is this discrimination?

[yukon22]

What is the name of your state? pennsylvania i started working for an inventory service company about 9 months ago. i started noticing that only certain people could get away with stuff like no call/no shows, inaccurate inventories, smoking in the company van(which is against company policy), and such on. i thought at first it was just favoritism because most of them are friends that have known each other for years, but then i started hearing the racial comments. i should say that i am white, and i quess they all thought it was "okay" to make these comments in front of me. at first i let several comments, crude jokes and such pass as i was the new person on the job. finally i just lost my temper and told them all that not everyone feels like they do and that if you feel that way to keep it to themselves work is not the place for it. the very next day i recieved a call from my district manager supposedly to find out what happened the day before, and i explained the situation to her, and i told her if it continued to happen i was filing a complaint. since then my hours have been reduced,and i am constantly audited at work, when company policy is one per person. is there anything i can do? or anything the minorities who really are being discriminated against can do. most of them are scared to say anything because what happened to me will probally be worse for them, they already get short changed hour wise.

 

[Sinsaint26]

Technically, if what you say is accurate then your employer employer might be breaking a number of laws. The first one I'll deal with is the wage shortages. This should be reported to the Department of Labor. The person who files the complaint should be the one who has been shorted and that person should be free of retaliation as filing a complaint with a state agency is a protected activity. Whoever is being subjected to the racist remarks should file a complaint with the EEOC. You are in an odd situation were you are not the subject of the comments but were rather subjected to listening to them, complained about the discriminatory comments and are now the target of retaliation. You should call the EEOC/PHRC and explain your situation. If you give me the county I can get the number you should call for your area.

 

[yukon22]

i live in cambria county but the office which handles our work schedules, pay etc . is in westmoreland county.

 

[Sinsaint26]

You would need to call the PHRC office (Pennsylvania Human Relations Commision) that oversees Westmoreland county which is (412)565-5395 to file a complaint for retaliation. You can also call the DOL to see about who needs to file a complaint about wage violations 1-877-504-8354. I'm not positive but I believe the DOL accepts anonomous complaints. They will be able to advise you better than I can. Good Luck.

 

[cbg]

Unless PA is different from most states, they will accept anonymous complaints but anonymous ones are given less attention than when the complaintant is identified. Also, less attention will be given to a third party complaint than when the person who is shorted makes the complaint personally. That doesn't mean it won't be acted on at all, but will take a back seat time-wise.