Unethical Researcher, Inappropriate working conditions - Staff Research Associate II/Data Engineer/Project Coordinator UCLA Employee Review

1.0
30 Jun 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I was initially excited to meet the PhD and hear about his research, which involves novel approaches and embraces technology in a way traditional research usually doesn't. The work seemed intriguing and it seemed like there was potential for growth.

Cons

Immediately after I was hired, the only other staff member quit. They later confided in me that they had wished they'd been able to warn me before they left not to accept the job but they feared reprisal. The former employee alleges that he was borderline abusive and likely violated ADA at least once. In my time there, I was regularly gaslighted, an emotional abuse technique that has no place in the office or anywhere decent humans are. I was asked to do research work that was in direct violation of the IRB standards and requested to write papers that included unethical omissions and some outright lies. I was promised advanced technical work but we relegated to increasingly mundane tasks, like putting up fliers, and was put in charge of interns, who I was asked to overwork and lie to about what reasonable expectations of time and effort were. While hourly, I was asked to always be on call and responding that that was both illegal and an inappropriate expectation did not go over well. I soon left for another position after I saw him reduce a middle aged woman to tears and refuse to either fire her or not fire her but simply insisting 'we'll have to see'. I strongly advise all applicants to look for work elsewhere in the UCLA Health system.

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5.0
5 Jun 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good benefit, good pay, good location

Cons

bad work life balance, no promotion

2.0
5 May 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Decent benefits, but not really as great as everyone assumes. Some colleagues who really care and do great work. Impressive students.

Cons

Relatively poor pay and pay inequities. Extremely poor fiscal management - that CFO who was fired for outing it was spot on. Senior administrators and faculty are incentivized to spend a lot of money on things that serve few students and hoard resources to make themselves look good for performance reviews and tenure committees, but it means a lot of extra work gets dumped on a growing a number of mid-level administrators and support staff - who now face layoffs or added workloads. It's all strangling the university's ability to serve its students, but I know several faculty members simply don't care about students or teaching.

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