Please help me defend my girlfriend from harassment at her work place.

[BlazingSun801]

We live in the state of Utah in Salt Lake County.

Hello everyone ,and thank you for listening to my issue. I will cut to the chase, my girlfriend came home tonight absolutely hysterical. To be honest, I have never seen her so upset. She started off fine but then just started crying and crying. Let me try to explain what the situation is.

Please note that I have looked up the "Civil Rights act of 1964, Title VII" however, I don't believe my girlfriend is part of a protected class. However she has been harassed to the point where it is a hostile work environment. I may be biased because it's my woman, however, I know my girlfriend is a hard worker, and this has gone on long enough. Multiple time's she has claimed to be in trouble for not doing someone else's job, she has been there 7 months now with no raise or talk of a raise, and is given the brunt of the work with none of the perks.

I will keep her company unnamed, however it is a national pet care company. She was bathing a 10 year old dog, and was told by one of her peers, not a supervisor, that she had a nail trim. Because she is a bather, she is required to do nail trims, however she was in the middle of washing a dog, so this girl who told her to stop what she was doing, and do a nail trim claimed that "Well Groomers can't do trims, only bathers." However this puts the dog in jeopardy because she has to put the soaking wet dog into a kennel.. and 10 years old is old for a pup.. so she did it. Did the nail trim, then re washed the dog. Anyway, my girlfriend defended herself saying "I cannot do two jobs at once and it's a waste of company resources to do the job twice, let alone a risk to the dog." Regardless she works with a lot of females, and they harass her, calling her lazy, and constantly tattle on her without bringing it to her attention first or bringing it to the grooming salon manager for proper disposition of responsibility. Tonight they decided to ignore her completely. Then before she left her shift, management came and started scolding her, claiming that "Well we hear so much about you, and you have to do this because you could get fired" This isn't the first time my girl has told me this song and dance ,when the reality is my girlfriend is doing other peoples jobs but it has gotten to the point where it has most defiantly become a hostile work environment and it is interfering with her work performance

Guys help me out here, what can I use, by law, to go in to her office and put a stop to this? I am a very calm, succinct person and I am willing to study the law and find SOMETHING to protect my girlfriend. She is not an average girl and I think she gets harassed because of her intelligence and demeanor, she's more into male activities and isn't a girly girl but she is not part of a part of a protected class, and she is under the age of 40, so I know age is out.

 

[sandyclaus]

We live in the state of Utah in Salt Lake County.

Hello everyone ,and thank you for listening to my issue. I will cut to the chase, my girlfriend came home tonight absolutely hysterical. To be honest, I have never seen her so upset. She started off fine but then just started crying and crying. Let me try to explain what the situation is.

Please note that I have looked up the "Civil Rights act of 1964, Title VII" however, I don't believe my girlfriend is part of a protected class. However she has been harassed to the point where it is a hostile work environment. I may be biased because it's my woman, however, I know my girlfriend is a hard worker, and this has gone on long enough. Multiple time's she has claimed to be in trouble for not doing someone else's job, she has been there 7 months now with no raise or talk of a raise, and is given the brunt of the work with none of the perks.

I will keep her company unnamed, however it is a national pet care company. She was bathing a 10 year old dog, and was told by one of her peers, not a supervisor, that she had a nail trim. Because she is a bather, she is required to do nail trims, however she was in the middle of washing a dog, so this girl who told her to stop what she was doing, and do a nail trim claimed that "Well Groomers can't do trims, only bathers." However this puts the dog in jeopardy because she has to put the soaking wet dog into a kennel.. and 10 years old is old for a pup.. so she did it. Did the nail trim, then re washed the dog. Anyway, my girlfriend defended herself saying "I cannot do two jobs at once and it's a waste of company resources to do the job twice, let alone a risk to the dog." Regardless she works with a lot of females, and they harass her, calling her lazy, and constantly tattle on her without bringing it to her attention first or bringing it to the grooming salon manager for proper disposition of responsibility. Tonight they decided to ignore her completely. Then before she left her shift, management came and started scolding her, claiming that "Well we hear so much about you, and you have to do this because you could get fired" This isn't the first time my girl has told me this song and dance ,when the reality is my girlfriend is doing other peoples jobs but it has gotten to the point where it has most defiantly become a hostile work environment and it is interfering with her work performance

Guys help me out here, what can I use, by law, to go in to her office and put a stop to this? I am a very calm, succinct person and I am willing to study the law and find SOMETHING to protect my girlfriend. She is not an average girl and I think she gets harassed because of her intelligence and demeanor, she's more into male activities and isn't a girly girl but she is not part of a part of a protected class, and she is under the age of 40, so I know age is out.

It's not illegal to single her out because of her so-called "intelligence and demeanor". That kind of rep tends to make people stand out and make others seem, well, less than intelligent by comparison.

This isn't a legal question as much as it is a matter of her learning to get along with her co-workers. There's no legal response here - she can't sue to make the other female workers stop being mean to her. If she is making mistakes, she needs to learn from them. If others are point out her mistakes to management, then she needs to stop making them so that the others have nothing to tattle about. Most of all, she needs to get a backbone, do her job efficiently, and stop worrying about what others think of her.

If she is unable to get along with her co-workers, then perhaps she needs to consider another place to work.

But most importantly, this is HER issue and NOT yours. You have no standing to go to her fellow workers or superiors and do or say ANYTHING. Your girlfriend needs to learn how to deal with these issues on her own. You can be her sounding board, but you have no authority to force them to do anything about it.

 

[Willlyjo]

We live in the state of Utah in Salt Lake County.

Hello everyone ,and thank you for listening to my issue. I will cut to the chase, my girlfriend came home tonight absolutely hysterical. To be honest, I have never seen her so upset. She started off fine but then just started crying and crying. Let me try to explain what the situation is.

Please note that I have looked up the "Civil Rights act of 1964, Title VII" however, I don't believe my girlfriend is part of a protected class. However she has been harassed to the point where it is a hostile work environment. I may be biased because it's my woman, however, I know my girlfriend is a hard worker, and this has gone on long enough. Multiple time's she has claimed to be in trouble for not doing someone else's job, she has been there 7 months now with no raise or talk of a raise, and is given the brunt of the work with none of the perks.

I will keep her company unnamed, however it is a national pet care company. She was bathing a 10 year old dog, and was told by one of her peers, not a supervisor, that she had a nail trim. Because she is a bather, she is required to do nail trims, however she was in the middle of washing a dog, so this girl who told her to stop what she was doing, and do a nail trim claimed that "Well Groomers can't do trims, only bathers." However this puts the dog in jeopardy because she has to put the soaking wet dog into a kennel.. and 10 years old is old for a pup.. so she did it. Did the nail trim, then re washed the dog. Anyway, my girlfriend defended herself saying "I cannot do two jobs at once and it's a waste of company resources to do the job twice, let alone a risk to the dog." Regardless she works with a lot of females, and they harass her, calling her lazy, and constantly tattle on her without bringing it to her attention first or bringing it to the grooming salon manager for proper disposition of responsibility. Tonight they decided to ignore her completely. Then before she left her shift, management came and started scolding her, claiming that "Well we hear so much about you, and you have to do this because you could get fired" This isn't the first time my girl has told me this song and dance ,when the reality is my girlfriend is doing other peoples jobs but it has gotten to the point where it has most defiantly become a hostile work environment and it is interfering with her work performance

Guys help me out here, what can I use, by law, to go in to her office and put a stop to this? I am a very calm, succinct person and I am willing to study the law and find SOMETHING to protect my girlfriend. She is not an average girl and I think she gets harassed because of her intelligence and demeanor, she's more into male activities and isn't a girly girl but she is not part of a part of a protected class, and she is under the age of 40, so I know age is out.

First, let me sympathize with you on the terrible treatment your GF is receiving at her place of employment. Let me ask you...how is your GF's stress levels away from work? Is there anything that could show she is more stressed about situations when she is not working that could be interpreted as more predominant than the stress she faces at work? If not, she may be able to file a Workers Comp. claim for work-related stress as a result of treatment by fellow employees and/or management.

You may want to do some research on the Workers Compensation Laws in Utah concerning Stress claims to help prepare your GF in the event she may want to consider such a claim. If the treatment she is receiving at work really affects her to such an extent she experiences Anxiety, Depression and/or physical manifestations like heart palpitations, skin rashes, Anxiety Attacks, feelings of hopelessness...etc..., it would be a good idea to strongly consider filing such a claim.

Once filed or notice to her employer of her desire to file such a claim, she cannot be retaliated against in the form of termination, because it would become a Wrongful Termination in breach of Public Policy, which would allow your GF another claim to seek redress. Good luck! Let us know how it goes.

 

[eerelations]

This is not a hostile work environment as defined by law. A hostile work environment as defined by law is one where an employee is experiencing ongoing and severe negative treatment that is directly linked to the employee's race, age, religion, gender and/or disability. Nothing in your post indicates that your girlfriend's experiences are linked to any of these things. Ergo, she has no legal recourse.

In addition, as another poster has indicated, this is your girlfriend's issue, not yours. If you contact her employer about this, she could be fired - and this would be perfectly legal.

 

[cbg]

As usual, willlyjo is overstating things.

First of all, I have to agree that what she is experiencing is NOT an HWE as defined by law. Barring any evidence that the adverse treatment she is receiving is directly related to a characteristic protected by law, it's simply a nasty place to work, not an HWE.

As far as stress claims under workers comp, good luck with that. It is VERY hard in almost every state to get "stress" approved as a workers comp issue. With regards to public policy, it is true that if she were fired BECAUSE SHE FILED OR INTENDED TO FILE A WORKERS COMP CLAIM would be a violation. However, that does not mean that she cannot be fired at all. She can still be fired for poor performance, for misconduct, or for no reason at all, as long as the termination is not directly linked to a real or intended workers comp claim. And frankly, I wouldn't recommend making such a claim, since (1) the likelihood of it being approved is between slim and none and (2) in the long run, I suspect it would backfire on her. Making a workers comp claim does not make you bulletproof - making a workers comp claim over a bad job environment can paint a target on your back.

Absolutely you need to keep out of it. Her employers have no legal obligation to speak to you and they can (quite legally) term her because of your interference. Be as supportive as you like, research for her all you want, but DO NOT contact her employer directly under any circumstances.

Quite frankly, it sounds to me as if she simply needs to find another job as quickly as she can, and quit this one when she finds one.

 

[commentator]

Your girlfriend needs to study up on how to deal with poor situations at her workplace. You need to be a sympathetic ear, and encourager to find another job, a friendly shoulder to cry on if she insists on crying, and NOT someone who goes in there and tries to fix her issues. Any more than you should go to school and try to fix the social issues for your kindergartener ("Joey isn't being treated nicely by the other children on the playground!")

The amount of stress and treatment of stress, and history of bad effects from such workplace stress as to amount to enough to file a stress related worker's comp claim are far far beyond what I bet you and your girlfriend are willing to go. So forget that for the time being. I would wager she's not even ready to go to a doctor or seek counseling about dealing with this workplace stress. Though it would not be a bad idea. what she needs is better coping skills for this on the job situation, not medication to make her number and dumber as she tries to deal with it.

And it's what you say, a little group of nasty women in the workplace, not supervised carefully or well, and your girlfriend is wearing an "easy target" tee shirt due to her way of reacting. So these people are continuing to push her and push her. Not because she is a member of a protected class, not an EEOC issue, but because she's easy to hurt, shows her feelings have been hurt, believes and trembles at the misinformation they give her, and if they keep it up, if they push her far enough, she may just quit and go home, and won't they feel powerful then?

First of all, she should carefully read and become familiar with the company policies. Exactly what her job description is and is not. Who her supervisor is, whose rules she must follow. And then she needs to get over that terror of "being fired" or listening to the threats of "you might be fired" coming from her co workers.

If she's doing her best, and for some reason she is fired, she'll be able to get unemployment insurance until she finds another job. The world won't end, she won't collapse from the shame of it, she won't starve in the streets. She'll just move on and find another job, perhaps a better one than this one.

In the meantime, she needs to go to work each day ready to do her job, ignore these women and their self created drama. She doesn't have to tell them off, but she doesn't have to do what they say, either. So let them "carry tales" on her. If the manager believes them and wants to fire her, so be it. But if she is a good worker and is doing her best, and these other women are believed and she is fired, it's their loss, not hers.

You can't keep stupid people from talking about you, lying, talking mean to you. You can,otherwise, behave proactively, refuse to pay attention to them or give them positive feedback and feelings of importance by crying, cringing and acting scared by their malarkey.

For goodness sake, YOU stay miles away from this workplace. They'll be well within their rights to fire her if you set foot there and start making a scene. And it demonstrates that your girlfriend is immature and silly and has not learned to deal for herself with unpleasant workplaces and supervisors who aren't perfectly fair and companies that don't give you appropriate raises, all those things that are part of being a big grown up person in the work world.

 

[Zigner]

...she has been there 7 months now with no raise or talk of a raise...

7 whole months?!?

 

[Antigone*]

First, let me sympathize with you on the terrible treatment your GF is receiving at her place of employment. Let me ask you...how is your GF's stress levels away from work? Is there anything that could show she is more stressed about situations when she is not working that could be interpreted as more predominant than the stress she faces at work? If not, she may be able to file a Workers Comp. claim for work-related stress as a result of treatment by fellow employees and/or management.

You may want to do some research on the Workers Compensation Laws in Utah concerning Stress claims to help prepare your GF in the event she may want to consider such a claim. If the treatment she is receiving at work really affects her to such an extent she experiences Anxiety, Depression and/or physical manifestations like heart palpitations, skin rashes, Anxiety Attacks, feelings of hopelessness...etc..., it would be a good idea to strongly consider filing such a claim.

Once filed or notice to her employer of her desire to file such a claim, she cannot be retaliated against in the form of termination, because it would become a Wrongful Termination in breach of Public Policy, which would allow your GF another claim to seek redress. Good luck! Let us know how it goes.

If I said what I really felt, I'd get a time out. Let me just say that it does not surprise me to see that you encourage such unethical and ridiculously self-serving behaviour.

Another feather in your cap.

 

[Zigner]

Just to correct the willy-rubbish...

The employee CAN be fired even after filing a claim. The employee cannot be fired FOR filing the claim.

 

[xylene]

Works with animals eh...

Your girlfriend sounds like a emotionally / psychologically fragile person.

She needs psychological counseling to fortify herself against what seems like ordinary workplace stress.

It is not at all surprising you are here trying to solve this problem for her.

Perhaps you find her vulnerability attractive even, and that is why you are rising up to be a savior. This is unhelpful.

You are too close to see it but, she is drowning in a puddle, and that is not a good place to be unable to save yourself from.

As to the nail thing - why didn't she simply say "Lighten up, I'm in the middle of something with this other dog here. I'll get to it in a goll-darn minute."

If you don't have a really good explanation for why that simple reaction was impossible and the the conflict so troubling, then the problem is internal to your girlfriend, and probably has nothing to do with the workplace.

 

[BlazingSun801]

Your girlfriend sounds like a emotionally / psychologically fragile person.

She needs psychological counseling to fortify herself against what seems like ordinary workplace stress.

It is not at all surprising you are here trying to solve this problem for her.

Perhaps you find her vulnerability attractive even, and that is why you are rising up to be a savior. This is unhelpful.

You are too close to see it but, she is drowning in a puddle, and that is not a good place to be unable to save yourself from.

As to the nail thing - why didn't she simply say "Lighten up, I'm in the middle of something with this other dog here. I'll get to it in a goll-darn minute."

If you don't have a really good explanation for why that simple reaction was impossible and the the conflict so troubling, then the problem is internal to your girlfriend, and probably has nothing to do with the workplace.

I do not find her vulnerability attractive, I had never seen her so upset. Listen I'm not looking for a psychologist here. You guys have all made valid points and I told her roughly many the same things, but for you guys to bash Willyjo is amusing in that there are plenty of lawyers out there who find ways around the norm, I don't think what he said was selfish, lol. Better call saul.. right?

Her place of work has NO HR department, now I have said many a thing that some of you people have told me, and to a degree I agree with most of you. I told her she needs to not let them get to her and grow a back bone and just ignore them. However every one of these crabby women are going behind her back and lying about what she does at the work place, and management comes down on her without practicing it's own policies. What if that 10 year old dog died while she had to do that stupid nail trim? They have had dogs drop dead before especially an old one (No, my gf hasn't killed a dog)

I appreciate the advice and I came here looking for some type of loophole because well, I am close to her, and she doesn't deserve to be crapped on like this. Does that make me selfish or spiteful? Maybe, but I want to do it legally. Hm.. It is worth noting she had a similar problem at her last job, again an all female environment where she was constantly getting in trouble. It just baffles me.. My gf doesn't smoke, drink, doesn't take excessive breaks, she works 2 jobs, and she is a hard worker. The amount of cynicism and ego measuring in this country is so ridiculous.

I wrote down a presentable case for her to get a raise, and have also mentioned that she wont get fired for asking for a raise or telling her co-workers no. However, her lazy co-workers get to go home early when they haven't done anything all day, where as my gf is cleaning all the kennels and has management basically telling her to do someone else s job.

Btw they never gave her an employee manual, I asked her for it.

 

[Antigone*]

I do not find her vulnerability attractive, I had never seen her so upset. Listen I'm not looking for a psychologist here. You guys have all made valid points and I told her roughly many the same things, but for you guys to bash Willyjo is amusing in that there are plenty of lawyers out there who find ways around the norm, I don't think what he said was selfish, lol. Better call saul.. right?

Her place of work has NO HR department, now I have said many a thing that some of you people have told me, and to a degree I agree with most of you. I told her she needs to not let them get to her and grow a back bone and just ignore them. However every one of these crabby women are going behind her back and lying about what she does at the work place, and management comes down on her without practicing it's own policies. What if that 10 year old dog died while she had to do that stupid nail trim? They have had dogs drop dead before especially an old one (No, my gf hasn't killed a dog)

I appreciate the advice and I came here looking for some type of loophole because well, I am close to her, and she doesn't deserve to be crapped on like this. Does that make me selfish or spiteful? Maybe, but I want to do it legally. Hm.. It is worth noting she had a similar problem at her last job, again an all female environment where she was constantly getting in trouble. It just baffles me.. My gf doesn't smoke, drink, doesn't take excessive breaks, she works 2 jobs, and she is a hard worker. The amount of cynicism and ego measuring in this country is so ridiculous.

I wrote down a presentable case for her to get a raise, and have also mentioned that she wont get fired for asking for a raise or telling her co-workers no. However, her lazy co-workers get to go home early when they haven't done anything all day, where as my gf is cleaning all the kennels and has management basically telling her to do someone else s job.

Btw they never gave her an employee manual, I asked her for it.

Your true colors are showing. You are an overstepper.

Go ahead take willie's advice. I could care less.

 

[BlazingSun801]

Your true colors are showing. You are an overstepper.

Go ahead take willie's advice. I could care less.

I'm not here to start an e-argument on a forum..... Lets stay on topic please.

 

[Antigone*]

I'm not here to start an e-argument on a forum..... Lets stay on topic please.

Fine. This is none of your legal business.

 

[eerelations]

Bottom line is, her employer isn't doing anything illegal, so your GF has no legal recourse. We can't find you a loophole because there aren't any loopholes.

Regarding the raise, there are no laws anywhere in the US that state employers must give employees raises at specified times. The only time an employer must increase an employee's pay is when that employee is earning minimum wage, and the minimum wage is increased. This doesn't appear to be the case with your GF.

(And please note, while many employers do give employees raises at specified times - not becaus they have to but just because they feel like it - those specified times are much larger than seven months. I've been working in HR for almost 30 years now and I've never seen an employee with less than a year's service get a pay increase.)

Employers are not legally required to provide their employees with employee manuals.

Finally, employers may legally fire employees for asking for raises and/or for "saying no" to their coworkers.