This article contains references to suicide.
One job seeker said she filed a complaint with an employment service provider after being teased and bullied by employees about her mental health and attempted suicide.
In December, TJ Davis contacted an employment service provider, Advanced Personnel Management (APM), for advice, but after making numerous calls without getting any help, he became anxious and frustrated. He said he felt it.
They said it wasn’t the first time they had been treated badly by support services.
Now supported by the Australian Union of Unemployed Workers (AUWU), TJ highlights the systemic problems facing job seekers and the ‘failures’ of services that exist to support job seekers. I filed a complaint in hopes of
What are complaints about?
December 19th, We have posted a notice online that the mutual obligation requirement will be suspended for the holidays through January 2nd.
Mutual obligations are tasks that job seekers must complete in order to receive payment. For example, following a ‘job plan’, attending appointments, reporting a job search, and accepting a suitable paid job offer.
After seeing this post, TJ contacted APM for advice on mutual obligations and reporting to Workforce Australia.
The 32-year-old has been paying Centerlink and job seekers off and on since she was 16. They suffered from anxiety and depression, battled alcohol, and attempted suicide in November.
The first employee told TJ not to worry about reporting over the Christmas period, but TJ followed up the next day as he had trouble communicating with Workforce Australia and wanted to make sure payments weren’t interrupted. Did.
When TJ asked to speak to their hiring consultant, they say the agent who picked up the phone started speaking in a sarcastic tone and mocked them.
“She started talking about me. She said, ‘Well, you’re special. The rules don’t apply to you,'” TJ said.
“She kept making this taunting, taunting voice. She said I have pretty serious depression and anxiety. I don’t think I’m special. I told my case manager Would you like to talk to me?”
According to TJ, the agent then went to his profile and tried to apply the demerit, which upset TJ as he already had two demerits and the third would result in the payment being interrupted.
TJ said that when they got upset, the agent said TJ was abusive and hung up.
About three minutes later, TJ called the switchboard again, and the same worker answered the call.
During that call, TJ says an agent began looking into TJ’s profile and saw a note about November’s attempted suicide.
According to TJ, the agent spoke in a sarcastic tone about the “welfare check” call.
“She said, ‘Do I need to call you another welfare check?'” TJ said.
A job seeker filed a complaint with APM after claiming she was teased over the phone by an agent. sauce: AAP / AAP
“I was completely dumbfounded. I asked her if she was joking about my suicide attempt in the file notes.
“She replied yes.”
“Daily” Complaints
With AUWU’s assistance, TJ filed a complaint with APM about the incident.
AUWU board member Jeremy Poxon told SBS News that unions regularly receive complaints about recruitment service providers and allegations of bullying.
“There will be complaints about bullying on a basically daily basis, and it will have a devastating effect on these people,” Poxson said.
“These people are some of the poorest and most disadvantaged in this country.
“More than 40% of job seekers [payments] Having a physical or mental disability…It is difficult to overstate the pain and suffering that bullying from a provider can inflict on people.
Following an exchange with APM workers in December, TJ said the difficult episode led them to break their sobriety.
“December is a really tricky month for me because of my childhood trauma and recent trauma.
Poxon said AUWU wants accountability and organizational changes from APM.
“We’d love to know what their code of conduct is like, and any sign of a genuine attitude change so that this doesn’t happen again to TJ or anyone in that agency.” I would like to see the
TJ and AUWU said APM was cooperative in the early stages of the complaint, but they have yet to see accountability or investigate whether employees have faced any repercussions.
If you don’t get a satisfactory answer, you can lodge a complaint with the government.
APM told SBS News in a statement that it was unable to discuss specific details related to individual participants.
“APM respects and protects client confidentiality, so specific details relating to individual participants cannot be discussed,” said a spokesperson.
A spokesperson said all staff underwent regular training on bullying, inappropriate behavior, and cultural sensitivities.
Additionally, all complaints are thoroughly investigated to ensure compliance with these protocols. “
Service providers occupy a ‘unique seat of power’
AUWU said the allegations represent a broader problem in which employment service providers fail to provide adequate support to vulnerable clients and are rarely held accountable.
Providers were in power with little scrutiny because, unlike other industries, ombudsmen and regulators didn’t “have teeth,” Poxson said.
“They have the power to cut off someone’s payment at will. problem above,” he said.
TJ said they were abused many times.
“When you’re a job seeker, you’re subhuman,” said TJ.
“I’ve been in and out of Centrelink since I was probably 16 and they’ve never helped me.”
What are APMs?
APM is a human service provider aimed at helping people with injuries, illnesses, disabilities, children and the elderly, the unemployed, and those facing hardship or harm.
The Department of Social Services (DSS) said APM received funding from the Department of Disability Employment Services (DES) program to provide assistance to job seekers.
A spokeswoman couldn’t comment on TJ’s allegations, but said they take all complaints seriously.
“When DSS receives a complaint, it will conduct an investigation. This investigation may involve contacting the DES provider to understand the situation and seeking a resolution to the complainant or taking other action as appropriate. may include things,” a spokesperson told SBS News.
“Any form of bullying is not tolerated by DSS. DES providers are bound by the DES Grant Agreement to ensure they provide a safe environment for DES participants.”
Social Welfare Minister Amanda Richworth was unable to comment specifically on APM, but the government is working to ensure that the views and experiences of Australians living with disability are at the heart of the new Disability Employment Service. “We are working on a high-quality framework for
“I am very much looking forward to what we can do to improve the quality of these services and improve the system as a whole to achieve better outcomes for people with disabilities,” she said.
Readers seeking mental health support can contact Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636. For more information, please visit the following URL: .
Support people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/tj-called-an-employment-service-provider-for-advice-they-say-an-agent-made-jokes-about-suicide/fv0f3xzg9 Job seekers file complaint after being ‘ridiculed’ by employment service provider
