What More Can I Say?...

It's been three weeks since I received my letter from the New York Department of Labor. I'm relieved to say the judge ruled in my favor making it clear that Pratt Institute did indeed wrongful terminate me despite the fact that employers can hire and fire at will in New York state. Repeat: New York employers can fire and hire for so much as a hair being out of place. That's not good because what if someone is harassed on a worksite or reports dangerous conditions? Coming back from our trip to Springfield, MA the letter was a welcome sign. Darryl was elated but I couldn't help but feel this was a pyhrric victory. Believe me, I am far from sounding unappreciative when it comes down to the ruling. It took 3 months for this to come before an appelate judge even though I made it clear to the representative on my case that my rights as an employee had been violated. I have been evicted, forced to go on public assistance, and lost my dignity and what little self-worth I had in the process. Furthermore, my level of stress was not alleviated by the trials I had to go through on a daily basis while attending their Back-to-Work program run by Goodwill Industries. I realized the first day that this was part of the government's way of using faith-based companies and non-profit entities to monitor and manage participants of public assistance. The ordeal was a ridiculous adult day-care program where you were treated often like cattle. Confined to a small classroom where you and 50-some other out of work individuals would innundated with job search strategies. The case managers and job developers didn't do their jobs properly in assisting those of us who wanted to get work and off welfare. Even if you came there with a resume and a degree in hand you were treated like a nameless piece of meat. After 6 weeks I still had no employment and the off-site HRA worker was threatening me with a WEP assignment, basically they assigned you a position within a city department where you worked for your benefits. Basically INVOLUNTARY SERVITUDE! Coming from a heritage/ethnicity where my ancestors were forced to become sharecroppers against their will this deeply disturbed me. Whereas I had made every attempt to find work, even on a daily basis I was still perceived and treated as if I were another parasite crippling the great American society. No one took into account the shitty economy, outsourcing, and/or even corporate nepotism that happens everyday. Even after receiving my letter of restoration of benefits I expressed my interest in leaving the program. Before I could say anything more I was confronted with the idea of paying back HRA for the money shelled out in public assistance and rent assistance. That's funny, I don't hear about the countless nations across the globe that have lent monies to our country putting the U.S.A. on a payment schedule. The was absolutely no sense of compassion or understanding. Here, I was announcing my departure from welfare and immediately going back on unemployment. The only thing they wanted to hear about was whether I would receive a lump sum payment or a weekly distribution of benefits. You can understand after my ruling why I stopped going abruptly. The people who work for Goodwill Industries are assholes and shiftless bags of putrid shit -not far from the people who work for the New York Department of Labor. For putting me through so much strife and debilitating my reputation the Pratt Institute needs to pay through their bleeding arsehole.