So I thought you guys would like this:
Started a job in b2b debt recovery at NCO in early 2011. Base pay is £15k, advertised realistic bonus cap at £21k.
I start, am told bonus structure not yet implemented. I go along because I need the work. Within first two months I top the leaderboard daily and am praised by the client (AT&T) and senior management. It's a super easy job, all you do is call businesses and ask for a payment date for their telecoms bills.
After ten weeks the bonus structure is finally published. The cap is… £16.5k and the combination of requirements make it almost impossible to achieve while being based on unfair/unproductive metrics such as lowest call times and most calls per hour.
I complain to the boss about the bonus cap being £4.5k less than advertised and unachievable in full. She shrugs and tells me I have no recourse, it is what it is. I tell her I'll be taking it further.
The next day I get pulled into a meeting and told someone said I was overheard openly slagging off AT&T to a colleague. I say this is nonsense (which it was, I have no opinion about AT&T) & demand to see their evidence and confront my accuser. I'm told that isn't going to happen. I tell them this is harassment and I'll be talking to corporate.
The following day I get dragged into another meeting with my line manager and some guy I've never met and he sacks me over two half-day absences I had in month two (I sprained my shoulder). In the UK you can basically terminate an employee without cause at any time in the first 24 months so I ask why they couldn't have just called me telling me not to come in instead of wasting even more of my time. The answer becomes clear when the guy tells me I now have to go back to my desk and log out of my workstation and hand over my ID badge in full view of all the other staff, or I wouldn't get paid. I told him I wasn't going to play his sad little game, stood up and walked out of the building.
They did try to withhold my last paycheque over it so I rolled the dice, called payroll directly and said there must have been a mistake. They just checked my logged work hours and cut me a cheque for them.
I stayed in touch with a couple of the people there, apparently within three months the boss was terminated for gross misconduct and a few weeks later the entire department was liquidated. No bonuses were ever paid.