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One Call Claims none wrongful termination Mobile Alabama
During my tenure as a customer service rep with this company, I had a good look at the insurance industry and found out why the insurance agent test is so hard as any kind of insurance is a big headache and no wonder the general public gets frustrated with insurance comapanies especially when it comes to claims. OCC (one call claims) is no exception on the frustration department.
We were told on day 0 this was temporary work and thus all of us temporary people are treated like a mule rented from the local stable for $2 a week. For quite a while we were worked 12 on 12 off 7 days a week no break while everyone else worked m-f. It was almost 50 days before a lot of us had a break as we were all burnt out from fielding calls from whinning America demanding an adjuster to their home RIGHT NOW.
I know that there were adjusters that quit simply because OCC wouldn't pay them and I don't blame them at all which is a National Labor Board complaint. But the money stopped coming in so much that our hours were cut for which I was grateful as we were all working 72+ hours a week. I've seen the favorite clique there and fell out of the favorites and was released citing "budget restraints" which I know is a lie. John Shipman will butter you up really good and as soon as you turn your back he will back stab you quickly. John Shipman has made a lot of enemies.
This company has all these disiplinary policies in place but they only use one: termination. Is it legal yes it is; is it ethiclly wrong yes it is. Walmart or Monopolymart as I call them, uses this policy every day.
I can honestly say that OCC is the worst employer I've ever worked for and I'm just itching for them to call me to do CSR work for the next disaster so I can tell them "no and don't call me anymore". I can't recommend them for employment at all. Stay away from them.
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Richard
Houston,Texas,
United States
Un-Believable!
#4UPDATE Employee
Sun, August 30, 2020
I work for OCC as a 1099 adjuster and I was working during the 2017 year during Harvey in Texas.
I quit reading the complaint after reading, " It was almost 50 days before a lot of us had a break as we were all burnt out from fielding calls from whinning America demanding an adjuster to their home RIGHT NOW."
OMG no wonder you were cut! I would have cut you day one if I were in charge and knew you had such a lack of empathy. I worked in the field and personally witnessed the destruction, hardships, pain, suffering, death, waste, anger, tears, desperation, and humanity in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. No one like you who says those affected by a disaster of the magnitude of Harvey are whining American's should be working in our industry. Whining America? Are you serious? I can't write what I want to or my response would be rejected. Thank you One Call Claims for getting rid of this person!!
Brian
Theodore,Alabama,
United States
reply to Oppyman
#4Author of original report
Wed, May 02, 2018
Dear Oppy man,
I apologize for not answering sooner between forgetting my password and trying to find employment it hasn't happened until now so please forgive me. As far as OCC not paying adjusters, I'm repeating what desk adjusters said that were in the information loop. As far as John, I wasn't the only one that said that about him; just being politely blunt. If you're not singling me out, then why are you on this site looking for these kind of write ups?
OppyMan
Georgia,United States
Temporary Employees and the Insurance Claims Industry during Natural Catastrophes
#4UPDATE EX-employee responds
Mon, April 16, 2018
I must rebut this report for several reasons. The reason that I am taking the time to do this is due to this report and to possibly help bring some understanding to new Temporary employee's. When there is a Catastrophe, like a Hurricane, for instance, Insurance companies are expected to act quickly to resolve Cat Claims and to restore an Insured's life and home or damaged property in a timely manner. Having worked in the Cat Claims industry off and on for over 12 years, I believe that I have a full understanding of what really goes on when there is a Catastrophe. Think for a minute, how many Customer's/Insureds that an Insurance company has, especially one of the larger companies. Now think about the average company staff that one of these carriers has. When there is a Hurricane, for example, there are generally thousands upon thousands of Insureds that are either displaced, harmed or may have even had a loved one hurt or even worse, killed in that storm. We all have and know that emotions are going to rise.
Sometimes to a very elevated level. Your home has been destroyed or deemed not livable until it is fixed and returned to a livable condition. Naturally, you want your insurance carrier to act as quickly as possible and restore your life and property to it's working condition, which is why you have Insurance. Now think about this. Your carrier generally has thousands upon thousands of Customers and has to address each one's claims quickly. The difficulty in taking care of all of your Customers needs in a quick, timely manner is a daunting, stressful task. I can assure you that even though most People want to believe that their Insurance Company is only out for the money and does not want to pay in the event of a Catastrophe. This is just not the case. Insurance companies profit from their Customers when there are no major catastrophes. Unfortunately, we have no control over Mother Nature. So, when this happens, the Insurance companies have to bring in Thousands of temporary workers so the claims can be handled quickly, in an attempt to restore Peoples lives. So, that being said, there are always going to be hick-ups when the catastrophes happen. So imagine going about your normal business day as an Insurance company and then Mother Nature unleashes her fury on us.
So now the Insurance Company must act quickly and bring in enough TEMPORARY Employee's, (Notice that I capitalized TEMPORARY) to meet the demands of the claims they are receiving. All of the third party Adjusters, Customer Service Reps, File Examiners, Payment Processors and anyone else brought in on a TEMPORARY basis, WILL eventually have their assignment ended. Most often it is the independent Adjusters that go first as they complete their assigned claims. Next, the Customer Service Reps will be thinned out as the needs are reduced as the claims are processed. In twelve years, I have not seen one Catastrophe that did not have hick-ups at the beginning of the storm, regardless of whom the Cat Company is. I've worked for what I consider one of the absolute best, exclusively, for the past twelve years, only when there is a Catastrophe. The hick-ups most always get straightened out within the first few weeks of the event. There are times that the event or events of the storm season may be so huge, like last year with back to back hurricanes that all Insurance companies are scrambling to get aid and help to their Insureds in a timely manner, as required by the State in which they write their policies in.
So when I run across a report like this, it is hard not to rebut the report with what I believe the truth is. We all know that there are a large amount of Temporary Employee's that just do not get it. Temporary has only one meaning. Do I need to post the actual definition of this word? I should not have too but I will anyway.
tem·po·rar·y ËtempÉËrerÄ/ adjective 1. lasting for only a limited period of time; not permanent. "a temporary job" synonyms: nonpermanent, short-term, interim; provisional, pro tem, makeshift, stopgap; acting, fill-in, stand-in, caretaker "temporary accommodations" brief, short-lived, momentary, fleeting, passing "a temporary loss of self-control" noun a person employed on a temporary basis, typically an office worker who finds employment through an agency. So when a Temporary Employee writes a review and accuses a Company of ripping them off and terminating their assignment with Wrongful Termination, prompts me to write rebuttals like this. Releasing Temporary Employees is what Companies do when their needs have been met. If anyone thinks that one of these Cat Companies is actually in control of this needs a better understanding of this industry. The Carriers (Insurance Companies) dictate budgets, not the actual Cat Company. As the needs for massive amounts of Temporary Employees go down, naturally, the Insurance Carrier is going to tell the Cat Company to start reducing the staff. This has to be done because everyone knows this is the Business Model that Temp Companies follow. The big question here is this: Why in the world would a Company keep Temporary Employees when the need is no longer there. They are going to weed out the weaker of the Staff and only keep the strongest Temporary Workers which will eventually be dismissed as well, once all of the needs are met and the regular staff can assume the rest of the responsibilities needed by the Carrier they are performing claims for. So to site and call out a particular company and or a Particular Manager that is charged with running the operations of that Company, for wrongful termination is just not right. Saying that John Shipman, and I am pasting the quote from the report, made a lot of enemies, is not an accurate accusation. (Posted Quote: John Shipman will butter you up really good and as soon as you turn your back he will backstab you quickly. John Shipman has made a lot of enemies.) Let's look at it another way. Does anyone think that John does not answer to upper Management? Of course, he does and must do what he is asked to do. So if it is cutting staff, getting rid of slack Adjusters or simply reducing Temporary Employees due to budget restraints is actually very accurate. I witnessed, having worked TEMPORARILY with OCC all of these tasks in action. When I arrived at OCC, there were so many Adjusters that just could not hack the work, hours and demand and would not communicate with the office or Supervisors, naturally had to be the first to be dismissed. I've witnessed these actions with every Company that I have ever worked for. It's just the nature of the beast! You have a job to do, are paid very well to do it accurately and quickly. I saw Adjusters that did so many scopes (Assessed the damage) and never even uploaded the information so the claim could be processed and paid. OCC is accused of not paying their Adjusters and that is just not the case. Having been a Business Owner myself, several times, I fully understand the process. So if you are not performing your job to the standards that you are charged with upholding, of course, you are not going to be paid. How can you be paid for something that the Company does not know that you have completed? Psyche 101 tells you that when an employee, whether Temporary or Permanente is terminated, regardless of the reason, their emotions are running high and that Employee generally makes the Termination about themselves and fails to look at their failures and performance instead of looking at the Company and what they have to do to stay in the good graces of the carrier they are working for. When I was dismissed, or should I say that my position was reduced from the other Company that I have worked with for 12+ years, I was a bit bummed out but that did not prompt me to go out into the internet world and accuse them of wrongful termination. I was in the first group of Adjusters dismissed and like I said, I was bummed. The emotional part of my brain wanted to make it about me but I would not allow it. Instead, I went to my Team Lead before I left and asked Her what I could do performance wise, to ensure that I would be asked to stay longer, next time I was on assignment. I received those answers, discussed my shortcomings and you better bet that the few criticisms that She had, will not have to be addressed again. That is because, even at my age, I am still and always, until my last breath, will remain "Teachable". The difference was that I knew that going into the assignment, that you are judged on your performance. So why get emotional. When you do that, the Company you are working with sees that and that is generally what keeps you from being asked to return in the event that there is another Catastrophe. This is not correct for all Temporary Workers but for most. So after writing my book here, because I am seriously passionate about People using emotion, instead of actual facts to vent causes me to feel the need to rebut their complaint. The majority of the Staff that I worked with at OCC were awesome. John Shipman is an upstanding Manager and Human. He genuinely cares about People. The things that People do not like about him, in my opinion, is that he has a job to do and leaves out the emotion that most Humans are looking for from a Boss/Manager. He is a matter-a-fact type of Guy that has no time for general BS. He has a job to do, bottom line. Do your job correctly and you won't even hear from him. Those that can truly remove the emotion in a situation are the ones that successfully run the operations of a company and are able to fix problems and change the things that cause those problems. I would be lying if I said everyone was, but the ones that I worked with were pretty darn good and the production that we accomplished in the short time that I was there was nothing short of phenomenal. Was it stressful? Of course, it was! It's a Catastrophe! Generally, they are Horrific. But every one of us knew the assignment was Temporary except for a few staff positions that may have been available. Personally, I like and enjoy the Temporary world because it gives me more control of my actual life. In this Industry, you have to be a certain type of person to be successful. You MUST follow direction accurately and Must act quickly due to the fact that your Customer, which you are in charge of restoring their livelihood to their status before the Catastrophic Event occurred, needs there life back. If you cannot complete that task, keep in contact with the Customer to advise them of what the next step is in the claim process and see to it that you have done your tasks to get them to the next step in the claim process, just makes you ultimately look bad and does substantial harm to the Insurance Carrier. That harm to the Carrier for slack Employees, whether Temporary or not, hurts everyone in the process. The Carriers main focus is meeting the needs of their Customers and they generally do whatever it takes to accomplish those needs and restore the Customer's lives back to normal. There are always setbacks, some worse than others and unfortunately, those setbacks happen to People that are trying to pull one over on the Insurance Company. I've seen it a thousand times. So my general advise to is find out all of the information when you apply for these positions and always get the information and questions answered in advance. This will avoid any emotional imbalance when your position is reduced or ended. If you are NOT the Person that you need to be to be successful in this industry as I described above, please, save us all from the damage you'll create and just stay out of the Industry. Each person involved while there is a National Catastrophe is affected by others work ethics and performance, especially those that are generally slack. Have a nice day all and I hope that I was able to shed some light on the Temporary Employee world. PS: To the Author of this post, I did not single you out personally with my opinions although I do not agree with them. My opinions were written here to explain the process and hopefully shed some light on the industry. I am not discounting your experience, which may have been different than most, but my opinions are based on large numbers, feedback and research in the industry as a whole.