Lost in Translations.com/ The Transperfect Lawsuit

A corporate divorce drama worthy of a screenplay. The saga of Co-CEO's Phillip Shawe and Elizabeth Elting. 

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New York Judge on Transperfect: At Some Point Someone's Gotta Go.

While the judge dismissed the motions to have Transperfect dissolved, he did say, "Mr. Shawe and Ms. Elting clearly no longer have a healthy working relationship. The solution to this problem may very well be for one of them to leave, or to sell the enterprise. The court is unmoved, however, by Ms. Elting's argument that Mr. Shawe initiated the series of contretemps that have gone on during the past year. It is not clear who drew first blood. The court observes misbehavior by both parties."

The Aftermath of the Transperfect Lawsuit

It's been clearly documented that the only way to get ahead within Transperfect's toxic corporate culture is not to do your job and perform the duties to which you are assigned, but rather, pick a side. This is a company that openly insults employees simply for doing what they are told.

What do you say to a Transperfect boss who threatens neurological harm, termination, and harassed an employee to the point of having to have a restraining order filed?

What do say when you get a raise, only to have it reversed? Or that you've been offered a job by one boss, only to find out it never happened from the other?

No True Resolution from the Transperfect Lawsuit

The people working within Transperfect deserve better than this. Even though the court decided, "Under these circumstances, it certainly is not the court's place to step in and resolve the ongoing problems by excluding Mr. Shawe from management of TPI." No one's going to walk away from this as if it were the waste of time it truly was. Transperfect is going to continue to fight amongst itself. As days go by, more news sources are continuing to pick up the story, shedding light to these horrific and self-destructive practices with no sign of improving morale for the employees who work long hours to get by.

If you're considering working with these people, you should definitely know what you're getting into.

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Transperfect Lawsuit Has A Lot at Stake. However it seems they care more about themselves than their employees

How hard must it be for Transperfect's employees to endure the in-fighting and manage to keep the company profitable? With much at stake including the continued services of various Fortune 500 companies, employee morale is the very backbone

The real travesty is the fact that this matter has been swept under the rug and placed on the backburner to the deadlocked legal struggle between the two CEOs.

According to Translations Ethics, a website dedicated to outing bad practices by Translation companies, "SWEATSHOP alert.... There was so much to say about the translation agency Transperfect that I decided to create a special entry for them. The complaints from translators seem endless. As a matter of fact, this company has very unethical methods and its business model seems to revolve solely on the systematic exploitation of its translators, who get paid under 4 cents per word. Their greediness knows no bounds and they have made a huge fortune finding ingenuous new ways to pay their contractors less. Even ProZ Blue Board cannot manage to salvage TP's reputation as the "likelihood of working again" earned by TransPerfect from its translators between January 2009 and the present is barely 24%. They even sometimes go as far as banning them. It appears that in fact, they sometimes have trouble paying their translators. And above all, who still hires this company but unaware clients who have been told translation is a cheap, quick, and automated process? But even if they end up collapsing under the weight of their shame, Liz Elting and Phil Shawe wont die of starvation like their cheap labour, since their gross profits amounted to $221 millions just for 2009, and $300 millions in 2011. TP is actually the 4th biggest language services company in the world, see this report on the profits made in 2011."

It's bad when your Human Resources Resigns -AND- your Public Relations firm, Metis, leaves your company over your Co-CEO drama. But what is being done to ensure a more positive experience for the employees? It sure isn't coming from the top.

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Transperfect Co-CEO's File Lawsuit Against One Another. Here are some of the Ugliest Emails on the Matter

A great portion of Ms. Eltings case aginst Mr. Shawe, as seen here is in regards to the harassment of the company Treasurer.

On repeated occasions he has locked her from her office, had her network access removed, and kept her from coming to work to perform her duties--even at the risk of missing the payroll and endangering the timely payment of the company's employees. As exemplified by this 2013 Blogger, there is a culture of blame brewing within Transperfect. Here are some emails to prove it. 

Ms. Elting wrote to HR that the Treasurer:

"says she has nothing left to say on the matter. She already told Phil [that] he has made her feel suicidal recently and that she wanted to jump out of her office window because of Phil's actions.  She also said that her neurologist just told her last week that her blood pressure is very high.  Please remember that she had a stroke in the office ten years ago. "

The abuse got so bad that the company's head of HR had this to say:

"I cannot be complicit in this pervasive and continuous hostile environment where inappropriate behavior impacts the morale, health and well-being of myself and the staff continues.   My continued counsel concerning this behavior has had no effect to remedy the situation.

Therefore we need to address what, if any role I will continue to play and in what capacity, with this organization."

He resigned soon after. Nevermind that the treasurer had survived a stroke and has to frequently seek professional assistance. That doesn't stop the Co-Owner of the company from emailing her:

"You know you were not supposed to do this...and  you intentionally fucking did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DO   YOU    UNDERSTAND    THIS   YOU      CRAZY PERSON.

THIS       IS      MY       GODDAMN       MONEY,       MY COMPANY, AND YOU REPORT HALF TO ME...

Perhaps   your  shrink   will  have  a  position  for  you, because TransPerfect isn't  going to.

This payroll fuck up is the last straw."

In case you were wondering, what's the company policy on angry emails?

The Employee Handbook includes a "Statement  of Respect," which states:

"TransPerfect   strives   to   provide   a  work   environment   that   is conducive to quality client service, good morale and a high level of productivity.   We are expected to treat fellow employees ... with courtesy  and  to  resolve  any  differences  in  a  professional,  non­ abusive, and non-threatening  manner.

 Disruptive,  unruly, or abusive behavior/language  by employees in the   workplace   will   not   be  tolerated.      Inappropriate   conduct includes  verbal  or physical  threats,  fights,  and obscene  or intimidating behavior, as well as any other abusive conduct."

In fact their termination policy says:

"Grounds for termination for cause include but are not limited to: ... dishonesty, poor performance, deliberate infraction of TransPerfect policy,  . . . inappropriate/excessive  use of E-mail/Internet  access, insubordination,  intoxication,  . . . physical  violence,  theft,  illegal acts and other offenses of a similar nature...."

Stay classy, Phil.