I was the only night support staff person for an 80 attorney and 150 staff growing law firm. I processed all kinds of documents without any complaints or noted missed deadlines in the entire two years I had worked there. I also did the faxing late at night, messenger deliveries. They added an entire floor since I had started in the large tower buildings. They claimed they were going to hire a secretary to help in the evening, but never did.
I worked overtime whenever it was asked, including the weekend. I always stayed late, working 65 hours of O/T in small increments throughout the year. I came to work with a severe allergic reaction I obtained while working there on the weekend. I came to work with bronchitis. I was a total of 6 minutes late all year, and took very few sick days. I always clocked out on the minute my shift ended and not before, other than twice for a total of 10 minutes.
My supervisor lost her secretary a few months ago. Since she had a secretary, I had withdrawn from working so much with her since my workload was taking off at night. When her secretary, Ms. Bravo, cut and run for Los Angeles, this supervisor wanted me to be a secretary to her at night. I told this lady that my workload was growing in intensity, and instead of addressing my growing workload I described at times were insane, she suggested doing clerical tasks in her office during my down times. I was exhausted. I didn't feel I had the energy to be her secretary on top of supporting the attorneys and staff.
I got along well with all the attorneys and most of the staff. I worked well with most everyone. Ms. Wulff wanted a secretary there at night. She didn't want a highly advanced document processor who had to concentrate soley on attorney's work and not her own. I told H.R. That this lady wanted to phase out my position so she could get secretarial support there at night. H.R. Claimed there was no plan to phase out my position and emphasized the importance of doing clerical work. They never hired the evening secretary they claimed they were going to hire since the previous year.
Ms. Wulff treated my highly advanced skills and 8 years of experience in processing all kinds of legal and technical documents with contempt. She believed anyone could do the nature of the work I did and on the level I did, under the title of secretary. She was mistaken. Ms. Wulff did not really care about the quality of work or support I gave to attorneys, but only herself and her immediate needs. Ms. Wulff's office sign stated "It's all about me" which was true. Ms. Wulff resorted to lying that I was being insubordinate with her shortly after I complained to H.R. About her growing demeaning, militant tone.
After setting me up twice with little deadline window, changing her tone to that of demanding and militant, I went to H.R. To present my case Ms. Wulff was changing her attitude towards me because she wanted a secretary to perform clerical tasks for her. Ms. Wulff orchestrated set-ups for me which made her feel in control, such as calling me up to argue with me on the phone about my vacation request, prompting someone nearby to complain about overhearing my conversation.
Ms. Wulff finally provoked me with a humiliating maneuver, of lowering my position to that below notaries in the office guide I maintained for her weekly. She had asked me to lower my position to that below notaries. I responded with an e-mail that I could no longer work overtime on the weekends for the Firm and that she should not even bother to ask. I was exhausted, my health was being affected.
Without warning I was fired, without severance and prior to my 2 year wait to receive 401K contributions. Shortly after I was fired, they placed an order on Craigs List for an evening floater/legal secretary to take my position of "Technical Document Specialist" confirming what I knew that this supervisor wanted a secretary to support her in her office with clerical tasks. The day shift TDS was not required to work overtime as I was, nor was he supervised at all having far less work productivity.
Summary: The Kirkland & Ells management team in San Francisco has too much centralized power from the Director of Administration who makes sure the H.R. Manager position is empty, or only filled with a contract interim manager. Ms. Recht asked the last H.R. Manager to resign in order to maintain an unhealthy power grab there.
The power in management at this very large law firm in San Francisco is centralized into only two people, Corki Recht and the secretarial support manager, Audrey Wulff. Ms. Wulff has no previous experience in management, being a former IT trainer having evolved from an entry level Help Desk at a previous law firm. My experience with Ms. Wulff was that she lied to get her way and was strictly political in nature. These two managers are really into power and intimidation and put the needs of the attorneys below themselves. They could really care less if the attorneys have to do there own work most of the time because many of their secretaries cannot perform advanced high quality document production they are in denial about.
I was fired without warning, without severance, after 2 years of overtime fulfillment never turning it down when it was needed, while my day counterpart rarely worked overtime and went unsupervised. I worked up until November for a significantly larger law firm then when I started. With 50% higher work production, I lost the two bonuses and raise I had earned in 2006 for my efforts after being terminated as an "at-will" employee.in other words, I was ripped off of: 401K matching contributions for two bonsues I earned amounting to $4,000 total, and a 3% raise based on my higher production with no complaints for my work or missed deadlines. I WAS TOTALLY RIPPED OFF!
I was told my supervisor wanted a "strong" relationship with me by the interim H.R. Manager. These two women in management at the Kirkland & Ellis office were power hungry crazy making management amateurs.
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