I was offered a temporary job by this company because they saw my resume in the employment security's job bank (Worksource). The job was NOT in my field of expertice, paid too low and was not in the city I was looking for (an hour's drive away!) I declined the offer.
Immediately after, Employment Security mailed me a notice that they want to review my job search logs.
At first I thought this was routine. I've been unemployed for almost 3 months and have never been on unemployment before. I've been keeping my logs accurately and truthfully and will, of course, show them at the meeting.
HOWEVER, I happened to attend a job workshop at the unemployment office and was told a story by one of their instructors that, not too long ago, a "certain company" had offered a woman a housecleaning job (when she was not looking for that type of job) and when she refused it, she was "called in" to employment security to show her job search logs, which caused her to panic, thinking she was getting her benefits denied, which she then told the instructor. The instructor said that there are a few "bad companies" like this in the system that she refuses to deal with and assured the woman she would not be penalized for rejecting a job that was not even in her skill level. This started to ring a bell for me...
The instructor confirmed to me during break that Express Personnel was one of these "certain companies"!
I have VERY good reason to believe that Express Personnel (at least the Everett branch and maybe Mount Vernon too) REPORTS declined job offers (no matter if it's something you're actually interested in!) to the unemployment office which then prompts them to "investigate" your job logs to see if you're actually looking for work!
This is ABSOLUTELY inappropriate! I had very good reasons for turning down their job offer. I am not experienced in Family Law and will not make myself personally liable as a temp (since I have no malpractice insurance) in a Family Law office!
How DARE they try to get my benefits denied! I am barely scraping by on unemployment and I'm not about to take a temporary one-week job for a piddly wage that's even less than what unemployment gives me! I have every intention of getting the job I'M LOOKING FOR, and I'm educating myself at these workshops, but now I've got to go waste my and the government's time and money on looking at these stupid logs. (Being a paralegal, I have researched the state laws and there is nothing in there that says employment agencies are required to report this information to the unemployment office!)
This is an entirely unfair business practice and I urge anyone who has had a similar experience with this or any other employment agency to contact the Better Business Bureau and the Attorney General's Office (and this website too!)
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