Filed a complaint yet was punished by my temp employer

I was marginalized and undermined at my temp job, and despite the support and understanding from the two account managers who deal with the client I worked for, the branch manager I met with was hostile with me.

Why is it, bad bosses are allowed to marginalize and scapegoat and mistreat their employees and not be held accountable for it? And the only one who suffers is the employee, who is the victim. It's just illogical.

The day before yesterday, I met with my supervisor at my temp job, and basically read down the list of things I experienced from him, his two coworkers and the other temp. He had no response and I took that to mean he didn't care. So, I let the two account managers know I didn't want to continue the assignment because of the toxic work culture. Great company but toxic work culture.

This article pretty much describes scenarios similar to what I endured at my temp job. Obviously, I can contact other temp agencies for work but it doesn't solve my immediate problem of no-income, which I wasn't planning for (who does).

Any advice? Can anyone relate? Has anyone been marginalized or scapegoated or manipulated by their supervisor or coworkers and had their job security threatened, or were fired? I could use some advice. Thanks.

**I already sought help from my county for rent assistance last month and was given it, as well as help from a non-profit for $500 towards my past due car payments (or I'd have my car repossessed). The unfortunate part, is that once you are given an amount from the non-profit agency, you have to wait 18 months to apply again for emergency financial assistance. I didn't know I was going to leave my temp job due to the toxic work culture but it happened. So, now what do I do?

Can you apply for unemployment?
I think managers allow certain people to get away with things because either the employee is related to someone important....no matter how far you have to stretch the relation, or someone owes a favor to somebody else and they overlook whatever they do just short of a serious criminal act (but they'd probably put up bail for them). It's sick if you ask me.

I can try to file for unemployment but in my state, the requirements to qualify is ridiculous. First, you have to provide a record of employment for the entire previous year, that includes your IRS Tax return so that the county office can see if your income from the past year meets their requirement for unemployment.

Then, if you do meet their income requirement from the previous year (they look at your gross income vs. what you netted), and you do qualify for unemployment, you have to do an interview in person with a county worker to explain why you're filing for unemployment.

Then the county will contact your former employer, get their side, and then decide whether or not to provide you with unemployment. This process can take up to two months or so to complete. So, it's not even realistically feasible for me to pursue. I could probably find another temp job within 2 months through another agency, or at least a retail or restaurant job.

I do agree with you that managers let certain employees get away with bad behavior, for whatever reason it is, but it does happen. I was definitely "forced" out of my temp job by the toxic work culture and behavior from my supervisor, the other temp, and the two full-time employees I had to work with.

The supervisor couldn't say I did a bad job, because I forwarded all of the tech writing I did to the two account managers and the complaint report to cover all of my bases. So, he tried insinuate to the temp agency branch manager (accord. to what she said to me today) that i started an argument with the other temp, which was a blatant lie because that's not even what happened -- the other temp yelled at me, and my response was to ask him not to yell at me, which isn't starting an argument, but is responding to being yelled at. It's all so ridiculous.

I can always post-pone my bills until next month (except for rent), go to food shelves (I still won't qualify for federal food stamps, again, because the county here looks at the past two months of your gross income, not at the fact that you aren't working when you apply for federal food stamps, so they can deny you. The federal income limit is something like $1200 so if you gross more than that a month, you don't qualify).

You can apply for emergency help from PC.

Thanks. I will do that.

I'm sorry that happened. Hope you find a better job with an employer that treats you better.

Thanks rdgrad. I'm going to contact other temp agencies and apply for more short-term jobs until I can find something full-time. My current concerns is how to come up with rent for September and pay my bills for this month.

I'm adding this article about how men marginalize women in the workplace because I think it's important (at least to me, since I experienced it).

Sexism in the Workplace: No Escape · Guardian Liberty Voice

"Another major strategy that men use to oppress women in the workplace is through wage inequality. Despite women’s best efforts to the contrary, women still make just 77 cents to every dollar men make. Often, men with fewer credentials and worse work performance make more base salary than their female counterparts."

The other male temp was paid more than I was, and I found this out by accident when he was chatting with someone in the breakroom.

"If women complain about any of these methods, they are viewed as “aggressive,” “impossible to work with,” and “abrasive,” among other descriptive terms that are rarely used to describe men. The firing of Jill Abramson from the New York Times (she was the very first woman to have ever held the position) sparked much discussion about subtle sexism in the field of journalism specifically. Abramson was viewed as “brusque,” “combative,” “pushy,” “unlikeable,” “mean” and “belligerent.” Many feel that this perception of her contributed to her being fired; however, other New York Times staff members admitted that those same qualities observed in men had never before been a reason for any of those men to be fired; in fact, studies show that men are greatly rewarded for the same behavior Abramson reportedly displayed."

This is EXACTLY what happened to me after I filed my complaint to my temp agency; the account managers sympathized but the branch manager (a woman) labeled me as "argumentative" because I filed a complaint and asked to be removed from the assignment after I spoke with my supervisor about my concerns but he ignored me, and "pushy" because I asked to be put in a new temp assignment, since I didn't do anything wrong. The branch manager told me she didn't feel confident placing me again, although when I asked her if I could still work for that agency as a whole, she vaguely said yes I could. It was very difficult to sit across from her and remain calm, as she ignored my filed complaint completely, by not addressing any of the points I brought up or when i repeated the temp agency's policies for temps who get mistreated while on assignment. She blatantly ignored her own company's policies. And she's a branch manager!

I spent the past week reformatting my resume and calling other temp agencies to set up appointments to come in and apply with those places for this next week. Temps just don't get taken seriously or treated with respect. That's been my experience so far. I'm angry that my legitimate complaint was totally ignored and that the company policy for these situations was ignored too. I could complain to the branch manager's boss, but that could "rock the boat" as the saying goes. I will find out this week when I call in to seek assignments if I'm no longer able to work there. If that's the case, then I will complain to the branch manager's supervisor because they need to know she violated their company policy with me, for reasons I will never understand because I didn't do anything wrong.