can i post about a mean employer?

Well who stops you? As long as it is the truth it should be ok.
Iris

They on the East End in St Thomas?
RL

I second that. If you did nothing wrong then you don't have a problem. If you were fired for good reason according to both Federal and local labor laws then you do have a problem.

If you think you were unjustly fired then you can go to the Labour Board, fill out the necessary forms and go from there,

Having "a mean employer" really isn't legally just cause and, unless you're absolutely sure that you have a viable case which could withstand legal scrutiny then go for it!

But you're certainly able to post your comments on this board as long as you post facts which are verifiably true to the best of your personal knowledge.

Hope I've helped.

YES they are on the east end of STT...

Jeyan Stout of Coldwell Banker Stout Realties is awful. she's at the anchorage condos in nazareth. use a different realtor if you're buying, and apply elsewhere if you want a job in that field! it was the longest 3 months of my life working for her and i felt like an abused, kicked-around dog. she has no respect for her employees and yelled at me in front the other staff members when I told her i was quitting. she's unreasonable and rude and at times i felt she was unethical in her business practices.

there's my $.02

I say we should all post about mean employers. Warn All.
There are alot of nice people on this island. But I have also ran into a few meanies.

Warn Us Please

While I am a fan of full disclosure and the power of the internet to provide full disclosure to the world at large, I just wanted to remind everyone that the St. Thomas community is VERY small.

If you intend to publish a review or commentary concerning an employer, please let it be thought out, absolutely truthful and well-supported by the evidence.

Saying someone is rude or brusque is on thing; implying unethical behaviour is another.

Just my .02c

BTW, does everyone know they can edit their own posts?

Also, here is an anecdote:

Recently, someone posted that they were looking for a new position b/c they parted ways with their employer due to "creative differences". I am personal friends of the poster's employer, so last time I was in their establishment I noted how disappointing it must have been to have lost him.
What a shock for my friends! The guy was still employed there and had given two weeks notice allegedly because he didn't want to do this work anymore; yet he is posting on a website looking for a new job in the same capacity. This was hurtful for my friends and probably embarassing for the guy (when confronted).

As my friend told me when I moved here, never say anything you aren't prepared to be confronted with.
Assume your next door neighbor, the lady in the post office, the guy next to you in the restaurant, anywhere...IS RELATED TO, OR KNOWS, the person of whom you speak.

Onika, I certainly hear your warnings (that's why i was reluctant to post about this in the first place). I think if you asked around about the particular person i wouldn't be the only one with this opinion. But I seriously feel guilty not warning people about working there...

I don't want to get into specifics because I'd be outing the clients (who are VIP STT community members) about how i was asked to treat them. They stopped working with her as a result and I had to personally call them after hours and explain that I hadn't wanted to make the call that I was forced to make... I had a relationship with these clients outside of the office (babysat for them) and was mortified that my own integrity was compromised for Jeyan Stout's business... I know i'm making a lot of sense since I'm being vague so take it as you will. no pressure, just info.

Dear Question,

You sound and write as though you're very stressed. Although this is probably not much help to you right now, I moved here 21 years ago to work in a field in which I really had no experience. However, having worn many diverse hats in my life under all of which I'd been quite successful, I opted for the move, learned the job I was hired to do very quickly - and then discovered with alacrity that my employer was an amoral person.

Amoral people are very difficult to deal with and I'd never dealt with that ilk before. I've certainly met more than I want to in the Virgin Islands... Amoral people have no conscience at all. They're invariably well-educated, kiss community cheeks, and they open up their homes for society get-togethers. But there is nothing under that facade. I was fired after three months in the middle of a major rainnfall deluge and that was devastating. I'd moved here with a dog and a cat - oh well, that's an old story.

On a good note, I was fortunate enough, as a newbie, to find an awesome position which I absolutely enjoyed for 10 years. And I've been doing my present t'ing for 10 years. Whether I'm happy or not doing what I'm doing right now - well, I'm not really sure but I'm Working on it!

If you need some help then there are people on this board who can try and give you some direction. It might seem like the end of the world right now but it's absolutely not!

I was very sad to hear that you had a bad experience working with a Realtor. I have not met the agent you named and do not know the specifics of the situation, so I won't attempt to comment on what has occurred at the office where you were working.

I do know that one of the things that has been most difficult for me about working as a Realtor in the USVI is that while there are some awesome real estate agents in the islands, there are also some who don't have as good a grasp on what they're doing as they should have. Unfortunately, there is an odd licensing situation in the USVI that is different from how agents are licensed in any state on the mainland.

Most people do not know that to become a real estate agent in the USVI, there is no requirement for the applicant to have any knowledge of real estate or to take any classes to learn even the basics. Applicants can apply for a "temporary" license and work for six months without ever taking a licensing examination. Additionally, any lawyer who wants a Broker's license can have one simply for the asking, even if he/she has no experience with real estate law or sales. They can then sign up new agents to work under them, but may not have someone available to train them.

The lack of education and training programs means that most newly licensed real estate agents must figure everything out for themselves. Some are fortunate enough to find a good mentor at the company where they sign up to work. Others are thrown to the wolves. I think most have the best of intentions, but not everyone is a "natural" at something that does take a specific set of skills to do well.

These new (often untrained) agents are set loose to work with the general public. There have been a lot of comments on this message board about agents who are non-responsive and/or don't seem to really know what they're doing. Now you know why. That is not to say that all new agents are clueless and all long-time agents are great.

Agents who worked in real estate elsewhere before moving to the USVI have gone through a variety of required training in the past and typically have had ethics drilled into them early in their real estate careers. Still, ethics are a personal value that some people have and others do not. Some new agents have worked in other types of sales and make an easy transition to real estate. Some long-time agents have managed to stay in business despite themselves.

Many people decide to get into real estate because they hear that there is good money to be made. They don't think it will be all that tough a job to sell someone a house if they already want to buy one. They mistakenly believe that they can work an occasional afternoon showing a house or two and then the commission check will show up while they kick back on the beach with a rum punch. The reality is that working in real estate, as in any sales career, is a lot of hard work requiring endless juggling of details and scheduling conflicts, plus being on call 24/7, to do well.

You're always wise to have a long talk with an agent you are considering working with to make sure there is a personality match and that they will be dedicated to providing you with good service. Buying and selling real estate is a very stressful process. A good relationship with your agent can make everything go so much smoother.

Again, I want to end this posting by stressing that I do believe there are quite a few very high-quality agents in the USVI. I am not bashing anyone in particular. I'm saying there is a problem with the system of licensing real estate agents that has unfortunate effects on some buyers and sellers... and sometimes on people who take jobs working with real estate agents in positions such as property management assistants.

I hope the person posting about the problem she had with a real estate agent has a much better experience with the next realtor she does business with!

I do not live on island. I do not think a forum is a good place to post comments that Question posted. As far as I know it could be a disgruntled employee. This is the internet folks!!

So Question goes ahead and names the employer. I think it only fair that Question tell who she/he is.

Wouldn't that be fair.

/just saying

Signed
An Employer

I don't know why it would matter who Question is. I realize that anonymity may have helped Question to speak up but I can't imagine that there is anyone out there who wouldn't take the information with the grain of salt on both parts. The forum is for any and all information that may help or inform new residents or those planning to relocate. This post falls into that category.

Actually, Kelly, I don't really care who Question is by name. But since she/he mentioned named don't you thing it's fair play.

In fact the strange thing is that since he/she did mention someone by name on an internet site which means you can hide, there could be a question of slander. So if whoever she mentioned had the good fortune of being lawyer savvy and a few bucks that person may have the impetous to have some fun at Questions expense.

Now as far as I'm concerned it's no big deal and in fact nothing really mattered today since USC did in the end BEAT Notre Dame.

Dear Promoguy,

"Question" asked a valid question and was answered in considerable detail and I think very helpfully. Thank you, Alexandra Marshall. for your very insightful and on the ball response.

Promoguy, with all due respect and since you don't live on island and maybe don't understand the quirky nature of these islands, I too feel that Question's identity is irrelevant. He/she was simply frustrated and asked for help. Rest in content that USC beat Notre Dame. Is that football or baseball or basketball or something else? Cheers.

Although I do not live on island, believe me I know lots about what goes on. I do quite a bit of business on island if you will. And usually visit, once or twice a year. I have many friends on island.

So don't tell me that because I don't live on island my comments are not important.

I in fact wasn't commenting on whether or not he/she couldn't make a general comment. My comments were about the specifity of the persons name being mentioned. Again, this is the internet and one must be careful.

In fact I know that two of the posters on this forum that have businesses on STT. How about if if I came on here and anonymously trashed them, right or wrong.

And silly you, you knew what the sport was.

I don't know if the same laws apply, as in the states. But in the states, a employer or former employer can't even tell a prospective employer something bad about a former employee without taking the chance of being sued. Let alone post their name on a web site.
That being said, I don't think it's fair to do the opposite about a employer.

ALEXANDRA - You say VI Real Estate Agents can get a license "without ever taking a licensing examination." But here's what the VI Board of Real Estate Commission website says:

"All persons interested in being a licensed in any area of the Real Estate industry are required to sit an examination. ... each candidate must earn at minimum a score of 70% on each portion before they can be licensed in the Virgin Islands. ..."
Source: http://www.dlca.gov.vi/recrequirements.htm

So Who's Telling The Truth?

If it's you, I hope you will be contacting the Board soon about this misrepresentation they've posted on their website. And I hope you're actively gathering support to force the Board to stop issuing these "temporary" RE Sales licenses.

QUESTION - Thanks For Sharing Your Experience. We should have zero tolerance for unethical business activities.

Now gather up your detailed facts of these unethical actions of your former RE Broker boss and file a WRITTEN complaint with the VI Board of Real Estate Commission. Let these regulators take it from there.

Here is their contact info:

boards@dlca.gov.vi

OR

V.I. Board of Real Estate Commission
Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs
Golden Rock Shopping Center, Christiansted
St. Croix, VI 00822

Perhaps this wasn't the best place to post about my experiences with an employer. I definitely understand your skepticism of anonymous online posts. I've said my piece, can now feel better than I've given warning to job seekers out there, and now I'll bow out of further conversations about this topic.

Yes, to get your permanent license, you do need to take and pass the examination. However, you can work with a TEMPORARY license for a period of time before taking that exam.

To change how the licenses are issued would require a change in USVI law. That's a long-term project, not a fix that is going to occur any time soon.

And I know for sure that TEMPORARY licenses are allowed, because I had one until the testing agency could get around to scheduling my test. I applied asking to take the exam and get my permanent license from the start and was told that I might as well take the temporary license and get to work because scheduling the exams and getting the results also has some glitches in the system.

At any given time, there are typically 5-20 agents working with temporary licenses on STX. Some go on to become fully licensed agents and some do not. I do not know what the numbers are on STT and STJ.

Ten days ago, I was voted onto the Board of Directors for the STX Board of Realtors for 2006, so I should have more ready access to that kind of info within just a few months.