SGS: DEMOTE THE OLD QA, HIRE NEW FOR LESS - 2ManyEggs1Basket

TO: Careers At Superior Global Dot Com

RE:  Public Posted QA Editor Job Opening, Ann Arbor, MI, Posted 11/22/11

Hello,

I am emailing to express intent to apply for the Ann Arbor, MI, QA Editor position listed on MTStars, 11/22/2011.

I am currently employed full-time with SGS.  I was hired into the position of QA-Editor, as a member of SGS' A-Team (the 'best of the best'), two years ago, to an hourly position at $16.50 per hour, 40 hours per week. As well as my two-year tenure with SGS, I have 18+ years experience as both medical transcriptionist, and medical report QA Editor (all medical specialties).  I have worked both on-site and from my home office, prior to joining SGS.

On REDACTED my two-year QA Editor position with SGS vanished without notice, without explanation.  I was contacted by phone, by the QA Manager and Manager of Operations, and given a 60 minute firm deadline to choose the lesser of two evils; accept the only position offered, or turn in my resignation <verbatim>.  The only position I was offered was as an MT editor, paid at a very low line rate commensurate with Indo-China vendor rates, and with no guaranteed hourly wage, and no federally guaranteed minimum wage.  As a QA-Editor, it has been many years since I have had to rely on production and task availability to earn my pay, and at $0.038 CPL for editing, and with work pools running dry, I am physically incapable of producing the extremely high volume which would be necessary for me to even come close to my previous payroll amount, and which would allow me to maintain a home for myself and my daughter.  I have earned perhaps $19 total in the past four days, which equates to less than $1.00 per hour, and is nowhere near even the minimum wage ballpark, because once I was finally given all of the tools I needed for the "new" editing position, the few VR reports which I was able to edit each required between 200 and 600 corrective actions per report.  A less "bottom line" company, perhaps one actually concerned with patient care, perhaps one who insists on maintaining all medical records on U.S. soil, perhaps a more ethical company, one who pays more than just lip service to valuing its best employees, would pay hourly wages for this work.

It is quite evident that the account I am referring to will not be going full VR for some time to come, but that is not my concern, just as it is not my concern that this is all "so very hard for the company" to do.  I'd bet my $19.00 paycheck that no one at the corporate level will miss any meals, trips to Vegas, or new car delivery as a result of all of these recent "changes" which are attributable only vaguely to "company growth" (insert emailed rote "corporate-speak" here);  there is only one group being sacrificed for the "good of the company".

I inquired, and was informed, that the quality of my work was not a factor in the decision regarding my vanished position, that the decision was "not personal", and instead "a corporate decision" made across the board (although a new QA Editor has assumed my previous position, in my previous time slot, on the same accounts). I received 60 minutes’ notice, with no retraining and no transition period; just a dramatic drop in pay, and a job description consisting of tasks which I am no longer physically able to perform at the volume required in order for me to earn enough to maintain my modest home or put food on my table (which was my reason for opting for the QA editor position with SGS two years ago). 

Multiple other U.S.-based SGS QA Editors were given this same ironic, unfortunate demotion "choice", the majority of them placed on accounts where the "job well" has run dry.  However, ironically during this same time frame, SGS announced, via email, the appointment of an off-shore national to a high profile QA position with SGS at the Indo-China partner site. 

I must have overlooked the internal posting of the on-site QA Editor job in Ann Arbor, as other demoted SGS QA Editors must also have done, or there would have been a  glut of applicants, and a ton of outrage.  

Nevertheless, I am quite pleased to have found an SGS job opening posted boldly on public forum which, at least for the time being, will not be outsourced off-shore to Indo-China vendors, because this particular job requires the candidate to work on American soil, in Ann Arbor, MI. In my two years with SGS, I have proven that I am qualified to be appointed to the Ann Arbor position, and the job description matches my previous position in all but geographic location.  I have been assured that the quality of my work had nothing to do with my disappearing QA Editor position.  Indeed, the quality of my work has remained above reproach;  I have never received a negative review, however, in retrospect, I have never actually received any job review or employee assessment of any kind during my tenure with SGS.

The ad (listed on MTStars on 11/21/2011, just a few days after I received the call) solicits candidates for an on-site QA Editor position in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The job description matches all aspects of my vanished position, and although I live a couple of hours distance from Ann Arbor, I will relocate for this position, and had this opening been discussed with me on REDACTED, I would have accepted immediately, expressing my willingness to relocate in order not to lose the home in which my daughter and I live. The QA Editor position pays hourly, and would remedy the terrifying situation into which I’ve been placed ("for the good of the company"), and which now will cause my worst fears to be realized.   I am financially unable to purchase groceries for Thanksgiving dinner, and my daughter and I will officially be homeless as of 9:00 a.m., Thursday, December 15, 2011.

I currently live in Illinois (until December 15, 2011), however, friends who own real estate in Ann Arbor have offered temporary use of a guest house for the Ann Arbor position.  It is unfortunate that this job opportunity was not presented to me on REDACTED , when I received the phone call that essentially pulled the rug out from under me, and is causing me to lose everything, including my home, by no fault of my own.

Therefore, please acknowledge this email correspondence as my serious intention to apply for the Ann Arbor QA Editor position. Please provide me with the protocol and procedure which must be followed by current SGS employees in order to apply for an intercompany position which has not been posted internally.  I can find no reference to this scenario in the employee handbook; however, similar to the page regarding the legality of SGS rescinding originally earned PTO rates (PTO hours earned at $16.50, rescinded, converted to $12.00 an hour with the "new" editing position), this section may have also been printed in the handbook using invisible ink.

I look forward to hearing from you, and I hope that you, and all of the members of SGS corporate who have been copied on this email, will enjoy a hearty Thanksgiving feast with friends and family later today.

However, my main focus now in the remaining hours before dawn, is to prepare how best to tell my daughter later today that we have little to be thankful for, but that our impending homelessness, our need to find adoptive homes for her cat and dog, and the absence of Thanksgiving dinner from our table today, for the first time ever in her life, had nothing to do with Mom's job performance, and was simply "what is best for the company".  

Thanks, in advance, for your help.

cc: REDACTED

Attachments:

IDOL, Rachel Maddow, Anderson Cooper - Forms/Documents Per Request:

820�ILCS�65 Illinois Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act

820�ILCS�125 Wages of Women and Minors Act

820�ILCS�180 Victims' (Domestic Violence) Economic Security & Safety Act

820�ILCS�105 Minimum Wage Law