U.S. Dept. Labor investigating Landmark ?
Posted by:
ON2 LF
()
Date: November 22, 2006 05:58AM
Hi all,
I live in BC and since landmark is so out of control in Vancouver and Victoria, I thought I'd run a Better Business Bureau reliabilty check on line to see what I could find...When I clicked on check, the report came back with the California address and isn't showing anything in Vancouver where they have an address for their office..anyway this is the blurb I got back...don't quite know what it is saying...translate please...does it mean that this compnay receives complaints everywhere or what? Thanks!
Company Name: Landmark Education
State: BC
Sorted by: Type of Business (Descending)
These headquarters Reliability Reports contains complaint activity across multiple business locations:
Company Name Address Type of Business
Landmark Education Corporation
Just for the record, I am well aware of the slimeball actions of landmark, I just wanted to check and see if the Canadian Better Business Bureau had heard of them too...
I live in BC and since landmark is so out of control in Vancouver and Victoria, I thought I'd run a Better Business Bureau reliabilty check on line to see what I could find...When I clicked on check, the report came back with the California address and isn't showing anything in Vancouver where they have an address for their office..anyway this is the blurb I got back...don't quite know what it is saying...translate please...does it mean that this compnay receives complaints everywhere or what? Thanks!
Company Name: Landmark Education
State: BC
Sorted by: Type of Business (Descending)
These headquarters Reliability Reports contains complaint activity across multiple business locations:
Company Name Address Type of Business
Landmark Education Corporation
Just for the record, I am well aware of the slimeball actions of landmark, I just wanted to check and see if the Canadian Better Business Bureau had heard of them too...
U.S. Dept. Labor investigating Landmark ?
Posted by:
The Anticult
()
Date: November 22, 2006 06:24AM
The Vancouver Landmark office is not a member of the Canadian BBB, according to their website.
U.S. Dept. Labor investigating Landmark ?
Posted by:
ON2 LF
()
Date: November 22, 2006 06:25AM
Just a follow up to my last post....Landmark is NOT a member of the business bureau...A business registered with the BBB means that that business agrees to the rules and ethics set forth by the BBB. Apparently it is not a requirement for a business to be registered with the BBB but any wise consumers I know evaluate the product they are paying for against the BBB standards. They are regulated, supposedly, through provincial and municipal governing bodies. I think this needs more checking in to. I'd like to know how they get away with operating on volunteer labor when they are a for profit company...anyway, gonna call a city hall and see what I can find.
U.S. Dept. Labor investigating Landmark ?
Posted by:
ON2 LF
()
Date: November 22, 2006 07:17AM
Hi again,
made a few phonecalls to the Employment Standards Branch in BC. Inquired about the rules regarding a for profit business operating on volunteer labor. It seems that there is a distinction between an 'employee who is not paid and just a 'volunteer'. What I need to know is: When a landmark volunteer goes to work as a volunteer for LE, do they have to sign an agreement stating that they are an 'employee' who is just not getting paid or is there just an agreement to volunteer? What status is a volunteer given with LE? This is an apparent technicality under which a "volunteer" and "an unpaid employee" can or can not be utilized legally. Thanks in advance!
made a few phonecalls to the Employment Standards Branch in BC. Inquired about the rules regarding a for profit business operating on volunteer labor. It seems that there is a distinction between an 'employee who is not paid and just a 'volunteer'. What I need to know is: When a landmark volunteer goes to work as a volunteer for LE, do they have to sign an agreement stating that they are an 'employee' who is just not getting paid or is there just an agreement to volunteer? What status is a volunteer given with LE? This is an apparent technicality under which a "volunteer" and "an unpaid employee" can or can not be utilized legally. Thanks in advance!
U.S. Dept. Labor investigating Landmark ?
Posted by:
sonnie_dee
()
Date: November 22, 2006 04:22PM
LQuote
What status is a volunteer given with LE? This is an apparent technicality under which a "volunteer" and "an unpaid employee" can or can not be utilized legally. Thanks in advance!
They register in a "programme" called the assiting programme so they are technically in a course rather then volunteering. The way the programme works is they do certain roles in the office and get coaching.
How the rest of the world sees it is that they are volunteers who are being used by Landmark to save money/Make money.
What is scary is that not only is the big portion of work done by volunteers, the paid office staff often work 12 - 14 hour days six days a week usually at the minimum wage or under the minimum wage if you go by the fact that the wage is done on a 40 hour week!
I know our wages only went up after we pointed out that they were breaking the law (and I think the threat of the employment tribunal may have helped too)
U.S. Dept. Labor investigating Landmark ?
Posted by:
The Anticult
()
Date: November 22, 2006 09:53PM
Quote
sonnie_deeQuote
What is scary is that not only is the big portion of work done by volunteers, the paid office staff often work 12 - 14 hour days six days a week usually at the minimum wage or under the minimum wage if you go by the fact that the wage is done on a 40 hour week!
If people have been "pushed" into that by Landmark, and you have some evidence of it, Landmark can get into BIG BIG trouble for that.
Walmart got into serious trouble for some managers forcing people to "punch out" but keep working, so no OT would be paid.
Landmark obviously does that by making their employees work OT without being paid OT.
If this happened to you, you can sue their ass, and get that money back, plus penalties. That could be a class-action lawsuit slam-dunk.
That's probably part of what the Dept of Labor is investigating at Landmark.
U.S. Dept. Labor investigating Landmark ?
Posted by:
Acid Reindeer
()
Date: November 23, 2006 02:22AM
does anyone have any more particular information on this investigation? names, etc.?
we can try to get the word out by Craigslist to contact ex-volunteers to try to contact the people doing the investigation and provide some testimonies. it would help in that effort, though, to know who to contact.
we can try to get the word out by Craigslist to contact ex-volunteers to try to contact the people doing the investigation and provide some testimonies. it would help in that effort, though, to know who to contact.
U.S. Dept. Labor investigating Landmark ?
Posted by:
funnyguy
()
Date: November 23, 2006 02:50AM
I've been though a lot of landmark's programs and was a volunteer on a number of occasions for their events. You have to play their game and they set it up so you will think that you are creating a space for transformation to happen. In reality you just playing their game to recuit new members. They didn't treat volunteers very well either. I did get some value for being a volunteer but I was clear about what I wanted to get out of it. If you are not clear then they will use you up!
U.S. Dept. Labor investigating Landmark ?
Posted by:
ON2 LF
()
Date: November 23, 2006 05:37AM
Thanks sonnie_d for the clarification. I've been searching for info on BC employment regulations. I've found one short section in the BC Employment Standards ACT that is interesting:
Part 2 — Hiring Employees
No false representations
8 An employer must not induce, influence or persuade a person to become an employee, or to work or to be available for work, by misrepresenting any of the following:
(a) the availability of a position;
(b) the type of work;
(c) the wages;
(d) the conditions of employment.
I think anyone who knows the schemes of LE as far as inducing people to volunteer, will see that that most of this section is violated. Even classifying a volunteer as a "programme assistant" is in violation of this section because the 'assistant' is expecting employment in return after the 'training' and for working as a volunteer. I'll guess that LE gets around this violation by claiming that they are not hiring an employee, just training and coaching a student. Slick! Gonna have to see how the local Labour board dept. views this game...
Part 2 — Hiring Employees
No false representations
8 An employer must not induce, influence or persuade a person to become an employee, or to work or to be available for work, by misrepresenting any of the following:
(a) the availability of a position;
(b) the type of work;
(c) the wages;
(d) the conditions of employment.
I think anyone who knows the schemes of LE as far as inducing people to volunteer, will see that that most of this section is violated. Even classifying a volunteer as a "programme assistant" is in violation of this section because the 'assistant' is expecting employment in return after the 'training' and for working as a volunteer. I'll guess that LE gets around this violation by claiming that they are not hiring an employee, just training and coaching a student. Slick! Gonna have to see how the local Labour board dept. views this game...
U.S. Dept. Labor investigating Landmark ?
Posted by:
ajinajan
()
Date: November 23, 2006 10:28AM
Quote
Gonna have to see how the local Labour board dept. views this game...
Keep us posted.
Perhaps the French video, Landmark Education and Art Schreiber's subsequent actions to suppress Freedom of Speech, and the investigations by the United States Federal Department of Labor will spur on and encourage concerned citizens to make reports to their own local Attorney's General, Better Business Bureaus, and local divisions of the Federal Department of Labor...
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