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Company Violates Its Own Policies?

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C

CARON

Guest
What is the name of your state? florida

I had a problem with my supervisor treating women badly and threatening to fire me. He also said some nasty things to a coworker, and said he would get me out of the dept one way or another. I complained several times to his boss (the SVP) and was never addressed. I finally sent a threatening email and next thing you know he says he will talk to me but put me in a room with a lawyer, who claimed not to work for the company. That was a week ago and I have not been informed of any corrective action, if any. The supervisor behaved well for a day and then went back to his chauvinistic ways. I am not the only one who has had problems.

Also I was not offered bereavement leave for my grandfathers death, even though our handbook says 3 paid days. I didn't push it because I was new.

Can you help
 


Beth3

Senior Member
If the supervisor is singling you and others out for poor treatment and threats of termination because of gender, that is prohibited. But if is just a lousy manager or has taken a personal dislike of you and wants you out of the department, that's not illegal.

You really haven't given much information. What did you and the lawyer talk about? Did you tell him or her you believe sexual harassment/discrimination was taking place? What kind of "threatening" e-mail did you send? The company has NO obigation whatsoever to inform you of any corrective action that has taken place with the supervisor. It's really none of your business how the company handled it. If prohibited discrimination is taking place, the company's only obligation to you is to make it stop and ensure there is no retalliation against you for bringing a complaint forward.

Are you sure you were entitled to paid bereavement leave? Many companies require new employees to be employed a certain length of time before being eligible funeral pay. If you were eligible, it's possible it's an administrative snafu that you should bring to someone's attention rather than a deliberate attempt to short change you.
 
C

CARON

Guest
REPLY TO COMPANY VIOLATES

PLEASE SEE ATTACHED DOCUMENT

  • [/list
    ]
    On or around 8/20/02 2002 I received a phone call from Dennis Donohue, Controller regarding an Accounts receivable position I had a applied for. During the phone call Dennis said, “I have a couple of older women working here”

    On or around 8/20/02 I came in to interview personally with Dennis. He promised me certain salary, after I explained to him that I would not accept the position unless I could make a certain amount. He said that was fine. During the interview he told me “I have an older woman who makes too much money who has been here for years, a Spanish older woman and a younger woman who has a husband who is doing a warehouse job for us. She is very insecure and has a kid”. They all make too much money if you ask me, they whine about their salary, they just go to school and get an education

    On 8/27/02 I began my employment. The day I started, Dennis told me he could would me twenty-five cents less and would give me a raise after three months. This clearly contradicted his promise, but I agreed.

    The accounting area is the only dept without cubicles. It is very cramped with wires running directly across a pathway. The wires are covered with a rubber strip. I have addressed this issue several times, to no avail

    From 8/27 on I noticed very chauvinistic and rude behavior from Dennis, that is aimed at myself and two other women, whom are both around my age (late thirties).

    Dennis walks around and interferes with anything and everything that is going on, regardless of whether it concerns him. He smells offensive every day and has bad breath. He will lean over us while we are working and wave papers in our face. Also, he will make derogatory comments about other employees such “he or she is an *******, or stupid”.I was also told that he had made a sexually derogatory comment about a female coworker to my predecessor, Robert Garcia. This was addressed to Walter Barrett, SVP. Dennis denied it and nothing was ever done. Roberta was fired shortly after that. Our company handbook specifically prohibits harassment and hostile environment. I was also informed that another female employee resigned suddenly without notice job because of him. They called her back.

    He will walk by us and ask us to let him know when another employee gets back to their desk, to call him. I was not hired as a secretary and certainly do not have time to keep track of other employees. I work in accounting and this interferes with my job, causing me to make mistakes. He is very friendly and professional with men. Also another male supervisor refuses to talk to us, he goes thru Dennis who comes to us

    In early December I got my review. He sat back in his desk with his arms folded, told me I am making mistakes and would not get my raise. I reminded him I he had promised me a certain salary and that his obnoxious and interfering behavior was causing the mistakes. He said he would give 10 cents. I left his office and went into Walter Barrett in tears. He handed me a tissue. He told me that Dennis is that way and just basically don’t take it personally.

    A couple of days later, Dennis told me I would get my raise but if I made one more mistake I would be fired. I sent an email to Dan Lowe, President. It was never acknowledged.

    In mid December 2002, I was speaking with a supervisor and was informed that Dennis is asking him to let me know when I am in his office. I also noticed that he follows me when I leave my work area. My position requires me to deliver paperwork to other departments throughout the day. He has made every effort to focus on me specifically even to the point of seeing where I park my car in the morning and making comments that I should park somewhere else. The parking situation is not the greatest. Construction vehicles take up most of the parking, and block the roadway so most of the time a lot of us have to park in an area that is not designated for The Pool People, Inc.

    On or around mid January my paternal grandfather died. I came in to work late. After explaining I had a death in the family, I had expected to be sent home. All I got was “I am sorry to hear that” from Dennis. The handbook specifically states that bereavement leave is 3 paid days for an immediate family member. I got nothing. I should have said something at the time, I suppose, but I was still learning my job and trying to make a good impression. I had completed the required 90 day probationary period for bereavement leave

    In early 2003 he started showing obvious favortism to a new employee in our dept. He expressly eliminated her from phone duty and kept me on a phone schedule, despite my “seniority”. I did not get a favorable response when I questioned it. I applied for a position in Construction Scheduling

    In early March, Richard Mitchell in the engineering dept told me that Dennis had severely badmouthed me in a lunch meeting.

    Subsequently I sent an email to Walter Barrett, detailing my problems with the hostile work environment (attached). He emailed me back saying we would meet. Then on 3/13 our whole dept was questioned individually by an attorney who claimed she was an arbitrator, and did not work for The Pool People, Inc. but was there to investigate a complaint. I told her all of the above

    To date I have heard nothing. I emailed Walter to please inform me of a resolution. To date I have heard nothing.

    I am unable to perform my job to the best of my ability and Dennis continue to exhibit this behavior.
 

Beth3

Senior Member
"On or around mid January my paternal grandfather died. I came in to work late. After explaining I had a death in the family, I had expected to be sent home. All I got was “I am sorry to hear that” from Dennis. The handbook specifically states that bereavement leave is 3 paid days for an immediate family member. I got nothing. I should have said something at the time, I suppose, but I was still learning my job and trying to make a good impression. I had completed the required 90 day probationary period for bereavement leave."

Wait a sec - you never ASKED for bereavement leave? But rather expected the company to voluntarily send you home on paid leave? It just doesn't work that way. As you reported to work and never requested time off, there was no reason for your employer to suppose other than that you didn't need or require bereavement leave. The employer does not decide whether an employee should take funeral leave - it's entirely up to the employee to make that determination and request the leave time.

I know there's more to your post than this but I don't have time to read it all right now and this part just jumped out at me as I was skimming your lengthy narrative.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
Also, whether or not a grandparent is covered under bereavement policies varies from company to company. Since there is no law requiring that a company offer bereavement time to begin with, a company may decide for themselves what constitutes a covered family member.
 
I'm not an HR expert (just wanted to make that clear) by any stretch of the imagination, but as a long-time office worker (in both administrative and accounting areas), I'd like to share my thoughts. One thing is that you are calling this gentleman a "supervisor" yet in your copy-and-paste document you note that his title is Controller. The Controller of a company is not a "supervisor." This is usually considered an executive-level position, often the same as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

Another thing is it sounds like you are being insubordinate and rude to this Controller. By saying things like, "I wasn't hired as a secretary" and questioning why you should bother yourself to call your boss, as he requested, when so-and-so gets back to their desk because you're too busy or have too much work to do or you make mistakes because of all the interruptions, do you think one of the Executives of the company should expend his time constantly checking to see if someone has returned to their desk?

You also say things like "Dennis walks around and interferes in things that have nothing to do with him . . . ". I have found it best, during my years of employment NOT TO QUESTION WHAT BOSSES DO WITH THEIR TIME. It really is NONE of my business what they do, why they do it, whether it makes sense, whether they're just being nosy, whether they're trying to help, etc. Can I reiterate? It is NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS.

You may not like this boss very much, and it does seem like he's made some inappropriate remarks about other workers there, but the boss is the boss and when he directs you to do something (i.e., let me know when "Joe" returns to his desk) you should DO IT.

I get the impression you don't have much idea how the "real world" works! I find most of your attitudes very interesting.
 
K

KYSassy

Guest
Unfortunately, there are top managers that do what she is describing. I haven't personally dealt with one, but I have worked in a company where that exact kind of thing went on. The man was the Comptroller, but he took it to heart to personally supervise each and every one in his department. The sad thing was that he had actual supervisors,below him, that could handle such things. He made the remark one time that he was the "ultimate supervisor". Makes one wonder what important company business he performed... being as he was always trying to do another supervisor's job?

This said, her situation sounds like she may be working for a power junkie that doesn't know how to delegate.

Another thing that red flagged me is the way he presented himself in her interview. It is a pretty good bet that, if a top manager is bad mouthing other employees during your interview, he/she will treat you no better after you start working for them either.
 
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