I have, on two different occasions. Once for three years in the restaurant industry and two additional years in technical support. As the Arizona job market grows due to low cost of living and corporate friendly laws there are some things I feel folks should know.
First thing I recommend is to make yourself very familiar with what a Right to Work state is and think long and hard about anyone you take a job with. During my tenure at a popular chain restaurant I found the manager discussing and showing my personnel file to other employees then reported to Regional management. The regional VP showed up to have a discussion and decided this could be dealt with internally, refusing to transfer me to another store. Instead the requirements for my schedule changed two days before my semester started per the General Manager so I either withdrew from degree program or got a new job.
Second recommendation is to bring a voice recorder to work, it is common any complaints or political issues easily result in termination. Here is one recent scenario, I am a minority but took a job at a small SaaS company in Scottsdale where my boss, whom to be nice I will describe as a 28 year old virgin, refused to replace or fix a suddenly broken my headset after being turned down for a date. Any time I complained about pain due to answering my phone and needing to cradle the handset between my head and shoulder I was written up. Fought a few of the write ups and won having them take away.
This brings me to my third recommendation, if you are ever hurt at work in Arizona do not go to a Primary Care physician covered by your health insurance or insurance provided by the company. Instead the process to file paperwork and go to see a specific doctor that deals in workers compensation. This is where I hope folks can learn from my ignorance, my mistake was utilizing my health insurance per my boss's direction. The doctor I saw agreed about the injury cause but was not a worker compensation doctor and in hind sight that should have set off bells him emphasizing this point. I of-course followed his treatment guidelines however when asking for time off to go to my prescribed physical therapy was fired and get to pay off + $5000 PT bill for my troubles.
Here's hoping none else ends up a victim. Good luck & god bless!
