Complaint Review: Securitas Security Services U.S.A. - Marion Illinois

I worked at the Procter and Gamble site in Cape Girardeau Missouri, for the Marion Illinois branch of Securitas Security Services. I started November 1st 2006 and was transferred off of the site on May 27th 2007. I am a type 1 diabetic (I have an insulin pump), I progressed up through shift supervisor and ended up being given a position that was only used at that site, I was made a staff sergeant and my duties were to aid supervisors with duties, audit security, and audit guard performance. The site supervisor was Erin Jackson and the P&G contact was Jason Kramer, Erin had been my shift sergeant and when Steve Farrow left she became the "captain".

When they came to me about this position, they stated they were offering it to me because they trusted me and I was the only supervisor they felt capable to do the job. After getting the new title I was sent to day shift to be trained ofr three days, although they did NOT train me to do anything, instead I was assigned to complete tasks assigned to the site Lieutenant, Edward Todd. After this training I begin working half and half evening and midnight shift to audit and assist both shifts, then in the afternoon before I was supposed to go in I received a call from Korey Best, the branch manager in Marion, IL. He stated that he needed me to go to SEMO milling, a site about 40 min south of P&G to be the new lieutenant there, although there was no pay increase with the promotion. I stated I did not wish to accept the promotion and that I was happy where I was at. He basically told me that if I didn't go there I would be terminated and refused to let me stay where I was, that night I reported to SEMO milling for orientation and found that there was no staff present during the times I would be working. As a type 1 diabetic on a pump I have incidences of hypoglycemia and if it occurs at work with nobody around I could die or go into a diabetic coma.

After seeing the site and getting all of this information I called Sara the Human Resource manager at Marion, IL. I explained the situation to her and she told me to get a doctors letter and fax it to her and she'd try to get the problem taken care of, so that afternoon my doctor drafted a letter and I faxed it to them. Approximatley and hour later she called me and stated they couldn't let me work there but they had no openings at the two sites near me (P&G and NARS), I knew this to be false as I stay in touch with several people I worked with on site. At the time I was forced out evening shift was 2 guards short, midnight shift was 4 short, and my position as staff sergeant was short (My old position was finally filled as of June 28th, 2007). I went as far as to offer to be demoted to Security officer in order to return to working at P&G. Normally a promotion that is refused doesn't result in hassle like this, especially when I have a justified issue, at the P&G site there was a medical response team, and many employees (if something happened there was help there, unlike SEMO Milling). Sara also stated Korey was "disappointed" with me and I had "let him down" although I had done lil more than explain my situation to them and I had been doing an outstanding job no less than 2 weeks prior to this sudden and unannounced "promotion" that included no extra pay and was unsafe for me to take anyway.

The next day I called Sara again, Korey would not even accept my calls, and she stated that they couldn't place me anywhere (yet another bold face lie) and that they'd call me if a spot opened up (Even though they were understaffed and had no replacement for my spot at P&G). The next day I talked to her again, she told me that I am on the "backburner", I asked her what that meant since it is NOT a legal term, she said "It means you're on the backburmner and aren't working anywhere", I explained to her that is not legal and she has to fire me, suspend me, or pay me until reassigning me because "backburner" is not an official term and this is highly illegal. She told me that she could do it and hung up. It's now almost a month and a half later and they have never once called me, fired me, or sent me anything in writing as to my status. They will not allow me to return to P&G and I found out through people on site that Erin requested that I be transferred, she had a history of transferring and firing people she did not like or something personal.

When she was my shift sergeant she was known to use marijuana and alcohol on site, anyone who reported it was retaliated on because the site manager before her, Steve Farrow, would tell her who told him what about her and then she wrote them up or made them miserable until they were gone, others simply quit because of how she treated and managed people on site. This got drastically worse when she was promoted. There was also evidence of her having inappropriate sexual relationships with employees from both securitas and P&G. While working as sergeant she frequently left her radio turned off and during several fires she was not reachable, when she did show up she would write-up or some times threaten to write up the guards at the desk responsible for dispatching her and the fire teams, although you cannot dispatch someone with a radio switched off. She never conducted post checks or even talked to the guards, other than 2. One of them was a female that was a known drug dealer in cape county, the other was a male she knew from college. She also milked the payroll, giving herself and others hours they did not work, in one instance she gave 8 hour shift pay to the female friend of hers that did not come in and did not call in, which is normally a termination type offense according to the handbook.

A little background on me, so that you know I am not just some nut whose mad about losing his job, honestly they did me a favor in some respects. I worked there basically 7 months and some change, I missed 3 days total, and was NEVER late for a shift, I typically got there at 3:35 or 3:40pm for my 4pm shift. The 3 days I missed were as follows, One day was due to a hypoglycemic event in which the paramedics responded to my home and advised me not to go anywhere for 24 hours and monitor my sugar. The other two days were due to a sinus infection, which I had a doctors note for. The EMS call I brought them a 5 page sheet the ambulance service gave me that told them exactly what happened and had the date and time as well. I was never written up or in any other way disciplined while working there, I worked as a security officer, a backup shift sergeant, and then skipped over shift sergeant to being staff sergeant.

There was more corruption than you could imagine, the P&G contact named Jason Kramer fraternized with both Steve and Erin, although his job was to be an unbiased monitor and manager of security operations for P&G. On several occasions he discussed things in front of sergeants about having the guard shacks bugged with audio/video equipment so that he and Erin could find out who liked them and who didn't like them. The promoted a day shift supervisor named michelle McCarter to master sergant (another newly created rank) and her duty was to train all the incoming guards, I actually reported several instances where she had not trained new guards that I had audited on specific emergency procedures and as a result I somehow ended up transferred and she continues to train people improperly. Although Securitas states you must not have any write ups within 90 days and you must have a high school diploma to be a supervisor, there are two on site that do not meet the criteria. Sgt. Brown failed her GED test recently and she is the primary sergeant on dayshift. Sgt. Johnson has 2 write ups and he also has several absentees and he is the backup dayshift sergeant. The lieutenant is actually "slow" and he is paid 15 dollars per hour, he does not perform any specific duties and when he is on site he sites at the sgt. shack and either eats or reads or talks on his phone. He has caused several major incidents because he has no idea what any of the procedures are, he did not respond to a medical assist and another instance a bird was in the plant, he did not tell anyone and he did not escort maintenace when they went to shoot it with the air rifle. This caused a panic and hysteria because nobody knew what was going on, security was supposed to escort them anytime they used the pest control rifle.

The branch manager Korey Best allows Erin Jackson to continue her corrupt behavior and it has come to the point where they are going to probably lose thier contract, the others I named aid this situation and they messed me over like they have countless others, this company is a joke.

Wraith

disenfranchisedville, Missouri

U.S.A.