Keswick resident Adam Squires said he remains frustrated after losing out on a job he thought he was getting at the new Loblaws logistics and distribution facility in East Gwillimbury.
Squires said he received a verbal job offer from a recruiter after an interview process, only to find out that the warehouse worker job did not materialize. Squires tried to push Loblaws to make that job offer happen after already having given two weeks notice to his previous employer.
Several weeks later, Squires said no job has materialized with the company, even after he applied during another hiring blitz from the company.
“I’m just tired of being pushed around. It’s happened time and time again,” he said. “I’m just tired of it.”
Squires had found himself without a job after arriving on what he thought would be his start date and was told the man who recruited him was no longer working with the company. Squires has repeatedly attempted to contact Loblaws and explore all avenues related to the matter.
But nothing has worked. Squires said Loblaws has stopped returning his messages. An attempt to get in on the second round of hiring Loblaws has done for the new facility in recent weeks wasn't successful. Squires further said that he has been told possible legal avenues would be “too uphill” from lawyers.
Now, Squires is unemployed and said he is struggling to find work at this time of year.
“I actually am lost here,” he said. “My whole future plan that I had originally is literally shot to heck … I wanted to get a mortgage and this and that. I can’t get a mortgage.”
A Loblaws spokesperson previously said it does not make verbal offers in its hiring practices, and there would be secondary interviews and a background check before hiring someone with a written contract. The company said there was no verbal offer in this case and the situation was due to a “misunderstanding.”
Squires said he disagreed with that idea. He said he has played back what happened in his mind, wondering where he made a mistake, but it was clear to him the recruiter was making an offer.
“I ain’t no idiot,” he said. “That’s not something you misunderstand about, and it wasn’t just one thing that was said, it was many things … I question myself and keep thinking about it, and I’m like, ‘No, I can’t be doing that because it’s not my fault.’”
Squires said he has been employed for the last 16 years. He said he has faced struggles before and can find a way through.
“We’re tough. We can figure it out,” he said. “I’ve been there. I’ve been where it looked really bleak. I know I’m going to get through. It’s just frustrating.
He said he hopes others can learn something from his experience.
“It’s not even about me anymore. It’s about big companies like this doing this,” he said. “This happened to me, this could happen to 100 people. I don’t want other people to go through this.”