Akima Infrastructure (AIS)

[stewdill]

AIS is a fairly new contractor for DOE. Let me tell you how terrible they are and under no circumstances should you work for them. Let us start with day 1. Day 1 I was asked to attend a two hour orientation. I arrived and it was about a two hour orientation. Which, included filling out paper work and having a slide show presentation about how great their company was. At the end of the orientation I asked would the two hours reflect on my first pay check. I was told they were not paying us for orientation? Their answer was be thankful you have a job. I should of run then ... I really should have.

Skip ahead a few weeks I was required to have Hazwoper class. When I asked how they planned to pay for it I was told that I would be reimbursed for the class about a month after I turned in the bill. Class cost
was almost 700 dollars. I just started the job and had yet to receive my first paycheck! I told the  house manager where I worked that I could not attend the class because I could not afford it. And by a miracle they were able to pay for it for me.

Let's skip ahead 6 months when people started to want to take vacation. We were promised 80 hours our first year. When we tried to take vacation they told us it was paid on our anniversary date.... Wait a min I was in a two hour orientation and this was never mentioned? Well we will let you guys take 40 hours this year before your date. Look how nice we are? Then people started taking it and they changed their mind after the vacation was taken So those people lost pay.

I have never met the site coordinator who actually lives in the same city that the contract is. We are expected to follow rules and regulations that they impose on a moments notice. Often they tell us that something is a rule when it is convenient for them. They will follow up with documentation that employees have never seen until that point.

We were told we would be getting raises based on performance reviews and then we found out everyone got the same percentage of raise regardless of performance. It was a cost of living raise....
Speaking of vacation again turns out it wasn't paid out on anniversary date as they stated but two weeks after anniversary date. Which for people who planned to take vacation were put in a bind. They were told to take sick leave for that time. Vacation time does not accrue...... you quit before your year is up you lose it all. But you better believe they get the money from the company you contract for. I was often ripped off out of over time. It often lined up with holidays. So I was told Holidays can never be overtime. Therefore they paid me straight time for my over time.

They charged almost 600 a month for insurance. Any communication with them was often hostile. The site coordinator would call people and yell at them. YES YELL.


I am going to cut this short. But as a person who has been a contractor for Many years and for Many companies. I will tell you to stay FAR away from AIS.

[Chimera]

and yet . . . apparently . . . you stayed there a whole year