It’s time to speak, because I became a journalist precisely to help people, to give a voice to the voiceless, and to expose injustices.
In December, I was interviewed for a job at Stop Cardio because I wanted to sell defibrillators. The love of my life had died of a heart attack, and I told the company this. Since I’m a very good salesperson, I thought I could use my talent to help this company save lives, but I was wrong to trust them.
On December 22nd, they called me to tell me I’d been selected and would start working with them on January 7th. Since I wanted to help save lives—at least that’s what I thought I could do with this company—you can see how naive I was, I spent the entire Christmas holidays turning down other job offers because I’d already committed to working with them.
On January 22nd, they sent me an email with an employee form to fill out with all my information so they could create my contract, which I did. I asked if they would send me the contract or if I would have to go in person to sign it, and they replied that no, I would sign the contract on my first day of work, the 7th. First red flag: companies have to give workers their contracts before they start working, because the worker has the right to read them first to see if they agree with the terms.
On January 7th, my colleagues and I requested our contracts, but they refused to give them to us, claiming the company took a few days to process them. Excuse me, but if I sent all my information for the contract on December 22nd, I believe the payroll company had plenty of time between December 22nd and January 7th to prepare it, unless they’re slower than a snail… Second red flag: refusal to provide contracts to employees on their first day of work.
That first day they gave us a course, and the Human Resources director’s little talk was like listening to Pinocchio. This man boasted about having been an executive at insurance companies his whole life, which was a lie. Third red flag: looking at his LinkedIn profile later, I saw that this man had never worked at insurance companies, but rather at telemarketing companies like Konecta, where, incidentally, a few years ago a female employee died of a heart attack, and it was all over the news. Furthermore, I have friends at insurance companies who have already told me that this man has never worked for them.
After work that day, I went to the subway with some coworkers, and one of them said she’d recorded the whole course (thank goodness, so these people can’t lie now; well, they can, but without any credibility). Most of my colleagues were very pessimistic about the job; it hadn’t made a good impression on them, and they didn’t expect anything from the company: fourth red flag. I was still thinking that I could save lives.
The next day, when I woke up, I had a sprained ligament in my lower back, so I could barely walk: it’s all documented by doctors. Even so, I took an Enantyum hoping the pain would subside so I could go to work, but it didn’t. I went down to the clinic as best I could, and the doctor told me I couldn’t go to work like that and gave me a sick note.
I called the company to report my sick leave, and since they didn’t answer the phone, I sent them an email explaining what had happened and informing them of my sick leave. They replied telling me to rest and recover, while also asking me to send them my sick leave certificate. Fifth red flag: companies cannot ask employees to send them their sick leave certificates; they know that the National Social Security Institute (INSS) or the Social Security Administration sends them directly.
Late in the afternoon, the company sent me an email informing me of my dismissal for not passing the probationary period. Sixth red flag: they cannot dismiss someone for not passing the probationary period because, since it wasn’t formalized in writing or signed, there is no probationary period, and therefore, the dismissal is null and void. Furthermore, dismissing an employee immediately after they report sick leave is a null and void dismissal that violates fundamental rights because it is discriminatory, as it is obvious that the only reason for dismissal is the sick leave. Moreover, it cannot be a dismissal during the probationary period because, as the director of the employment office told me, they didn’t even have time to test me. And since the contract wasn’t formalized in writing or signed, legally what we have is an open-ended, full-time contract with no probationary period.
Days later, the director of the employment office printed out the employment contract they had sent to the office, and it’s completely illegal. I never saw or signed that contract; you can’t send a contract without the employee’s signature. Furthermore, they had drawn up the contract in the name of another company, Connect Cardio, which constitutes an illegal transfer of employees and also violates data protection laws, since they cannot transfer the data I gave them to create my contract to another company without my knowledge or permission. In addition, this is a suspected crime of document forgery, since they submitted a contract with my data to the employment office, Social Security, and the mutual insurance company, all under the name of another company—a company I didn’t even know existed, and which I never saw or signed. As you can see, at this point I’ve had to stop counting red flags…
I know that fellow journalists have tried to contact them to ask for explanations given the seriousness of the events, but have received no response. These colleagues are waiting to cover the relevant trials because, obviously, everything they’ve done is very serious.
At the first conciliation hearing, the Human Resources Director represented the company and approached me in a thuggish manner. Everyone saw it, and my lawyer is a witness. He said he wasn’t going to pay until a judge ordered it. To this day, almost two months later, I haven’t received a single penny.
The other day there was another conciliation hearing, which my lawyer attended, and that same individual showed up again, without resolving anything, and asked my lawyer if he wanted me to contact him. Well, look, no, you don’t need to talk to me anymore; you need to talk to my lawyer, who has the power to act on my behalf. I’ve already wasted enough of my time. But this man seems to have no respect for me, my lawyer, or anyone else. Besides, this man hasn’t even been with the company for a year, and he seems to think he’s going to inherit it so he can act this way…
In ten days we have another mediation, another waste of time, because it’s obvious these people still refuse to rectify their mistakes after carrying out a dismissal that violated fundamental rights, illegally transferred workers, allegedly committed forgery, and falsely dismissed me during a non-existent probationary period, etc., etc. But instead of admitting it and paying, they prefer to clog up the courts, wasting the time of the judge, my lawyer, and me.
Given this attitude, the judge should issue an exemplary ruling so that no company ever acts in such an unethical manner again.
The lawsuits against Stop Cardio and Connect Cardio have already been filed, along with a complaint for falsifying documents. A complaint to the Spanish Data Protection Agency is pending… But everything is in the hands of my lawyer, because I have to get on with my life, and artists can’t be preoccupied with these things, because my readers and listeners are waiting for me.
The most paradoxical thing about this whole affair is that Stop Cardio’s motto is something like “we save your life,” yet they fire employees who get sick.
Furthermore, they’re so ridiculous that they tried to trademark something like “Stop Cardio, we save your life,” and it was rejected because, obviously, that’s not a trademark, but rather a slogan (this information is publicly available online). It seems they also lack competent marketing professionals to handle these matters. And, of course, they either don’t have a lawyer or theirs must be terrible, because any halfway decent lawyer would have already told them to pay up, that they’ve committed too many illegal acts to warrant a trial.
By the way, appropriate legal action has also been initiated against their agency for negligence in submitting a false contract to the employment office, Social Security, and the mutual insurance company. The contract, in the name of another company and containing my personal information, was never seen or signed by me. Things need to be checked before being sent… I hope neither companies nor individuals buy defibrillators from Stop Cardio. If they don’t even care about the health of their own employees… how can they possibly care about the health of others? Pure hypocrisy…
