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Mental Anguish

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C

cbbrown

Guest
What is the name of your state? Alabama

I have been working for a company for six months. Ever since they hired a new supervisor for my division, a lot of the girls and myself have been harrassed (no evidence) and driven to either quit or they have been fired (including myself). I was told that I was being fired for insubordination because I stood up for myself and was tired of being accused of things that I did not do when there was proof to back me up.

I have had to go on two different anti-depressants because of the mental torment I went through the last two weeks of my employment. My nerves have become very touchy, and my self-esteem has been driven into the ground so far that I don't know if it will ever surface again. I would like to know if there is any legal recourse available to me.

Please help.
 


Beth3

Senior Member
If you believe that you have developed a health condition as a result of your job or work environment, then your recourse is to file a claim for worker's compensation with your employer. If they accept liablity for the claim, then they would pay your medical, therapy, and related bills. WC does not recognize any claims for mental anguish and typically WC is an employee's SOLE recourse for injuries and illnesses caused by the job. Establishing causation for mental health claims due to work is quite difficult.

There is a civil cause of action referred to as intentional infliction of emotional distress recognized in some (not all) states. The standard for that is quite high however. It is very unlikely that the boss being a jerk is going to come anywhere near meeting that standard. You will need to speak to an attorney practicing in your State to determine if your State recognizes IIED and if so, what the legal standard is.

As far as the harassment you say you and your co-workers have been subjected to, that is not against the law unless the harassment is BECAUSE of an employee's membership in a protected class (age, gender, race, religion, national origin, etc.) The boss can treat you badly inspite of those factors, just not because of one of them. It sounds more like your boss is an "equal opportunity jerk," as opposed to singling anyone out for his abuse because of one of those factors.
 

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