Posted on 06/10/2015 2:51:37 AM PDT by markomalley
The American tech workers Disney laid off in January after forcing them to train their foreign replacements were put on a “black list” that disqualified them from hire by any contractor that works with Disney, emails obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation between one of the laid off workers and a recruiting firm show.
The worker, who asked to remain anonymous because he is waiting on legal advice, learned of the black list when he sent his resume and performance review to a local IT recruiting firm that wanted to place him with a company contracting with Disney.
He had plenty of past experience doing similar work for Disney contractors, and had received the highest possible rating on his performance review, so he thought he would be a top candidate for the job.
But in an email sent last week and obtained by TheDCNF, the recruiting firm informed him that he is out of the running because he is on a black list, since he is one of the hundreds of tech workers Disney displaced in January.
“Any Disney employee who leaves Disney or has a contract end (after being on 18 Months) unless it is a unique circumstance, has to wait a certain amount of time before they can be eligible for rehire,” the recruiter said in the email. “Usually that time frame is a year to a year and a half. In this situation it was indeed a year.”
A spokeswoman for Disney denied the current existence of a black list that includes those workers “impacted by the reorganization,” and said in an email to TheDCNF that the recruiting firm simply provided the applicant with the wrong information. She said Disney is calling the firms to ensure they are providing the right information.
“When employees leave for other reasons, based on the situation, there could be a break required before the person is able to return to the same function,” the spokeswoman wrote via email. “But in those situations, the person is able to return immediately in a different capacity.”
Pressed Friday as to whether such a policy disqualifying the displaced workers from contracting work with Disney has ever been in place, she suddenly stopped responding to TheDCNF. Monday afternoon she responded, saying there was never a policy that prevented contractors from hiring the workers.
It’s unclear why the recruiting firm told the Disney worker he was in fact on a list precluding him from hire. The firm declined to comment.
When the layoffs were announced in October, the tech workers were encouraged to apply for other new jobs at Disney, and the layoffs were cast as a restructuring of Disney’s IT program. She told TheDCNF the emphasis of the program has gone from maintenance to developing new capabilities.
The IT team has actually grown by 70 people, she said, and Disney is still hiring for new positions that resulted from the layoffs.
Initially, the ex-employee who spoke to TheDCNF and the other laid off workers he knew were optimistic and began applying for the new jobs Disney posted, but grew increasingly discouraged when they got no response.
“As time went on, we just realized that we’re sending our resumes into a black hole,” he said.
Disney is by far the biggest employer of IT workers in Orlando, he said, and none of the other smaller firms, such as SeaWorld, compare in terms of size or rate of pay. From what he’s heard and understands, the market simply isn’t big enough to absorb the hundreds of tech workers Disney laid off.
“I keep hearing and seeing in the newspaper that there’s all of these great opportunities for IT workers, but I’m not seeing them in my market,” he told TheDCNF.
He knows of just three people out of the hundreds who were laid off that managed to stay with Disney, and estimated about one in four were forced into early retirement. Only one he knew of was able to get a new IT job at Disney.
Most of the workers who replaced him and his American coworkers were brought into the country by the contracting firm Disney hired on temporary work visas known as H-1bs. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush are both proponents of dramatically expanding the program, which is intended to help businesses bring in high-skilled workers for jobs Americans can’t fill.
But a number of recent reports show companies — Southern California Edison, Fossil Group and now Disney — apparently abusing the system to displace American workers.
Democratic Florida Sen. Bill Nelson has asked the Department of Homeland Security to investigate the H-1b program in light of the Disney layoffs. Nelson voted for the 2013 “Gang of Eight” immigration bill, which would have more than doubled the number of workers businesses can bring in on the visas.
Rubio and Bush, who are running for president, have not commented on the news.
The Obama administration recently refused an earlier request from a bipartisan group of senators to investigate alleged H-1b visa program abuses, especially at Southern California Edison.
The former Disney employee who spoke to TheDCNF has been outsourced twice in his 20 years working in the IT field. Before working directly for Disney, he worked for Disney through a contractor. Disney had indicated they would hire him, but then opted to outsource that work to IBM instead.
He was able to get a job as a contractor with IBM, and several years later Disney did hire him. But he was outsourced again last October.
Despite stellar performance reviews and a raise, he was told his last day of employment at Disney would be Jan. 30. He and the hundreds of other tech workers displaced were told to stick around and train their foreign replacements with a good attitude, or leave immediately and forego their severance packages.
“And having witnessed IBM and Disney take so many jobs offshore for remote workers, and then now where people are literally flown into our country to take over our jobs, I just can’t believe it,” he continued. “I mean, I’m just in shock.”
Nearly 75 percent of Americans with STEM degrees are not working in STEM Fields, according to Census data, and only 3.8 million Americans with STEM degrees actually hold STEM jobs.
The U.S. currently allows one million immigrants and about 700,000 guest workers into the country annually. The Census Bureau recently projected the foreign-born population (legal and illegal immigrants) will hit 51 million by 2023 — the largest share of total population ever recorded in American history.
Sue the RAT , make it a class action for $1B+ ... Any jury in Orlando would find for the plaintiff...
BLACKlisted? looks like a slam dunk to me.
Years ago, I worked for the Big Rat. When Eisner came in as CEO, the company became pretty aggressive about employees NEVER working there long enough to get retirement benefits.
If you work in the park, even as a waiter, you are a cast member, so you ‘audition’ for that ‘job’ every 6 months. Since they like the ‘college freshman’ look, if you started looking older, or not quite in the bloom of youth (tats, weight), then, daggone it, it is a shame you didn’t pass the audition.. try again in 6 months. Further more, it is usually 6 months working for the company and 6 months off.
On top of that, the company receives close to 50,000 (job) requests a day, from people all over the world whose life-dream is to work for Disney. Ol’ Walt sure left a lasting name brand of quality.
I worked at The Rat as well, along with my ex back during the Eisner Regime.
The management philosophy was “at the slightest problem from an employee, fire them - because for every full-timer you fire, there are three new hires eager to do the same job for less money.”
Also, some marketroid came up with the brilliant scam of firing everyone just before their 90-day period was up, so that the company got three months of cheap labor without having to pay employee benefits.
According to the 1995 industry reports, the annual turnover in the hospitality sector ALONE was 150%.
And Disney led the charge.
Walt’s been dead for 50 years. Disney World was swampland when he died. If you have issues with the current incarnation of the company, fine . But laying it at the feet of a man who died when LBJ was president is a little unfair.
CC
You misunderstand me, perhaps due to my weak wording. Disney left a GREAT company with a GREAT brand name behind and it still remains shiny, even though later CEOs have dragged it thru the mud in the acquirement of billions. Walt was a fine employer, I am told. Eisner was a pioneer in the disposable employee mentality that began in the 80s.
Nobody has blamed Walt. Those employees both mentioned Michael Eisner. Whatever good vibes people have about Disney are due to Walt. Unfortunately, it would appear that decency at the company died with Walt.
I understand where you’re coming from now, and I can’t refute what you’ve said about the current company. The fact that there are no Disneys or their children on the current board is telling.
CC
I get it. And it’s disappointing to see what others have done with Walts legacy. Walt was a genius. Some of his successors...not so much.
CC
I’m not sure I would call this blacklisting.
This is quite normal in IT contracting.
If I remember correctly, the reason dates back to a lawsuit filed by Microsoft contractors. They were very well paid 1099 hourly workers for years. Wong comes a downsizing and a weak economy. They decide that they were employees all along and should have the benefits (unemployment) to go with it.
I believe they “won” and the govt sought money from MS. On top of that the IRS guidelines for defining an employee changed.
For high hourly rate IT consulting it was devastating. People in secure positions with big companies (who had rates far outside an employee pay scale) found themselves being forced into full time positions that paid less. Or they would have to take months off to reset their fake-employee status.
Some companies are comfortable with their contractors being w2 employees of a consulting firm. Most won’t touch a 1099.
I’m not sticking up for Disney or the ridiculous rules that these corps have put in place around contractors. But they are doing it to limit their legal liability. It is not a screw you rule.
Oh this SUCKS, if true. (maybe a big if, maybe)
“The American tech workers Disney laid off in January after forcing them to train their foreign replacements were put on a “black list” that disqualified them from hire by any contractor that works with Disney, emails obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation between one of the laid off workers and a recruiting firm show.”
If true, stand down for one of the biggest lawsuits in employment law. Ever.
Mind-bogglingly stupid, if true.
BTTT!................
Americans can and do fill these jobs, as exemplified by Disney's actions. The 'H1B' program should be terminated, or at the very least pulled back into the the realm of decency.
Long gone are the days of the Great Immigration period of the late 1800's early 1900's when we had a huge country to fill with immigrants, no matter what skills they possessed. We have a real nation now, and need to protect those who are born and raised here! The REAL AMERICANS!...................
“Any Disney employee who leaves Disney or has a contract end (after being on 18 Months) unless it is a unique circumstance, has to wait a certain amount of time before they can be eligible for rehire,” the recruiter said in the email. “Usually that time frame is a year to a year and a half. In this situation it was indeed a year.”
A spokeswoman for Disney denied the current existence of a black list that includes those workers “impacted by the reorganization,” and said in an email to TheDCNF that the recruiting firm simply provided the applicant with the wrong information.
"Wrong information" - it was, what, a typo?
H-1B ping. Let me know if you're not on the list and want to be added (or are and want to be removed).
the article says they are precluded for ONE YEAR, not a true blacklist.
Makes sense as it keeps any confidentiality issues going and they could be brought back if this H1B does not work out.
It also prevents any continuation of claims for pension continuity.
I am still not clear what these particular IT people actually do?
And besides, the last of the terminations was on January 31. For most of the workers, a typical 6-month buffer window would be ending right about now.
If this story is true, someone at Disney must have thought they would have a disgruntled returnee issue if someone got inside access as a contractor.
-PJ
The H-1B program for IT really got started during the dotcom bubble of the late 1990s when companies were caught flat with a lack of web skills. XML and HTML were just emerging, and big corporate internal IT departments were just finishing up their conversion from mainframe to 3-tier client-server architectures. People were making the transition from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95 or Windows 98SE.
Not wanting to be left behind, companies said they couldn't wait for their own very capable internal staff to train up; they needed those skills on the ground now or risk losing market penetration, they said.
At the time, I recall going to IT conferences where Indian programmers were everywhere, learning whatever they could. Where large corporate IT departments had to justify training costs based on immediate need (back then the immediate need was the PC revolution, Y2K, and that new German thing called SAP, not stateless web-based transaction processing), Indian programmers were not so constrained and were looking ahead to the Next Big Thing.
That was then, and this is now. The urgency (real or perceived) for H-1B temporary skilled workers is just not there anymore. The program should be shut down.
-PJ
But they are doing it to limit their legal liability. It is not a screw you rule.
**********************
They need a class action for flagrantly breaking H1-b rules.
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