Past comes back to haunt you...

[whitey20]

What is the name of your state? Toronto, Ontario Canada

Hi, this is a problem which I thought was way behind me. About 8 years ago I worked in a company where it ended rather badly, my father had died and I was going through alot.

I worked in a management office where the supervisor became very bitter towards me and was really making it hard for me to work. Another manager who worked in the office began harrassing me for my sexual preference and though I was never open about my sexuality it became a real problem.

I would come in and find gay stickers stuck to my desk, or a gay magazine left on my chair, and at times a gay article clipped out of a magazine and left on my desk. It came to a point where people I worked with and there were many were talking. This was very difficult for me as I worked in an operations department and dealt with many trades people.

I was very uncomfortable and I decided approached human resources with a complaint against the two managers, they arranged a meeting which went nowhere and about 2 weeks after that an accusation by the manager was made that I had either messed up on petty cash or taken the money. This escalated and I did not admit to either as undoubtedly it was not the case.

My reporting manager knew and could see the situation and where it was arrising from and saw the over reaction from my supervisor on many occasions.

I made another complaint to HR in efforts to find a resolution, two weeks later they offered me severance and sent me off. The harrassment and situation around that were drowned and we both signed a non disclosure.

Now the problem is my new job 8 years later has just hired a new VP to the company and he works in my Portfolio. This man is the same VP from the company where I had those problems with the managers in the past and he does recognize me from there.

My question is can he in any way disclose to the company I work for now the details of that nightmare I went through and if he did what could be my recourse.

I am very, very afraid that this is going to end poorly. I have been at my present company for 2 years and I am paid very well and depend on this Job. The accusation made against me years ago was dropped and it was not at all true and the harrassment I experienced was quashed mutually in the non disclosure and release when I left that company. At that time this VP was the VP of that portfolio where I was harrassed and had access through that position to that information and disclosure so I think you can see why I may be fearful.

Is he restricted to keep that information privy or can he disclose this information to the company I work for now?

Any advice is appreciated, thank you.

 

[mlane58]

U.S. Law Only!

 

[rachel4]

What is the name of your state? Toronto, Ontario Canada

Hi, this is a problem which I thought was way behind me. About 8 years ago I worked in a company where it ended rather badly, my father had died and I was going through alot.

I worked in a management office where the supervisor became very bitter towards me and was really making it hard for me to work. Another manager who worked in the office began harrassing me for my sexual preference and though I was never open about my sexuality it became a real problem.

I would come in and find gay stickers stuck to my desk, or a gay magazine left on my chair, and at times a gay article clipped out of a magazine and left on my desk. It came to a point where people I worked with and there were many were talking. This was very difficult for me as I worked in an operations department and dealt with many trades people.

I was very uncomfortable and I decided approached human resources with a complaint against the two managers, they arranged a meeting which went nowhere and about 2 weeks after that an accusation by the manager was made that I had either messed up on petty cash or taken the money. This escalated and I did not admit to either as undoubtedly it was not the case.

My reporting manager knew and could see the situation and where it was arrising from and saw the over reaction from my supervisor on many occasions.

I made another complaint to HR in efforts to find a resolution, two weeks later they offered me severance and sent me off. The harrassment and situation around that were drowned and we both signed a non disclosure.

Now the problem is my new job 8 years later has just hired a new VP to the company and he works in my Portfolio. This man is the same VP from the company where I had those problems with the managers in the past and he does recognize me from there.

My question is can he in any way disclose to the company I work for now the details of that nightmare I went through and if he did what could be my recourse.

I am very, very afraid that this is going to end poorly. I have been at my present company for 2 years and I am paid very well and depend on this Job. The accusation made against me years ago was dropped and it was not at all true and the harrassment I experienced was quashed mutually in the non disclosure and release when I left that company. At that time this VP was the VP of that portfolio where I was harrassed and had access through that position to that information and disclosure so I think you can see why I may be fearful.

Is he restricted to keep that information privy or can he disclose this information to the company I work for now?

Any advice is appreciated, thank you.

You have to feel sorry for idiot(s) that resort to putting gay stickers and mags on a person's desk I hate hearing stuff like that.

I'm not a law person but, I would guess that this VP could certainly say something, but this info couldn't be used against you since this is a new company. Plus, it would reflect badly on him, making him look like a bigmouth who would also be breaching your confidentiality.
good luck
rachel

 

[cbg]

The reason we cite US law only on this site is that Canadian, UK, and other countries have different laws than the US. The correct answer for the US is not necessarily going to be the correct answer in Canada, and no one here knows the law outside the US.

 

[eerelations]

Reply From Canada

I would need to see the non-disclosure agreement that you say the VP signed (not the one YOU signed, the one HE signed, because the one you signed was probably a release agreement about severance pay and had nothing to do with the alleged harassment) in order to determine whether or not he's "allowed" to speak of the alleged harassment. However, please note that I think it's highly unlikely that he signed such a document as this event would be unusual to the point of being non-existent. Why would the company make him sign such a non-disclosure agreement? How would this benefit the company?

If indeed he didn't sign such an agreement (and I bet he didn't), he is free to talk about the alleged harassment to whoever he wants, whenever he wants. This would be considered gossip (NOT slander) and gossip is a legal activity (whether your new company would think this is professional behaviour worthy of a VP is another story). HOWEVER (and this is a real big "however"), if he does gossip about it, and the gossip then has a negative impact on your worklife, then this would probably be construed as harassment by a Human Rights Officer.

Your recourse if this happens (and only after it happens) is to first complain to your direct supervisor. If the gossip doesn't stop, then complain to HR. If the gossip still doesn't stop, complain to the Ontario Human Rights Commission.