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Any advice on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated.
I wasn't sure where to post this but definitely need some advice, not for myself but for my husband. His work situation is unfair and increases his stress and anxiety levels and I've been self- employed my whole career and don't have the experience to help.
He's working in a service company that was just bought out by a bigger entity last November. However, we believe the old owner still has significant control over the day-to-day operations including salary.
To make a long story short, there's a lot of shady stuff going on: safety concerns not being met and asking the guys to shift weekly hours (on paper) around to minimize paying overtime. The latest incident, management forgot to book m then over- night accommodations and told the guys that they could "sleep on the benches in the visitor lounge. "
On top of all of this, my husband recently found a job posting for a position for his industry in our area. After the interview, he found out it was the new entity hiring for his current company. They are offering new techs, with little to no experience, more than he is currently earning, paid training (which so far he's paid for out of his own pocket) and better benefits!
Needless to say, he's disgruntled. So are the other long time techs. They've already spoken to the new owners but keep being told to be patient as they can't do anything till the old boss is out. But then find out, their current manager has the ability to improve their compensation and has the power to hire and fire. She's the one who keeps messing up the scheduling, and has the dodgy behavior (with unspoken permission from the old boss as he is exactly the same).
The guys have tried speaking with current management, the old owner doesn't give to hoots and will do anything to save a dollar (prior to 2 years ago he refused to pay OT and has had labor board called on him multiple times), and has tried to talk to new owners multiple times. He can't even get them to consider a a re-evaluation of duties and compensation.
He is considering quitting, but he loves his work. We're in a small town so if he quits he'd have to change careers. We can't move as I'm a self-employed chiropractor and am not prepared to rebuild my practice again.
He's also considering pulling back from the extra duties he's been doing that the company has not adequately trained him for (ie only performing those tasks the company trained him for, not the services for which he paid for his own training). However, if he takes this route, he could kill any ideas of further promotions.
He's so stressed that he's talked to his doctor about taking stress leave, but feels nothing would change once he got back to work.
The ridiculous thing is, he's the guy who is doing the jobs bringing in the income. He's the guy, who they are relying on to train the new staff. He brings in at least 50% of the income for the business on his own, but they don't treat him as such.
At this point, we're at a total loss on how to proceed. As shady as some of it is, there's nothing current he can take to the labor board. I apologize for the very long read and I appreciate any support you might have to give.
Thank you.
Are the safety concerns OSHA violations? That could be a good avenue to explore.
If I were him I would document some of the more serious events as well as summarize what happening with the scheduling. Outdated Job descriptions. Safety concerns. Etc and send the memo via email to the new management, old management and the new supervisor/scheduler. In this email he needs to identify specific risks, lost revenue, OSHA infractions, etc.
Finally, the memo is complete. He must include suggested remedies solutions and timing.
This will put him at the lead of this plan but since he's the person doing the extra work and has the experience & visibility into the business in the field, he has the proper authority and vantage to outline and articulate the issues and what's at stake for the company's business.
He's did up a list with problems and action points in June. While some things were changed, it was only very minor and the major issues have been left untouched. New owners gave the manager a list of things to change and a deadline of 2 weeks but in the end, she barely touched the list and no consequences.