6/06/16, Anonymous
I am writing to highlight the behaviour of my Job Active provider. I feel disrespected by the organisation and some of the case managers I have dealt with, granted some of the case managers are no longer working there. However the actions they took are still affecting me. I am somewhat afraid to bring this up with the organisation as I feel they will make things harder for me in the future – there is an imbalance of power.
There are a number of issues that I will be highlighting. This includes false information being deliberately and dishonestly added to my file without my consent, without being specifically disclosed as a legitimate barrier to working and without being evidenced in the medical certificate provided; excessive appointments (fortnightly instead of monthly – the Job Active Deed and the agency’s own “Services you will receive” factsheet on their website state appointments to be monthly) and failure to appropriately make appointments (firm time set for one time and told to just come in at a later time); disrespectful behaviour; failure to disclose relevant information about jobs being offered; failure to pass on messages that could have resulted in a breach and payment reduction; failure to negotiate; failure to provide assistance to the degree at which they receive funding for me.
For the last 6 or so appointments, I have not known which case manager I would be seeing and have seen one of four different people each time. Two of the case managers seem to think that they are my actual case manager, both having called me to apologise for “missing me” and then sending me to “interviews” (which I will elaborate on in the next paragraph). The other two case managers seem to be under the impression they’re picking up the slack for the others, who they claim are “busy”, despite sitting at their desks and having no other clients in the building.
On the 20th April, one of the case managers called and offered to put me forward for a job interview. He couldn’t give me job description other than saying “it is admin, limited spots” and that the closing date was that day. The next morning he called me again and said I had been shortlisted and that I had to go to the Sunshine branch of the agency the day afterwards for an interview and that the session would be an hour long. When I arrived, I was directed to a side room where there were about 18 others were already waiting. We were addressed briefly by a woman who was NOT from JA agency, but a recruitment agency. She stated that she was working for an agency that was recruiting on behalf of a THIRD agency who “has the jobs”. She then took each of the candidates into a room separately to “interview”. I waited for about 1 hour 20 minutes before I was taken in (much longer than the hour stated), and she asked me a few brief questions that I would expect to be asked by one of the case managers: What sort of jobs have you applied for? What hours are you required to do activities by Centrelink? What feedback have you been given after applications in the past? She then looked at my resume and seemed surprised—because I’m a qualified teacher—that I had been referred to her session. She said as much, even so far as saying that she would only consider me if a short “project” came up, and that I was in a category of my own because I had a profession and degree, where many of the others referred (and the ones she was trying to recruit) did not. Obviously, I never heard back from her.
On the 5th May, the case manager who the others think is my actual case manager (and whom I haven’t even spoken to for about 3 months), called me and half asked, half told me I had started working. I was confused and told him he was incorrect, and he made an excuse about a number looking similar to mine. He then offered to put me forward for a job labelling medication. The job description asked for female only candidates, which made me slightly uneasy, but I decided to ask for details of the job. He couldn’t tell me where the job was (other than “it is a western suburbs job”). I asked twice to clarify where in the western suburbs and he began by saying “Truganina”, then asked someone else in the office, and said “I think its somewhere in [suburb close by]”. I don’t believe I should be asked to agree to a job when the case manager can’t even give me basic information such as the location. This information is extremely important as he framed the call by saying the job began at 6.30am and I would likely need a car to get there because there was no public transport. While I have access to a car, I have clearly stated on my file that I do not own a car as the car is my boyfriend’s and not my own (and I cannot guarantee I will have access to it).
My last few appointments were March 22nd; April 28th and May 19th which have all been one month apart. Prior to this, they had been fortnightly for some time and I felt it was very excessive. I discovered that it is legally meant to be monthly appointments, but before I could bring it up, appeared to be put back onto monthly appointments. During my 19th May appointment, the fourth case manager I saw (one I had dealt with before she was promoted) made my appointment for 3rd June- 2 weeks later- and stated that my job application reporting window was “7th May to 7th June” and that I had to apply for 20 jobs by 7th June (20 jobs in 2 weeks).
First, I asked why she was making the appointment for 2 weeks when it should be monthly (as per the last 3 appointments and what I know to be in the Job Active Deed); she claimed that I shouldn’t have been having monthly appointments because “you are stream B not stream A”, and it was “probably because we had staff resign”. I asked “what is the difference between Stream A and Stream B?” and her response was “we give more assistance to Stream B” (I should clarify here that I’ve had very little assistance if any at all from them, in fact, their actions have only hindered my ability to apply for work and confidently accept paid work). I clarified my question “what makes me a stream B and not a stream A then?” and she didn’t know, she stated “maybe you’ve been on the system too long. Have you had a suspension?” I have never had a suspension. She then made a comment about my appointments being cancelled as though that either explained the appointments being four weeks apart. I told her that was inaccurate as only the one appointment was altered to two days EARLIER as I had agreed to a date that I was already unavailable, and called an hour after my appointment to change it. I then changed it again to another day EARLIER due to a job interview coming up. These changes did not affect the timing of the appointment, if anything it made the appointment EARLIER than it was meant to me. In addition I am in the Work for the Dole phase and fortnightly appointments are extremely inconvenient. When she finally made my next appointment (for 2 weeks time), she made out that I was being unreasonable in saying it was excessive.
In addition, she could not explain why I was Stream B and not Stream A (as I have two degrees, am a qualified teacher, and have very few actual barriers, if any to working in my profession- the only areas I cannot work is that which entails physical labour). She checked my ‘profile’ and saw that a previous case manager who has since left the agency, had written in that I was “vision impaired in both eyes”, simply because I wore my glasses (which I wear a night and cloudy days while driving. I can see without them quite well, and am not even wearing them to type this letter). He had also written in that I have a spinal injury (which is incorrect, I have muscular problems with my back and neck); he had written in a number of small things that don’t affect my ability to work at all, so that I would be put onto a different stream than the one he was dealing with. She didn’t ask to verify that the information was correct, she just made a comment about me having “a few barriers to getting work” and suggested that I had had an assessment with Centrelink (which I had not), implying that I was considered disabled.
I then asked why she was giving me a reporting window that was already two weeks passed, and she claimed “it’s just the way the system works”, I have asked her the same thing in the past and she has always made a similar excuse. When I have seen other case managers, they have changed the reporting dates to reflect my appointments.
She refused to listen when I wanted to discuss fortnightly appointments being excessive. When she made my next appointment for June 3rd she put it in the system as 3.30pm, and told me to come in at 4pm. She straight out told me “I made the appointment for 3.30pm but come in at 4pm”. I will be attending at 3.30pm as I do not trust her to a) pass this information on to whoever happens to be seeing me, and b) admit that she said it at all. She has previously failed to pass on messages when I have called to state that I can’t attend due to interviews; which resulted in one of the case managers calling to ask why I hadn’t attending my appointment.