Bench Employee Status?

I was speaking to another recruiter regarding the ethics and use of "bench employee status w/o compensation." I was allowed to seek employment elsewhere but if they found a suitable program I would begin working for them. Fortunately, after reviewing my contract I noticed that it was expired. Has anyone ever had to sign one of these and has anyone ever been jipped out of a great opportunity because of it?

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Comments

astorrs

That wouldn't be legal in Canada so I can't comment, other than ro ask, is that common in the US?

royal

Well obviously that wouldn't matter with salary. But if you're an hourly worker, I wonder if that'd be illegal or legal. Because typically when I'm on the bench, I study and do labs and improve my skills to make me more marketable to upcoming projects or new technology.

blayjin

I was told by another recruiter that it was illegal but I wasn't sure if they telling me that so as not to lose me. I still have the copy of the letter and feel extremely violated because of it. At the time, I really didn't think of the consequences to come from signing the paper. I just wanted to see how many people have experienced this.

Kaminsky

does "bench employee status w/o compensation" mean they arn't paying you ? But if they find you a job, you have to take it ?

errr what ?

I work for very large IT company and we have a "Bench" for when your "out of role". ie The contract you were on ended but you haven't found another contract within the company yet. You still get paid and are allowed to stay at home mostly and study. Everything else is normal except you're not working on anything... Fabulous idea when I heard about it. Heard of one woman who had been on the bench on full pay for two years... I was flabbergasted.

However, your "w/o compensation" sounds very odd. Kind of sounds like they own you. Whatever piece of paper you signed, you don't have to take any job by any law in any land... That was called slavery and got abolished a while back.

Even as a permanent employee of many years, if your company decided they wanted you to work elsewhere and you didn't want to, you could always leave or put in a grievance as to why you shouldn't be made to go.

Sounds very odd. Glad that expired for you.

Lesson learned.