Just the Facts Part Three: Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) & MBO Partners (MBO)
In the last article, we left off where I had been onboarded with MBO under orders from BPA. We also saw how MBO deducted all the employer taxes and benefits from my earnings and claimed all of it as having been paid for by MBO on W2’s.
Here are the sections from the MBO Partners’ Employee Handbook referring to employee rights to workers compensation, reasonable accommodation, FMLA, and harassment free workplace.
The MBO Employee Handbook specifically stated that MBO provides Workers’ Compensation (WC) coverage in accordance with the provisions of state WC requirements, and as mentioned in the last article’s example paycheck, the coverage was all deducted from my earnings- none of it was paid out of MBO’s coffers.
Also described in the MBO Employee Handbook was information about the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
The Handbook specifically stated that all FMLA leave time would be without pay. Many employees utilize available sick and vacation pay when they invoke FMLA. In January, 2014, Portland’s Sick Time Rule went into effect. I verified that I was eligible for one week of sick time per this local rule, but was never paid for any sick, holiday, or vacation time by BPA or by MBO.
How would a worker be able to afford medical insurance while out on FMLA if the exorbitantly overpriced medical insurance premiums at $560 per month were still the responsibility of the worker while out on FMLA?
Reasonable accommodation was my passion and area of expertise. MBO’s reasonable accommodation policy specifically stated that employees needed to make their reasonable accommodation requests directly to MBO.
I knew that I could not make requests for reasonable accommodation or invoke FMLA through BPA because I represented BPA and coordinated reasonable accommodation exclusively for appointed federal employees. I also worked closely with BPA’s Leave Coordinator who also exclusively coordinated leaves for appointed federal employees.
Let’s take a look at how BPA reported its contract workers in Freedom of Information Act documents:
In this particular FOIA response, BPA did not identify the number of MBO employees working at BPA, but you can see that the MBO contract start date matches up to what I’ve shared in an earlier article.
As the work order (that I wasn’t aware of till early 2014) between MBO and BPA for my services as a temporary worker provided by MBO to BPA was full-time, I was one of 27 full-time workers provided to BPA by MBO.
Remember I said something happened between May and June, 2012? Please look at the email at the bottom of the following page which also continues on the next page.
Note the date of the email, May 8, 2012, and that I was to clear out timesheets in BPA’s Fieldglass system with non-billable codes (I was performing work for BPA through MBO and not allowed to bill for it from either BPA or MBO).
Now look at what happened on May 14, 2012, without my knowledge or consent:
You may recognize the name because Ms. Lukasik was one of the BPA employees who was involved with onboarding me to MBO and who was aware of the BPA contracted rates that MBO was supposed to payroll. A couple weeks later on June 1, 2012, this is the email I received from MBO:
Note that the reason for the change was “escalation in the automobile insurance coverage MBO is required to carry on behalf of BPA contractors”. Around that time, I had had a fender bender so I asked if MBO’s auto insurance covered my OTJ accident and was denied because the insurance coverage was for government vehicles only. This did not make sense. I believe that a private company cannot be held responsible for paying the auto insurance coverage of government-owned vehicles. The government is responsible for the insurance coverage of government-owned vehicles.
Now let’s look at what changed on the Fieldglass time sheets:
BPA was now paying MBO a little more per hour through their work order for my services (approx. $4.86 per hour). With my contract closed without my knowledge or consent, my rate remained at $95 per hour for the rest of my time at BPA, with all the employer AND employee taxes and benefits being deducted from my earnings by MBO.
After 12/31/2012, as compared to my original BPA contract, my rate effectively became less than $95 per hour because there were no increases as had been outlined in my original BPA contract.
To summarize this article, after May 14, 2012, I became an MBO temporary worker provided to BPA under their own terms and conditions that were unknown to me. What would you think if the company you were working for decided to pay you less than you agreed without telling you? Remember, I have no document from MBO stating my wage, salary, benefits, etc., yet I was an MBO employee under orders from BPA.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. In a future post, we will see how things played out as far as harassment-free workplace, reasonable accommodation, and FMLA.
“Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it.” — William Penn
“Karin P. Huffer, M.S., M.F.T. hypothesized the condition Legal Abuse Syndrome (LAS) as a form of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) caused by ethical violation, legal abuse, betrayal, abuse of power, abuse of authority, lack of accountability and fraud.” (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_abuse)
