Calling legal eagles: Employment query

[Bikerdude]

This has been bugging me all evening and now its 2am -

1. After a mixup of the interview address by the agency, I attended an interview on Monday for a 6 month contract as a Mac Engineer for a media company.
2. I get told that evening I secured the contract, great or so I thought.
3. Tuesday Morning I get an email asking to for the usual info, ID, Address, references etc.

4. Tuesday evevening I get an email asking if I can attend an informal interview, but the person emailing me has included part of an internal email Trail, where I saw who I was interviewing agaisnt (roles eyes). And at that point I fire off an email asking who exactly am I going to be working for?!

5. So thus far in this convelouted little web we have the following - Me>Umbrella Co>Agency>Media Co>IT Solutions Provider (ITSP)>Parent Company. Parent Co owns the Media Co and the ITSP provide IT support to it. In short I will be contracted to work for the ITSP, in essence a sub contractor to the Parent Co.

6. Then on Wednesday I get another email with the contract to sign and a pre-employment-screening(PES) form, but the PES is from the Parent Co. so I fire back an email -

"The security check, should have been stated as a requirement on the Job ad, or at the very least mentioned before I went for the interview. And as the role is a non-financial/non-law role and its it for 6 months, why am I being asked to give some 3^rd party company access to private and privileged information"

1. Then after a speaking to the Parent Co. and doing some research online I consent to the PES.

2. Then today I get another email asking me meet some Director from the Parent Co and to bring along 2 forms of ID and Something with my NI number on it. So now I am fireing of another email -

# What is the purpose of tomorrows visit exactly? Originally the Friday meeting was to meet <insert name> from <the ITSP> and there was no mention of needing ID for that.

# Why am I having to bring ID that is a duplication of the ID that I will be giving via the PES check?

# Why is <Parent Co.> asking for a copy of my Ni number? I am not working directly for them nor are they processing my wages. In fact there is no mention of NI number on the PES form. As I see it the only party entitled to my Ni number is the umbrella co. as they are the ones paying my NI & Tax.

 

I have attempted to be flexible and cooperative and against my better judgement I have consented to the PES check, but the goal posts keep moving. First it was the interview address mixup, then is was getting the PES at the last minute and now it’s the above.

 

I have never before has this many issues after a successful job offer, and this role isn’t even permanent. And correct me if I am wrong as far as <Parent Co.> are concerned I am sub-contractor. So <Agency> or <ITSP> should have been the ones to do the PES, not <Parent Co.>

 

The rate for this role isnt great either, being slightly below the bare minimum for working in central london. Should I just rescind my permission for the PES and get confirmation in writing that any/all my private info is destroyed and just away from this..?

[SteveL]

With such a long supply chain involved, the high level of scrutiny doesn't surprise me. It's quite likely that at least one of those companies has an insurance policy that requires it, or gives a blanket assurance to their customers that they perform these checks on all employees who might end up seeing the customer's commercial confidential information.

[Bikerdude]

Well after getting a ultimatum email this morning I did what I have should have done before now and told the angency no thanks.

[OrbWeaver]

Walk away. They're clearly disorganised and incompetent, and would most likely treat you like shit if you worked there.

[demagogue]

Yeah, there are probably agent-principal obligations they have to meet, and they weren't very organized themselves about it. So they probably aren't trying intentionally to be assholes but figuring things out as they go, and they end up pulling this kind of thing. But if it's already a pain for you now, it'll probably continue to be so, so you did the right thing for yourself.

[Bikerdude]

Well would you beleive I have now gotten a nastly email from the agent, so have had to bcc the main email address of the agency in an effort to get this guy to get the hint.

[Bikerdude]

So to finally wrap up this stress ball, I just got a call from a senior manager at the agency apologising for the whole situation, which was totally unexspected.