“I thought it was like a game of tag ,” explains Clio Almansa, recalling the moments before the fall that has left her on medical leave for over a year and led her to file a lawsuit against her former bosses . The company has since closed, but her complaint is being investigated by the Mataró Court of Instruction Number 5 and describes a personnel selection process that, at the very least, skirts the edge of legality. According to the complaint, the events took place on October 13th of last year, when the young woman, along with others, was applying for a sales agent position at Ecoline 2010, a company that sells vacuum cleaners and reverse osmosis systems.
The selection process sought to force competitiveness
At one point, the applicants were separated into three groups in a large room. In the center of the room, a company executive brandished a 50-euro note and, before dropping it, shouted that it would be "for whoever gets it" as part of "their first paycheck." Immediately, all the applicants scrambled for the note, and Clio, according to the lawsuit, "found herself caught in a swarm of people blinded by the desire to achieve the objective." As a result of the blows she received, the young woman suffered a spinal injury that required her to wear a back brace for almost two months and be on medical leave for a year.
"It was the greatest pain I have ever felt," Clio explains to EL MUNDO, and remembers that she also received blows to the head, legs and back.
'They didn't call the ambulance'
Clio Almansa points out that one of the managers at the company, located in Mataró, clearly saw that she couldn't get up, but even so, "they refused to call an ambulance ." The plaintiff, represented by Daniel Salvador of Vosseler Abogados, was finally accompanied to the emergency room by a colleague.
The fall took place at the company headquarters and was the culmination of a very unusual selection process. The incident involving the 50-euro note, in fact, occurred during the activities scheduled for the third day of the selection process, in which 40 people participated . It was a curious system: according to the lawsuit, the first few days focused on a motivational course for the applicants, which revolved around talks and presentations where everyone was instructed on the tasks they would have to perform as salespeople if they managed to pass the entrance exam. "They were motivational courses, with loud music, colored lights, and a lot of energy," Clio points out, recalling that they were trying to "raise the adrenaline" to improve sales.
They also subjected the applicants to the 'game of chairs'
On the day of the incident, the third day of the selection process, things took a turn for the worse. The applicants were led to a room with fewer chairs than the total number of applicants, with very loud music playing. They were told that "every time the music stopped, they had to sit down ; anyone who remained standing without a chair would be eliminated from the process." When there were fewer candidates, they were divided into three groups—two of men and one of women —and one of the managers stood in the center of the room holding a 50-euro note.
'Part of the first salary'
The complaint highlights that, before dropping it, he explained that the money would be part of his "first salary," so the lawyer believes that "he was implicitly warning that whoever got the ticket would get the only job offered."
The indictment highlights that, out of "shame and resentment," the company gave Clio an indefinite part-time contract on the very day she was injured, even though she was "unable to perform the duties" of the job as a result of the fall.
She was paid for the first month, according to the plaintiff, although "at no point" did they call to ask how she was doing. On November 21, she received her dismissal via certified mail, with the argument that she had not passed the two-month probationary period stipulated in her contract.
In her complaint to the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) in Arenys de Mar, Clio, now 24, stated that she felt " humiliated, degraded, and mistreated , and that she did things that, had it not been for the need to obtain a job, she would never have stooped to accept." The court, which has requested a forensic medical report to determine the extent of the injuries, is charging the company with assault and unjust harassment.
