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Cracked article 5 Nightmares You Live Working for America’s Worst Company Rocks

Here’s an article originally published on cracked.com back in 2014 with almost a million views.  It’s written by an anonymous Comcast call center employee and documents some of the reasons why Comcast is hated both externally and internally.

It’s an interesting peek behind the curtain and partially explains why Comcast is often voted one of the Worst Companies in America.

Here’s an excerpt…

…Most jobs are somewhat specialized, but even if you work in the Walmart pharmacy, you’ve probably still got a good idea of where the towels are. You may just be a server at Sonic, but you know where they store the frozen Tater Tots and E. coli bricks. Comcast isn’t like that. The different groups don’t talk to each other, because every office has been divided into “centers of excellence” that focus on sales, repair, retention, etc. — and those centers aren’t even in the same state.

And thus began the epic journey to visit each one and punch every supervisor in the dick.

“Sales is in Portland. Retention is in Minnesota and Colorado,” Todd explains. “They did that, and it changed everything. And I think that’s where the problem started. It stopped being about what’s convenient to the customer and became about what’s convenient to the company.” When Todd started in 2007, he focused on repair, but he knew enough about the whole system to be able to help you with anything. But now, everyone’s priorities are so specialized that you can’t get all the information you need without hopping between time zones. The bright-eyed young lass in Portland might wish she can help you, but that’s too bad, because you’re getting transferred halfway across the country to some random dude on the last hours of his shift and fraying strands of patience.

Read the entire article HERE

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Wikipedia Comcast Employee Relations Problems

Happy 4th of July!   Wikipedia lists a good variety of the good, bad and ugly stuff going on at Comcast over the years.   Here’s part of the Employee Relations section with some juicy stuff…

What happens after you file an emploee complaint at Comcast

Employee relations

The company is often criticized by both the media and its own staff for its less upstanding policies regarding employee relations. A 2012 Reddit post written by an anonymous Comcast call center employee eager to share their negative experiences with the public received attention from publications including The Huffington Post.[32] A 2014 investigative series published by The Verge involved interviews with 150 of Comcast’s employees. It sought to examine why the company has become so widely criticized by its customers, the media and even members of its own staff. The series claimed part of the problem is internal and that Comcast’s staff endures unreasonable corporate policies. According to the report: “customer service has been replaced by an obsession with sales; technicians are understaffed while tech support is poorly trained; and the company is hobbled by internal fragmentation.”[33] A widely read article penned by an anonymous call center employee working for Comcast appeared in November 2014 on Cracked. Titled “Five Nightmares You Live While Working For America’s Worst Company,” the article also claimed that Comcast is obsessed with sales, doesn’t train its employees properly and concluded that “the system makes good customer service impossible.”[34]

Comcast has also earned a reputation for being anti-union. According to one of the company’s training manuals, “Comcast does not feel union representation is in the best interest of its employees, customers, or shareholders”.[35] A dispute in 2004 with CWA, a labor union that represented many employees at Comcast’s offices in Beaverton, Oregon, led to allegations of management intimidating workers, requiring them to attend anti-union meetings and unwarranted disciplinary action for union members.[36] In 2011, Comcast received criticism from Writers Guild of America for its policies in regards to unions.[37]

Jump to the entire Wikipedia article HERE

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Race Discrimination against Comcast

The California law firm of Stephen Danz & Associates posted this interesting article about alleged race discrimination at Comcast….

…  their attorneys reported a race bias and discrimination lawsuit brought last week by an African American former Comcast employee. Comcast is an American multinational mass media company and is the largest broadcasting and largest cable company in the world by revenue. The former employee worked in Comcast’s customer service center who alleged the company discriminated against black male employees and allowed assaults in the workplace by his female supervisors to go unchecked. The Plaintiff, Wilber Spencer Jr. worked for Comcast for over 10 years and argued that he and other black male workers were never promoted, rarely received advances, and were always supervised by white individuals. However, those who were actually promoted were white. After he complained about race discrimination in the workplace, he started receiving bad marks in reviews concerning his attitude. In addition, even though he repeatedly complained about racial discrimination, his pleas went unanswered. Then, after his most recent complaint on March 27, 2015, he was fired for hanging up on a customer. He believes that this was done as a pretext (or a false reason meant to cover the real illegal reason). See the firms  dedicated race discrimination page here.

Read the entire article HERE

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Comcast is arrogant and insidious to oppose wage discrimination says law professors

Comcast Supports Wage Discrimination

New legislation in Philadelphia aims to prevent discrimination during the hiring process and reverse the disparity in salaries earned by women and minorities compared to white, non-Hispanic men.  Comcast wrote a 25 page memo opposing this.   This fascinating article on http://www.phillyvoice.com shows how far Comcast is willing to go to pay woman and minorities less…

Two local law professors with decades of legal experience say Comcast is taking an “arrogant” and “insidious” position by opposing a pending wage gap ordinance that would bar Philadelphia employers from asking job applicants to disclose their salary history.

The legislation, sponsored by Philadelphia City Councilman-at-Large Bill Greenlee, was approved by a 16-0 vote in early December. It aims to prevent discrimination during the hiring process and reverse the disparity in salaries earned by women and minorities compared to white, non-Hispanic men. Modeled on a similar law adopted by the Massachusetts state legislature in August, Greenlee’s ordinance would become the first of its kind enacted by a U.S. municipality.

Mayor Jim Kenney signaled his support and intent to sign the legislation immediately after City Council’s vote in December, but more than a month after the Title IX amendment to the Philadelphia Code gained passage it’s still awaiting his signature.

“What government is trying to do is something everybody applauds, which is eliminating prejudice, whether it’s on the basis of race, gender or religion.” — Burton Caine, Temple University law professor
A 25-page memo sent to the city’s Law Department could help explain why.

Written by Comcast senior Vice President David L. Cohen and Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce CEO Rob Wonderling, the memo argues the wage discrimination ordinance violates an employer’s First Amendment right to free speech….   Read more here…

 

 

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Sex and Race Discrimination at Comcast

Comcast found Guilty of Sex and Race Discrimination
In this article on the Department of Labor website, Comcast was found guilty of systemic hiring discrimination on the basis of race which resulted in the disproportionate rejection of 100 African American, Asian, and Hispanic applicants for call center jobs.   Read the entire article HERE
COMCAST CORPORATION SETTLES CHARGES OF SEX AND RACE DISCRIMINATION
Company will pay nearly $190K in back wages and interest to 96 former and current female employees and 100 minority job applicants; reform hiring practices

SEATTLE — Comcast Corporation has entered into a conciliation agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs to resolve allegations of sex and race discrimination.

OFCCP investigators determined that between March 2006 and September 2007 in Everett, Washington, Comcast violated Executive Order 11246 by steering 96 women into lower-paying positions that assisted customers with cable services rather than higher-paid positions providing customer assistance for Internet services because these positions were considered “technical.”

Investigators also established that Comcast disproportionately rejected 100 African American, Asian, and Hispanic applicants for call center jobs because its hiring tests were neither uniformly applied nor validated as related to the job. This resulted in systemic hiring discrimination on the basis of race. Comcast Corporation is a federal contractor.

“Sex-based compensation discrimination and race-based hiring discrimination are not only illegal, they also hurt our economy,” said OFCCP Director Patricia A. Shiu. “We cannot build an economy that works for everyone by depriving women and minorities of opportunities to get ahead.”

determined that between March 2006 and September 2007 in Everett, Washington, Comcast violated Executive Order 11246 by steering 96 women into lower-paying positions that assisted customers with cable services rather than higher-paid positions providing customer assistance for Internet services because these positions were considered “technical.”…  read more

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Read Others Experiences and Add Your Story Here

Did you have a bad (or good) experience reporting through the Comcast Listens Program?  Did you give up on a Comcast Solutions claim because they delayed the process for years?  Were you forced to quit or retaliated against in some other way because you came forward?

Others would love to read about them here.   Share your story below by commenting on this post.

*Comments are the opinions of the respective authors and may be fact or fictitious.

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Comcast Age Discrimination in Florida

Does age discrimination take place at Comcast?  Comcast is able to hide most of their age discrimination, sexual discrimination and other employment law violations as they never make it to court.  Comcast forces it’s employees to use arbitration, with the results never becoming public.

There are examples of people alleging Comcast employment law violations all over the internet, as in this question posted to the Avvo “Ask a legal Question” area of their site.   The question starts with…

My supervisor said in a meeting why should I pay you older guys what I am paying you when I can hire younger guys at half the pay, I was shocked to hear that, one of the other guys were upset by it and complained to his boss but got nowhere, he was even threatened to be put on another worse shift if he did not like it…

If you have any legal questions about your Employment Law Violations at Comcast, Avvo.com is a great place to ask them.   Click to read the rest of the question and go to Avvo now…

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Why the Comcast Listens and Comcast Solutions Programs are Bad for You

When you went to work for Comcast, they forced you to give up a bunch of your legal rights.   Whether you were aware at the time or not, your offer letter or employment agreement referenced how you would be bound to use the Comcast Solutions program if you are wronged by Comcast.  You also agreed to NOT file a class action lawsuit.  You gave up your right to use the court system to get your issue heard, and now you will be need to use the Comcast Listens and Comcast Solutions programs which FORCE arbitration.

This is beneficial for Comcast and not great for you.   First, Comcast gets to keep their bad behavior private and out of the court system as the details of all the Comcast arbitration suits NEVER become public.

So does Comcast’s bad behavior create a lot of Comcast Listens and Solutions cases?   In 2014 over 3000 employees used the Comcast Listens program as reported by EthicsPoint, the company that administers the Comcast Listens program. Click for the Document proof.  That’s a LOT of bad and illegal behavior that the public never hears about.

Well can’t you just share the details with the world after you are wronged?   Well NO.  As part of the settlement, you will be gagged.  All those thousands of people who had legal claims against Comcast settled in arbitration can’t talk about it.   So does Comcast continue to do the same illegal acts even after losing in arbitration?  We can’t know for sure, but these sort of forced secret out-of-court settlements have led to protecting the offenders and encouraging continued illegal activity in many other cases (as in the recent Bill O’Reilly sexual harrassment scandal where over the years Fox News aid $13 million to women who have accused Bill O’Reilly of harassment in the workplace, or the Catholic church global crisis where there was extensive covering up of incidents of sexual misconduct in the Church) Is the same thing going on here?  You can be the judge on that question.

But can’t you get out of the arbitration provision and your case heard by the court?   Probably not.  In this court brief below, an ex-Comcast employee named Robert Smith tried to get the courts to hear his 5 count case heard by the courts.  He alleged: age discrimination under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (Count 1), age discrimination under the Florida Civil Rights Act (Count 2), disability discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act (Count 3), handicap discrimination under the Florida Civil Rights Act (Count 4), and violation of the Family Medical Leave Act (Count 5).   Here’s the Article

The court ruled in favor of Comcast and forced arbitration.

The second reason why Comcast arbitration is bad for you:  The damages you get will most likely be less than what you could have received in a court or jury judgement.  Why?  This is a dirty little secret that few lawyers are willing to talk or write about publicly.  Your arbitration case will be heard by a retired judge or other professional mediation legal professional.  There are a limited number of ex-judges who hear arbitration cases and they can hear hundreds or thousands of cases over the years.  You on the other hand will probably only use an arbitration judge once.  What does that mean.   Comcast has the final say as to whether they work with an arbitration judge.  Will the judge who hears your case will be fair and impartial?  You can hope they will, but in reality you’ll never know whether you would have gotten a better result in a court trial.  There IS a likelihood that IF you prevail, the award you get won’t be as large as you’d get in court.  Why?  The judge hearing your case knows that if they award You, the plaintiff, a big judgement, they will NEVER again be selected by Comcast to hear any more Comcast arbitration cases.   Can this element be removed as a potentially influencing factor?  No.

So what can you do?  Make the best of your bad situation by subscribing to the Listens Solutions Guide email to get more valuable tips such as..

– maximizing your settlement payout
– avoiding the delays that Comcast will put you through
– how to document your claim issue prior to quitting
– tips for finding the best employment attorney
– more ways to get funding if you need it to pay for your fight

Subscribe at www.ListensSolutionsGuide.com on the pop-up that appears or by requesting through our contact form.

Wishing Justice for All – Your Advocates at the Listens Solutions Guide