Bob Said:

how do employment agencies work and should i reveal my personal info ( social number ) to them?

We Answered:

Employment Agencies are in the business of providing client companies with their labor force. They act as a conduits between Companies looking for additional staffs or workforce and those who are looking for a job. There are companies or businesses that do not have a recruitment department in their organization and would rather tap the services of an employment agency to do the recruitment for them. The employment agency gets paid for each hired referral. It is normal for an employment agency to ask for personal information from a person who approaches them looking for a job. These are necessary in order for them to screen job applicants and match them with the company's requirements. They need to know from a job applicant information like educational background, work experiences, skills, trainings, and last salary (for those previously employed) among others. By asking you to provide this information just shows that they are doing their job.

Regarding the Social Security Number, it is a government requirement that all employees have one. An employment agency would ask you to provide them one to make sure that you are a legitimate applicant. A company caught hiring a person without social security will get in trouble with the government.

What you should look out for.

1. When accepting a job offer through an employment agency, make sure to know who is the employer, Is it the client company? or is it the employment agency? There are cases when companies would contract an employment agency to fill in a labor force need. In this case, you do not become an employee of the company you will be working for, instead you are contracted by the employment agency to do the job for a client company. It would be the employment agency that will pay you for the job that you do for the company as they get paid by the company for filling their labor needs. In such a case, you do not have an employer-employee relationship with the company that you will be working for, lest get the benefits due its employees. The company can let go of you anytime they feel they don't need your services anymore and they would not be liable for illegal dismissal of an employee without cause, because on the first place there was no employee-employer relationship to talk about. All they need to do is to tell the employment agency to pull you out.

2. Watch out for the words "Contractual", "Temporary", and "Probationary" in your appointment papers. The first two means that the position is not for the long hull, while the third implies that the company may exercise their option to let you go if you do not live up to their expectation after a period of time.

3. Look at the "Salary" clause of your appointment papers. Make sure that it is the one that you and your employer agreed upon before signing the papers. Make sure that there are no deductions that was not agreed upon previously.

Wendy Said:

Is a Californian who´s never worked in the US entitled to UI, unemployment insurance?

We Answered:

No, you're not entitled - no one paid IN for you.


I'm thinking, California isn't a very good place to be looking for a job.

William Said:

What is my responsibility when I see a "fake" social security or other identification that is fake?

We Answered:

I personally would NOT refuse employment based on my own assessment of the document's validity. This would open you up to a potential lawsuit in the case that you are wrong.

If you do suspect it to be falsified, you should report it to the authorities. Since this would appear to be mostly aliens (probably illegal, since they are allegedly using falsified documents) I would report it to DHS/ICE (Dept. of Homeland Security/Immigration and Customs Enforcement).

If your boss, or anyone at your company threatens you in ANY way for doing this, you then can have them prosecuted and also bring a civil lawsuit against them for wrongful termination.

I think you know what the right thing is here and the main concern is losing your job. I understand that, but can you live with yourself if you aid these people in what you believe to be fraud? Keep in mind that you can be prosecuted for this if it can be proven you knew about it, and if your company/boss is prosecuted, you may lose your job as a result, as well. The best bet here (and always) is doing what is right. Don't break a law.

Bonnie Said:

what's the average hourly wage for social work assistant?

We Answered:

Between £6.50 and £7.00 an hour. Some places will only pay £6 an hour. I work in London and the south-east.
Agency staff get almost double, but the drawback is that a lot of places are cutting back on agency staff because of the cost. Bank workers can also earn a bit more than £7 an hour, but the shifts cannot be guaranteed. I worked somewhere as bank staff, and I was able to book 5 shifts, but during the week these shifts were almost completely removed because contracted staff would cross out my name and put their own (contracted staff have priority).

Irma Said:

Employment agencies the have a right to ask for Social Security Numbers for a Background Checks?

We Answered:

Employer's have the right to ask for your SSN.
You have the right to refuse.
They have the right not to give you any work.

Bernice Said:

Is it legal for christian humanitarian groups to only hire christians?

We Answered:

1) Is it legal for christian humanitarian groups to only hire christians?

Depends on the country. In the U.S., most non-profit religious groups are permitted to discriminate in hiring on religious grounds because religious freedom (religious beliefs) supersede freedom from discrimination. Example: a Roman Catholic school that hires an atheist Religion teacher. Example: a Jewish school that hires a neo-Nazi History teacher.

The best-known case is the Boy Scouts / homosexual leader thing. The Boy Scouts was determined legally to be a religious-based organization and so was permitted to reject homosexuals for such a position because *requiring* the group to hire or otherwise employ someone that violated the group's religious beliefs was deemed to be a violation of that group's religious freedom.

- Jim, http://www.bible-reviews.com/

Cody Said:

Does have knowledge on how employment affects Social Sercurity benefits?

We Answered:

This explains all the rules:
http://www.socialsecurity.gov/redbook/en…
If you don't want to read it online, pick one up at any SS office, which is also the best place to get a definitive and authoritative answer to your question.