I applied to do locum tenens (temporary medical coverage) with Staffcare. 18 months later they told me I was hired to do 4 months work in South Carolina, and I went there, took the required update of my Advanced Cardiac Life Support card. I was on-site, ready to work on Nov. 1, the starting day they requested. On arrival there, I was told by Mr. Jeff Jewell that they needed to know how much the payout was on an old malpractice claim that was made. It was made over 15 years earlier, never went to court, and the insurance company settled it rather than fight it because it would be cheaper. The settlement was for $65,000. I was a co-defendant in the case, but the total payout was not apportioned, just a lump sum settlement. Because the amount to me could not be stated to be "less than or equal to $10,000" Staffcare said they could NOT hire me. It was their insurance company, Phoenix, that they blamed.
Despite having my application on file for 18 months, apparently some lackey there at Staffcare did not do his job in vetting my application. I still have a recording of Becca Andrus, one of their recruiters congratulating me on getting the job, from my answering machine, recorded on tape for file.
I took this job because they offered it to me, and because they were also able to place my wife at the same facility. She did work for them, and I had already turned down another offer. Being on the worksite in South Carolina, to work for the Veteran's Administration in their hospital, I offered to purchase my own malpractice insurance. The VA hospital was agreeable to this until Jeff Jewell found out what I had offered, and suddenly the hospital told me that I would NOT be able to work there. Despite the dire need for medical practitioners in the VA system, brought to a head by the Iraq war and the huge numbers of returning veterans with long term injury, the VA caved in to the demand by StaffCare that they had a contract to provide temporary help, even though the government can NOT be held to a non-competition clause in a legal contract.
I lost 4 months of work, and the cost of housing was not reimbursed at the agreed amount, costing us more money.
This company is unethical, lazy, and should not be allowed to have government contracts.By denying me the right to work at the VA, they crossed the line of ethics. I billed them for my lost time, and was basically blown off.
STAFFCARE is not a good company to work for. Physicians and Physician Assistants should not be treated this way. If I was acceptable to work for the VA despite a previous malpractice settlement out of court (not my choice, would rather have defended my innocence) then the STAFFCARE should have allowed me to buy my own malpractice insurance as a way around this. They stalled me two weeks, then another person was in place working the job they contracted with me.
Basically they are not a good employer.
I would sign my name and it is not allowed here and they can figure it out from the town and first name anyway.
Bob
Out-west, Colorado
U.S.A.
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