was on a Friday and nothing more was said.
After leaving the office, I was told I needed to turn in my uniform and my temporary 'pink' permit (I am currently licensed as security officer) or a 'theft' warrant would be issued in my name (company policy was if a guard walked off a site, they must return their uniform by the end of the next business day or a 'theft' warrant would be issued!). As the administrative assistant took inventory of my returned uniform and temporary permit, I thought I might get a receipt but none was given.
True enough, the practices of this company are very unorthodox, but the 'force out' procedure is being used by many companies now to make employees take early retirement or create a vacancy one of their (management's) friends or family can be available to fill. Also, other motivations might be ageism, sexism, racism or other forms of intolerance. That is why these are very hard to fight against, and employers count on this especially when there is no union or employee representation.
I was told that Phoenix Protective Corporation has an ongoing suit against them by another former guard, and I would not mind sharing my experience with his/her legal representative. Perhaps, this has been resolved but I am unsatisfied. So far, none of my correspondence has been responded to by Management. I do not feel the current operations at PPC have the backs of the guards they send all over the place to work for them.
If anyone were to ask, I cannot recommend this company for the reasons I have described above. The pay is substandard for security anyway ($13.25/hour), and a guard friend of mine exposed their blatant rip-off of employees pay. He communted from Tacoma to Seattle for his shifts and learned he was not getting the pay he was promised ($13.50/hour). He even showed me the proof on www.eHub.com, the site where the company keeps the paystub information. It seems the company goes all out to be dishonest, rather than fair treatment of employees.
The unwillingness of PPC to provide any receipts related to uniform return (or temporary permit) and licensing requires investigation. I would like to see this company examined for their unorthodoxy and unfair policies etc.
Phoenix Protective Corporation Reviews
I want to report Phoenix Protective Corproation as a company that is not fair to its employees and is engaged in a process known as the customary 'force out' of certain workers. My experience with the company ended with this procedure, and i predict they intend to keep using it.
The company is non-union so a worker has no representation from a 'shop steward' or individual that has the workers's interests in mind. As it is fairly new, it is very disorganized and as result has a very high turnover rate of employees. The company works like this, an employee gets no paid training and to advance they have to come in on their own time to get training and or certification. The schedule is emailed and can be modified at anytime without prior notice.
An employee apparently can be forced out based on accusation rather than proven fact. This is what happened to me. There were several things that represented unfair tactics:
(a) I was taken off the schedule without my knowledge in excess of three days.
(b) I was then sent a message that I was to report to the office for a scheduled 'mandatory' meeting. In the message I was told to bring my uniform and 'paperwork' for inspection.
(c) Robert Minnick the Operations Manager and Ernest Brunzelle, the Regional Mananger, called me into the office and started to question me and told me I was supposed to sign several documents they put before me. One was supposed to be a compaint by a 'client' and the others from Control (dispatch division, constantly sending guards to the wrong locations!) in Spokane.
(d) I did not sign any of these because I did not recognize the names on the forms. Since I did not sign, I was told this was 'considered my resignation'. This was on a Friday and nothing more was said.
After leaving the office, I was told I needed to turn in my uniform and my temporary 'pink' permit (I am currently licensed as security officer) or a 'theft' warrant would be issued in my name (company policy was if a guard walked off a site, they must return their uniform by the end of the next business day or a 'theft' warrant would be issued!). As the administrative assistant took inventory of my returned uniform and temporary permit, I thought I might get a receipt but none was given.
True enough, the practices of this company are very unorthodox, but the 'force out' procedure is being used by many companies now to make employees take early retirement or create a vacancy one of their (management's) friends or family can be available to fill. Also, other motivations might be ageism, sexism, racism or other forms of intolerance. That is why these are very hard to fight against, and employers count on this especially when there is no union or employee representation.
I was told that Phoenix Protective Corporation has an ongoing suit against them by another former guard, and I would not mind sharing my experience with his/her legal representative. Perhaps, this has been resolved but I am unsatisfied. So far, none of my correspondence has been responded to by Management. I do not feel the current operations at PPC have the backs of the guards they send all over the place to work for them.
If anyone were to ask, I cannot recommend this company for the reasons I have described above. The pay is substandard for security anyway ($13.25/hour), and a guard friend of mine exposed their blatant rip-off of employees pay. He communted from Tacoma to Seattle for his shifts and learned he was not getting the pay he was promised ($13.50/hour). He even showed me the proof on www.eHub.com, the site where the company keeps the paystub information. It seems the company goes all out to be dishonest, rather than fair treatment of employees.
The unwillingness of PPC to provide any receipts related to uniform return (or temporary permit) and licensing requires investigation. I would like to see this company examined for their unorthodoxy and unfair policies etc.