I was hired as a dispatcher by Rural Metro in Aug. 2010. I was told when I was hired 1) I would start out being paid $9.50 an hr and would receive an increase of $0.25 per radio for 3 radios and 2) that I would need to be CPR certified w/in 90 days of being hired. When I asked where I could go to get my CPR certification I was told not to pay for it out of pocket, the company would see to it that I got certified.

I was rushed through training because the company was short staffed when I started and they fired 2 people and promoted 1 person shortly after I was hired. They sent me to nights w/1 other person before I had been fully trained and I ended up messing up my first 911 call bad enough that the medical director was contacted. So they put a 3rd person on nights w/us for ~ a wk and that was it.

After passing the 1st 2 radios I was never given my pay increases. They told us in a departmental meeting that the company would be hiring call takers to work 8 hr shifts M-F starting @ $8.50 an hr and dispatchers on all shifts for $10 an hr. And that they had to have previous experience. When I asked if they were going to send me through training w/the new hires I was told I could either obtain my pay increases or go through training. I opted for my increases as I had been working the 2 radios, call taking and acting as back up for 2 months @ that time. Although the new hires were given a CPR class I was not notified and continued to be uncertified in CPR past my 90 days of employment mark. In december I was told that I would not receive my pay increase until I completed the 3rd radio training which required me to go to several days of class. I asked when I was to be sent to this training and was told hopefully some time in the first quarter of the year. I was also told that more than likely I would only be brought up to $10 an hr instead of $10.25.

When I approached my manager's manager about not being CPR certified my manager pulled me in the office and told me I did not have to be CPR certified for my position. I pointed out to her that I DID have to be certified in order to attend the EMD training they were supposed to be sending me to some time in the first quarter of the year. She told me that I would not be being sent to EMD training any time soon as there were no classes being held locally and the company would not pay to put me up in a hotel out of town. I told her that presented a problem as my pay increases now depended on that training. She basically ignored me.

I brought up the fact that half the people in dispatch were not EMD certified and apparently were not going to be for a good while to my manager's manager at a "town hall" meeting and he said that was unacceptable. EMD (Emergency Medical Dispatch) training is where dispatchers learn how to ask the appropriate queations and give pre-arrival instructions to the people who call 911. My manger said it wasn't that big of a deal for us to be trained as we only did it as a courtesy for the counties we provided 911 to. One of my co-workers had been there 2.5 yrs and had never been through the training.

After going through all of this the company added insult to injury by firing me for something I posted to my state Senator's FB page while I was off the clock. My manager called on a Thur and told me I was on administrative leave, but refused to give me any explination other than we would discuss it on mon w/her boss. I was notified by text on sunday what time i was to be where on monday and once again she refused to tell me why i was put on leave. Her boss informed me that the company felt that my post in a public forum was dispariging toward the company and gave sensitive company information. The company had forced us to sign paperwork stating that we could not post our position w/the company or say anything bad about the company anywhere in public. I made my comments in reply to a thread my Senator posted concerning our state's EMS and I used my experience w/Rural Metro, a contract provider of 911 services in our state, to point out as a constituent my point of view. I was NOT trying to actin official capacity on behalf of the company.

Furthermore I found out that they had wanted to fire my husband as well, but because he was on duty when the event took place and they could not prove he was involved he was allowed to keep his job. As I hope to press charges against them for wrongful termination as well as for back pay and such I am still concerned that they will retaliate against him.

In conjunction w/the issues I had w/the company I watched as they told 4 of my co-workers that they would be "leads" which would give them $0.50 more an hr and allow them to get 8 hrs of OT every other week. While my "lead" was on duty my manager called her and told her that in fact these 4 people were no longer going to be called leads and their $0.50 "lead" pay had been terminated 3 days earlier. However, they were still expected to work the 12 hr shifts including the 95 and do the same duties. These positions had been put into place because they terminated the supervisor position in the department. One of the "leads" had been the only supervisor in the department so essentially was demoted twice.

Another co-worker asked if she could take a pay decrease to become a call taker so she could work a M-F shift and was told no, dispatchers, especially senior dispatchers, were not being allowed to go to call taking. However, a part time employee w/less seniority was allowed to take one of the positions because she lost her full time job elsewhere.

After one of the dispatchers transfered to the billing office it was made clear that no one else would be allowed to transfer out.

I was warned by previous employees of Rural Metro before I was hired that the company engaged in favoritism and fired people at the drop of a hat. I believed it was just angry ex-employees spouting off as my husband had never experienced these problems since he started in 2007. However, I experienced both first hand. Rural Metro in Indiana currently has been graded an F by the BBB for their billing practices and I wish there was somewhere they could be graded the same for their employment practices. I saw so much more go on that was probably bad business, but not illegal. They really don't care about anything, but making a profit.