Question about comity?

[jmbeck]

Okay, my situation is this.

When I signed up to take the exam, I was working for company A. Company A provided for 1 year of experience, as well as three of my references.

Since this time, I have left company A. I turned in my two week notice, and was immediately bombarded with more work than normal. It was around the 4th of July. I worked the 4th, trying to get everything done, which I did. On top of this, we got into a problem about PTO. In the time that I started, they decided that only 50% of PTO would be payed upon leaving (since PTO included all leave, including sick time, and sick time shouldn't be compensated) and only if my supervisor deemed my work as satisfactory, as well as my signing of a legal release form (that I won't sue). Oh, and they piled another project on me on Thursday afternoon, to be completed my Monday at noon, which would have required my entire weekend. Mind you, I had not worked a weekend or holiday in my year of service prior to this.

Long story short, I left that Friday without working out my notice. I received a letter in the mail claiming that they would grudgingly pay 50% of my PTO, but that my conduct was "unbecoming to a professional". However, a month later I received an email with a photo of my ASHRAE membership card that was sent to them. They had ripped it up and wrote "thanks for using our bonus for your membership" or something to that effect. Obviously, leaving was the best thing I could ever do.

Here is my problem. In seeking comity from other states, how do I get around this? Either they will give a negative verification, or not respond at all. Am I better off just waiting until I have the four years without them, and simply not send them a verification? Will the lapse in time raise questions as to my experience?

Any ideas/insight will be helpful.

 

[kevo_55]

If it were me, I'd wait until you have more experience.

Company A sounds like they would stalk you!!

 

[nperr]

Okay, my situation is this.
When I signed up to take the exam, I was working for company A. Company A provided for 1 year of experience, as well as three of my references.

Since this time, I have left company A. I turned in my two week notice, and was immediately bombarded with more work than normal. It was around the 4th of July. I worked the 4th, trying to get everything done, which I did. On top of this, we got into a problem about PTO. In the time that I started, they decided that only 50% of PTO would be payed upon leaving (since PTO included all leave, including sick time, and sick time shouldn't be compensated) and only if my supervisor deemed my work as satisfactory, as well as my signing of a legal release form (that I won't sue). Oh, and they piled another project on me on Thursday afternoon, to be completed my Monday at noon, which would have required my entire weekend. Mind you, I had not worked a weekend or holiday in my year of service prior to this.

Long story short, I left that Friday without working out my notice. I received a letter in the mail claiming that they would grudgingly pay 50% of my PTO, but that my conduct was "unbecoming to a professional". However, a month later I received an email with a photo of my ASHRAE membership card that was sent to them. They had ripped it up and wrote "thanks for using our bonus for your membership" or something to that effect. Obviously, leaving was the best thing I could ever do.

Here is my problem. In seeking comity from other states, how do I get around this? Either they will give a negative verification, or not respond at all. Am I better off just waiting until I have the four years without them, and simply not send them a verification? Will the lapse in time raise questions as to my experience?

Any ideas/insight will be helpful.

Have you contacted your state labor department. If you earned those PTo, legally they have to give them to you. They cannot give you half......

 

[KEG]

Sounds like you made a good move. If you have one friend or at least someone you know you can trust to do the right thing, use them for the verification. Otherwise, I'd wait.

 

[mudpuppy]

Have you contacted your state labor department. If you earned those PTo, legally they have to give them to you. They cannot give you half......

This is not necessarily true. A former co-worker of mine was extremely upset when the company said they would not pay for his vacation after he gave his notice, but he was never able to come up with any law that required the company to do so.

Also see this article. It appears it varys by state.

 

[niffur]

It sounds like you let short timer syndrome get the best of you. Never burn bridges, I say. The email with the ripped up membership card was certainly over the line.

 

[fmullner]

Wow. First of all, be thankful that you got out of there when you did. It sounds like Company A has some ethical issues they need to work through.

As for reciprocity, this might not be a big deal after all. I'm working on reciprocity in Pennsylvania and I checked the NCEES record requirements. You need to list your experience, but there's nothing that requires you to list anyone at Company A as a reference. I think what you can do is pick people who you know will give you good references (regardless of where they're from) and make sure you describe your experience at Company A in the most factual and objective terms possible. That way if Company A should be contacted, then there is very little for them to argue about.

Also remember that as you progress in your career, these incidents mean less and less. I dropped out of graduate school ten years ago and thought that would be an albatross around my neck for a long time. It was only a few years before employers didn't even notice the time gap on my resume.

I'd say go seek reciprocity wherever you need to and not worry about what these jerks might do. But I would hold on to that email...

 

[Guest]

jmbeck --

That is a pretty screwed up experience! I think some employers can become retalitory when you leave - my wife just experienced the same thing over the weekend between Christmas and New Years. She gave notice over the holidays (during her probationary period) and agreed to work through the holidays to ensure her agency wouldn't be short staffed. She called me in tears Friday night because she was only supposed to be on call for the weekend but they had a FULL schedule of work for both Saturday and Sunday with extra assignments (more than normal) for Monday (her last day). I told her to finish out her current assignments and call the director and tell her you are NOT accepting any new assignments because the extra work appears to be in RETALIATION for her notice to leave.

Good thing you got out - you don't want to work for assholes like that!

As far as experience, I am working on my NCEES Record for comity. At my very first job, my supervisor is long gone much less anyone who would even remotely know me. I called the NCEES Record Application office and they told me as long as I could get someone to basically confirm my dates of employment that was all they really needed. If you have a way to submit this request directly to someone at Human Resources and ask them to confirm your dates of employment, perhaps you can get out of any confrontational issues. If you are afraid that someone may intercept this request and place a negative response, then I would talk to the NCEES folks and let them know the situation. As long as they know you are only confirming experience and not using them as a professional/personal reference it should be okay.

Good luck!

JR

 

[Stud]

jmbeck --
That is a pretty screwed up experience! I think some employers can become retalitory when you leave - my wife just experienced the same thing over the weekend between Christmas and New Years. She gave notice over the holidays (during her probationary period) and agreed to work through the holidays to ensure her agency wouldn't be short staffed. She called me in tears Friday night because she was only supposed to be on call for the weekend but they had a FULL schedule of work for both Saturday and Sunday with extra assignments (more than normal) for Monday (her last day). I told her to finish out her current assignments and call the director and tell her you are NOT accepting any new assignments because the extra work appears to be in RETALIATION for her notice to leave.

Good thing you got out - you don't want to work for assholes like that!

As far as experience, I am working on my NCEES Record for comity. At my very first job, my supervisor is long gone much less anyone who would even remotely know me. I called the NCEES Record Application office and they told me as long as I could get someone to basically confirm my dates of employment that was all they really needed. If you have a way to submit this request directly to someone at Human Resources and ask them to confirm your dates of employment, perhaps you can get out of any confrontational issues. If you are afraid that someone may intercept this request and place a negative response, then I would talk to the NCEES folks and let them know the situation. As long as they know you are only confirming experience and not using them as a professional/personal reference it should be okay.

Good luck!

JR

Agree with the last paragraph. All you're asking for is documentation of work experience, not personality experience.

As far as your "gap", I just took the PE last Oct after being out of engineering for 6 years, so that's not a problem.

Regarding PTO, I think the laws vary by state, but in CA, you're required to be compensated for your PTO at 100% of your straight time hourly wage. Never heard or experienced anything other than that.

In the future, be more selective as to who you work for. I highly doubt you didn't notice some clues about the company's hostile environment during the interview or when just starting out with them. They're usually subtle, but NOTICEABLE. Next time when something like this happens (and it probably will), cut your losses early and move on. Forget about trying to change their attitudes because it won't happen and that's not your responsibility. Hope this helps and good luck!!!

 

[jmbeck]

To everyone who has commented, thank you for your thoughts. It is refreshing to know that this one incident won't harm me as much as I had feared.

To those of you who feel that I acted foolishly and stated so in your post, thank you as well. I recognize the fact that I may not have handled things perfectly. I also understand there are always two sides to every story. In hindsight, maybe I should have simply busted my butt and gotten that work done and sacrificed my weekend. Regardless, and without an attempt to justify my actions, that is not the path I chose. I need the critical comments to allow myself to step back and look at the situation objectively. I am certain this experience is something I'll need to explain to someone in at least the near future, and knowing all the views that people will take to the situation helps me.

So, once again, to all that has contributed to this thread, thank you.

 

[ALBin517]

Okay, my situation is this.
When I signed up to take the exam, I was working for company A. Company A provided for 1 year of experience, as well as three of my references.

Since this time, I have left company A. I turned in my two week notice, and was immediately bombarded with more work than normal. It was around the 4th of July. I worked the 4th, trying to get everything done, which I did. On top of this, we got into a problem about PTO. In the time that I started, they decided that only 50% of PTO would be payed upon leaving (since PTO included all leave, including sick time, and sick time shouldn't be compensated) and only if my supervisor deemed my work as satisfactory, as well as my signing of a legal release form (that I won't sue). Oh, and they piled another project on me on Thursday afternoon, to be completed my Monday at noon, which would have required my entire weekend. Mind you, I had not worked a weekend or holiday in my year of service prior to this.

Long story short, I left that Friday without working out my notice. I received a letter in the mail claiming that they would grudgingly pay 50% of my PTO, but that my conduct was "unbecoming to a professional". However, a month later I received an email with a photo of my ASHRAE membership card that was sent to them. They had ripped it up and wrote "thanks for using our bonus for your membership" or something to that effect. Obviously, leaving was the best thing I could ever do.

Here is my problem. In seeking comity from other states, how do I get around this? Either they will give a negative verification, or not respond at all. Am I better off just waiting until I have the four years without them, and simply not send them a verification? Will the lapse in time raise questions as to my experience?

Any ideas/insight will be helpful.

I do not have time to read all the responses but:

I would use other PEs to confirm my work experience at Company A. You must have had professional contact with PEs outside Company A while you worked there. Or maybe PEs you worked with at Company A have also left.

And I would contact ASHRAE and ask for a replacement membership card. Your dues are paid, after all.