Another former employee emailed me with this telling tale, mostly about Don Kell:

Ok, first of all. I have been in collections for 15 years and have collected on everything from bad checks to student loans. I have worked for a division of Sallie Mae and have even been the Operations Manager over another collection agency. I know the FDCPA front and back and have been certified annually since I started in collections 15 years ago. I was making $80k/yr as an OM and lost the job due to downsizing and with all of my experience the best I could muster out of these people was $13.50/hr. I had to take it because of being unemployed and being hospitalized 3 months prior to this job. 

I had lethal staph infection that damn near killed me. It was 9 pockets of ooze that was 9.5" diameter by 4" deep less than 2" right of my spine and about 3" south of my shoulder blade. I still had a hole in my back from this surgery and was still being stuffed with gauze daily when I started work for these people and they knew it. 

The chairs they have at this place do not have arms on them which is an insurance liability, but they wouldn't know that because respectable call centers try to keep their employees safe. Anyways, not having arms on the chair hurt my back, so I asked if I could get a chair with arms. Don told me that they don't provide chairs with arms because it makes employees lazy. So I asked him if I could bring my chair from home and he said no. I even told him that I had a note from my doctor stating that it was necessary because of my wound. 

But Don had it out for me before I even started. When I interviewed with Sal and met Don, Don stated that he didn't even like hiring people with previous collections experience because they have bad habits. No... he doesn't like hiring people with previous experience because they know the law and won't break it. 

When I started working here there was only me and another lady named Ericka in the training class. Don would walk behind her and look down her shirt. And even when we were in the tiny office that they call a training room, which was a joke. Don was talking to someone about something and all we heard was something about him and his wife swinging. Which made both of us feel uncomfortable. Don was also trying to get me out of the room as much as possible so he could be alone with Ericka. She'd later find me at break or something and tell me that she felt sexually harassed because he would be looking down her shirt. She also quit around the same time I did. She even had her doctor make up a note so she could leave. We both got our 1st checks around the middle of July at lunch time and neither one of us came back.

The most screwed up thing is they collect for Via Christi and my doctor that said I needed the chair for my back is a Via Christi doctor. So that's slap at both an employee and a client really.