Hi Kossacks! I was hoping someone would know which government agencies to whom I should report a medical staffing agency which has "lost" my personnel file, including my social security number, drivers license number, nursing license number, and birth date. They also now have my bank routing number. If you are interested in the vagaries of my pre-employment adventure as a potential flu clinic nurse, feel free to read below the fold. I am posting this because I think there are some smart people involved with Kos who will know the best answer off the top of their heads and also because I think people might be interested in a painfully fresh perspective on getting a job right now, right here in America.
I figure someone in the Kos community would know who I can report lost personnel records to. I am a Registered Nurse, at home the last six years with my daughter. I had previously been a cardiac nurse, but I thought the best way to get back into the field would be to start low-key by providing flu vaccinations with a nationally recognized staffing agency that runs flu immunization clinics. The company my husband works for has a big flu clinic every year and I thought that would be a good place to start. Back in late July, I contacted the agency that runs the flu clinic, explained what I was interested in doing and the person who handled these clinics was nice and supportive and said it would be very easy for me to get on board with them and work those clinics. So Over the course of the following few weeks I filled out all their paperwork, provided copies of my drivers license, nursing license, social security number, and my birth certificate. At my own expense, I obtained health provider CPR. I also went through six hours of online training specific to their company policies and procedures, and attended an additional 3 1/2 hours of in-house training. This, of course, in addition to reading up on literature related to flu vaccinations, on my own, because that's what I feel a professional nurse should do.
Here's what my experience was with this agency. At least two points in this process, there was a bit of a flurry in the office in attempts to locate my file. At least once they found it, maybe twice, I am not sure at this point. The third time, however, they told me I would need to fill out all of application info again. OK, I have worked with records, they can be pesky things that get misplaced once in a while. I hate to be hard on people for this. Looking back however, there were other signs that perhaps this organization wasn't what I would like to be a part of.
I went to this agency specifically to work the flu clinic at the company my husband works at. Even though the person I talked to initially said it would be no problem to work the clinic that I wanted, the "human resource" person laughed when I told her which clinic I wanted to work at, saying, "only the nurses that have worked for years with us in the past get the "good" clinics like that one". Potential misleading recruitment information at worst, disparaging demoralizing comment at best. First red flag. Still I persevered, Continueing to do all the things they said I needed to do in order to work those clinics. At this point I needed to get CPR recertification and do 6 hours of on-line orientation which I banged out in a day. So I made it to the next level, "on boarding", aka in-house orientation. For which I would be paid minimum wage. Huzzah.
During the in-house orientation, at the outset, they could not locate my file. Nevertheless, I attended, passed their flu clinic tests, and filled out more paperwork, including w-2 forms and bank routing info. Here's where the next red flag comes. First, understand that nursing is by nature a job where people routinely work full 8 to 12 hours shifts and often do not get lunches or breaks. Often, nurses have to provide their own office supplies because the places they are sent to are not reliable in terms of providing things we need to use. What I wasn't prepared for was the following. One of the things the clinical nurse that oriented us told us was that if we were transporting used needles from the flu clinics we worked at in our personal cars, which was a routine job-related activity, and since there wasn't a designated vehicle for this it was probably the only way these were being transported, apparently, and if we happened to get into a car accident during this process, the first thing we needed to do was not make sure we were unharmed, the car was in a safe spot, the authorities were alerted, but rather to call the staffing agency and have them retrieve the used needles. This is because if Hazmat had to come out and collect and destroy them, there would be a large fine for which we would be held personally liable. Shifting risk from the company to the employees coupled with a pretty cold attitude toward the well being of their employees, I must add. Red flag number two.
Here I am starting to realize employment is not what it used to be, even for the somewhat low bar of being a nurse. But being the brave and diligent nurse that I am I soldiered on and presented myself the following Wednesday for a TB Skin test. TB skin tests are standard for in-coming health care workers to have done in the hospitals I have worked at in the past. Here at the agency, however, at least two people questioned whether I "needed" to have it done, after asking if I had brought in verification that it was in fact, done. After I explained, not for the first time, that it had been six years since I had one, they decided to give me the skin test and of course I would need to come back in two days to have the spot assessed. Which is standard. Meanwhile, the clinical nursing person sternly tells me, as I adjust the cotton ball over the slightly bleeding TB skin test site, is if I don't come back in two days to have the test read, I will have to pay for the test out of pocket. I wonder to myself what would give this person the impression that I would not follow up in this area. Its pretty clear to me that this agency wants to spend as little money on the people they hire to work for them as possible. I realize this is cost driven to some degree, but I had given no indication that I wouldn't follow through and have the skin test read in two days time, and I felt it was kind of insulting and demeaning. So I view this as red flag number three. On my way out the door, they mention that my file has been mis-placed and ask if I took it home with me. Friday comes, I present myself for my skin test to be read and my badge picture to be taken, but the person to take the picture is out of the office, so I would need to come back, yet again, on Monday. A 12 mile trip one way. And as I am leaving, they say, we are still looking for your file.
So it was rather a road just getting to the point Monday morning where the only thing from my perspective standing between me and working these clinics was to get my picture taken for my badge. As I am getting ready to go in for my badge picture, ring ring, here's the staffing agency on the line saying they still can't locate my file (third time? Fourth? I am losing count now), and I would have to go back in and fill out the application again. My personnel file with all my identity theft prone information in it is now, apparently, well and truly lost.
OK. Its been a long time since I applied for a job, and I did the best I could to be as ready as possible to work in this capacity. After conferring with my husband and friends, I decided to decline giving out my personal information a second time. I did tell them that when they found my personnel file they should contact me, but after thinking over my experiences as a whole, I am inclined to think my involvement will be limited at this point. If at all. I thought that by declining to give them the "easy out" and insisting they find my file, that they would actually find my file, but I am now thinking this will not be the case. I am uncertain whether I will get paid for the 9 hours total orientation I participated in. My husband questions, given how things have played out, whether I would be paid properly after actually working some clinics for them. On the bright side, my references have checked out good, my background check was good, and I am negative for TB. I also know a whole lot more about the flu and am re-certified in CPR. I wonder if there hadn't been so many disturbing interactions aside from losing my file, if I would just buck up and do the paperwork again. But on the other hand, it is really disturbing to think about my very private identity theft prone info being mislaid.
So there is my pre-employment adventure as a flu shot clinic nurse. I hope it has been worth reading because after the whole experience I confess to feeling tremendously under valued as a professional and as a person. The big question now, however, and my question to the Kossack community is this: shouldn't this loss of personal information be reported somewhere? Identity theft risk aside it's pathetic that a staffing agency, whose main function is to screen potential candidates for employment should lose the product for which they are most responsible. This is a nationally known company. So I am asking you, the Kossack Community, what government agency do I report this loss of personal information to, in the hope that it might lower the chance of it happening again?