Is this Sex Discrimination?
 

So for the past three weeks I have been working for a company named "Automated Marketing Professionals". We are neither Automated nor are we Professionals, unless being paid to do something makes me a Professional. Well basically I was trained for 2 hours to call people in Wisconsin and ask for money for a Charity called "Breast Cancer Relief Foundation"; keep in mind that there is also another program that I can call for called "The Sheriff's Association's Don't Drink and Drive" program, which is called in IL. (BTW they say that the training is Voluntary, and thus it was not paid. The first week, I was paid under the table about $120 bucks for about 20 hours, so by the math I was getting $6.00 an hour, way under the Minimum Wage requirement of $7.75 in the State of IL; a difference of 35 dollars.All because they didn't know if they wanted to hire me or not. They do this with every new hire by the way. I am cut a check and no taxes are taken out. Makes me a little weary.)

So I work, happy as a clam to have this job. I am working along side another girl hired with me named Mae. We are calling for the Breast Cancer Relief Foundation becuase we are girls. The basic logic being that if we are women, we have breasts, your more inclined to give me monies. Now, all the Male new hires get to call for the Sheriff's Association becuase, by their logic, all Sheriff's are men, so your average person is going to donate more if a man calls their house asking for money for the Sheriffs. This doesn't sit right with me, the logic seems to be made up by a 5th grader.

So I am hired after the week, and that is finally when they ask for my ID and Social Security to validate that I can work in the US. Mae is not hired, I guess she didn't do well enough for them. I kinda feel sorry for her, this is her first time Telemarketing and she was really nice. I am calling this program by myself. I get nothing, answering machines, and "This number is disconnected". I ask if I am going to be put on any other programs, they say "NO".

Get this, there is always at least two guys calling for the Sheriff's Association. I wonder why I can't call for that. I can't because I am female and by their logic going to fail becuase all Sheriffs are men. Now my manager is struggling with me being alone on a dialer. She's stuck, company policy I guess for me to call for Breast Cancer. They haven't hired any new girls for the Breast cancer calling, so I have been suffering at this job. The commission scale is inane, even on a real good night I can't make their commission Scale. To get commission I have to generate 50 bucks an hour in donations, I can get about 20 if I am lucky. I am being told by my other Co-workers that what I am doing is really good since I am Cold Calling.

So all in all, I am feeling pretty damn frustrated about this job. It's intentions are good, but the way that they are going about things is pretty shady. Any thoughts? I am in quite the conundrum.

I think i'm a little less worried about the sexual discrimination then I am the sketchiness of the entire job. On the one hand it really DOES sound like the logic was made up by a 5th grader. The fact that they paid you "under the table" while you were in training is even WORSE simply because it's not supposed to happen. They're breaking federal law by doing that. That alone sets up a red flag to me. Even when I worked for Olive Garden they made sure that your taxes came out of it. The latter could be just plain ignorance... but I've never heard of this "Sherrif's" association before. I mean if it's really out there that's great... but if not... then that sets ANOTHER red flag. You might want to find out if the company you work for has a file with the better business bureau and check it out to see what's in it if they do. If not... honestly I'd start looking for another job and if the better business bureau doesn't have them on file... TELL THEM what's going on. This company could be stealing money from people by claiming to be doing it for a charity.

I should have called it "Illinois Sheriff's Association". It's an actual group in Illinois, but I think that's it, I don't know that much about them except they endorse the IL Don't Drink and Drive program.
http://www.ilsheriff.org/

I am going to call the Dept. of Labor and my brother in law (Lawyer) and ask about this sorta stuff.

Are the men being paid more on the hour? If so, that is unfair. I think that Feyona is right, it sounds shady to me and going to the Dept. of Labor and talking to your brother in law is a good idea. It's also a strange point of view to think that all sheriff's are men because, that isn't true but, that's way beside the point. Get a new job ASAP.

I just left a message with the Illinois Department of Labor, hopefully that will get me somewhere. :3

Thank you all.

I don't believe that is sexual discrimination. You were hired to call a particular program which is fair, although it does become rather shady when they actually say you can't swap due to your sex. It could probably be argued either way in court. Upper management would probably have a fit if they heard your manage tell you can't do something because of your gender, and being at-will state your manager and you would probably be fired on the spot.

I have a reasonable amount of knowledge of IL business law, being located in Schaumburg after all. What they are trying to do is avoid paying unemployment by never having trainees make the books. Legally they can't hire trainees on-premises on a W9 and swap them over later, but that is essentially what they are doing. They do NOT have to report wages below $500, but they should be issuing a W9 along with the pay check. Is what they are doing shady and possibly illegal? Yes. Is it necessary to keep costs down? I'd be pretty sure it is. Would it go far in court? Most likely not.

Telemarketing is a shady industry, you'd be better off working fast food imho. I've had my fair share of cold calling, it's no fun.

Is that their actual reasoning for putting girls on the breast cancer relief and men on the sherrif thing? that sherrifs are men and women have breasts? If their reason was different, like if it was that people would feel more comfortable talking to a woman about donating for breast cancer relief than to a man, that would make more sense. But that still doesn't mean they should only put men on the sherrif thing. That is still messed up logic though.
I say that if you're not getting paid what you feel you should be, and if the job is not the type of job you'd like to have, then look for another one.

I agree with Liath. Maybe they chose the wrong words, and they actually meant that they put women on the breast cancer foundation because it's easier to talk to a woman about breast cancer, and they put men on the sheriff program because a male voice has more authority. They want people with a warm, kind voice (= mostly women) for a cancer charity, and a "strong" voice that radiates authority for a fund that combats drunk driving. (I doubt they'll hire a guy with a shrill or nasal voice for the sheriff program, for example.)

It does sound very weird though, especially the payment thing. I'd be more concerned about the legality of the company than about whether or not they discriminate genders.

Job.
 

I agree with others about this job sounding kind of shady. I'd be concerned about the money actually going to charities. If it were, wouldn't they have to account for where the donated money was going rather than paying their workers illegally?

Be careful if you decide to investigate it further though, it's illegal for them to give you money under the table, and it's also illegal for you to take money under the table. You don't want to get caught doing something illegal.

I don't know whether that's exactly sex discrimination, but it does sound kind of weird. Obviously, women can be just as against drunk driving as men and men can get breast cancer just like women can.

Honestly, I'd find another job though. It sounds like they're using the fact that they're paying you under the table to take advantage of you (not paying you for the training and paying you less than minimum wage). My guess is it only gets worse the longer you stay, since staying when they treat you like that reinforces that they can get away with it.

Ouch... reading those links.... I'd say get out NOW. They're not even supported by the Better Business Bureau.... that's BAD.