Shhh…. I have a secret

April 2013

In a nut shell…

Things have changed in the last several months. I no longer work for the For.Profit. YEAH! and Boo.

I started my own business with my besty and  started to take cases on our own. They discovered this a month later and fired me. Their reason that they told me was “conflict of interest”. What they told they employment department was “dishonesty”. I had to fight for unemployment benefits. Cost me almost as much as my benefits are worth. However, it was worth it to get them to admit that they were wrong in front of the judge.

Oh, and the reason they fired me… We were supposed to take a refresher course on holding techniques for minors. I was through the morning and at lunch, but I had an emergency and had to leave. I told the teacher and arranged to take the rest of the class the next month. My certification was still active for several months. Apparently, my boss didn’t like that. She tried to call MY PERSONAL phone. My message covered how to reach me if they were looking for either: Parenting classes, Guardian ad Litem, or supervised visitation. Also if they had any questions to check my website. NONE of which involved any of my work at the company. To be clear, I was not in competition with them in any way.

The next day, I was called into the office. I knew what was coming. I already had my work keys separated from my personal keys. They sat me down in the boss’s office and said basically, “We called your phone. Heard about your website. Looked at it. You are in direct competition with the company. You’re fired.”

I replied. “I only do supervised visitation that is court ordered for divorcing families. The company does not do that. Nor does the company do parenting classes or Guardian ad Litem. Which I paid for the training myself.” I dropped my keys on the desk. “I was supposed to take the crisis phone for the next month on Friday. I won’t be doing that and since there are only two of us qualified to do emergency placements, have fun with that. But to be clear, I am not directly competing with the company. I have done my job and I have been treated unfairly for the last year. So, while I am sad to leave the kids I have been working with, I am not at all sad to leave the company.”

I saw the panic when they realized I wasn’t kidding about the crisis phone. Especially when they checked that calendar and discovered the only other person qualified was on vacation starting Friday. Opps.

“Maybe we can work through this….”

“Nope, you fired me. I’m gone.” And I left the building. It felt good.

So I have been looking for a job since then. Unfortunately this area is  saturated with MSW’s due to the University’s program and all of the MSW candidates that are looking to do their practicum for free. So, despite the fact that I have experience, I am still looking for a job in my field.

Plus, I discovered that I had been ‘blackballed’. Something about being a whistle-blower. Whatever. The courts still hire me for the parenting classes and as a Guardian ad Litem. Pay is better, but the work is sometimes unsettling.