sunfire4jc
Junior Member
Many thanks in advance for taking the time to answer my question - I'm in a situation where I want to report my Director to Human Resources on grounds of Discrimination and/or Harassment but I'd like to get some feedback. See background below:
The director I would like to report into HR is two levels above me. Whenever the director I report into approaches me directly, she approaches me from a demeaning, condescending tone. She will give one direction on assignment through my supervisor, and then question me directly why I didn't follow suit in an opposite direction. For example, she would approve (via multiple face to face review sessions) certain email distributions which would go out to her peers, but then publicly criticize me about how the email left out content and how she didn't like the wording after it's been sent out. While some of her questions may be legitimate, I explained to her that we had reviewed this multiple times. She often browbeats and interrupts me when I am answering her. Once she shut me down stating "Don't talk challenge me, don't talk to me like I'm stupid", when I was only answering her questions - directly and confidently. I do my best to stay polite, objective, professional, and neutral in my dealings with her. I've also directly approached the Director to ask for feedback on what behavior is causing this, and what I should change, but was given no feedback. I've been documenting what's been occurring with each unpleasant instance but I haven't been able to capture any hard evidence on email yet.
There have been a total of 3 instances (2 of which were public) where she would continually question me, to the point where I feel like it is harassment. After these meetings, Its hard to maintain morale and productivity for both me and my team, especially when other people keep asking me if I'm OK throughout the week. It appears that the other managers seem to have no issues with her, and she has not treated this way to them in public.
Out of 37 people who report into her from the department, only six are male. Most individuals are white, over 40, married, with children. I'm the only male manager within reporting into her in this department, and I'm the only one who is Asian, without children, and under 30. The remaining management team members are of the given demographic. I will look further into the company employee handbook for further information on escalation procedures for management. I'm going to schedule a meeting to talk to her again directly with a neutral third party as witness to explain that I feel like I'm being discriminated against. But in case this event goes sour, I want to make sure that I come prepared and armed in case it does go to that level. I've only been here at this organization for 10 months, but I'm proactively networking and job hunting at this point in time.
Given that she's only treated me this way, and not the other managers, and that I'm not the typical demographic of her team, I'm wondering if I have a case to report to HR for discrimination? Should I involve the VP? Or would this be treated as a trivial he/she said and should I just lay my head down while I keep job searching? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
The director I would like to report into HR is two levels above me. Whenever the director I report into approaches me directly, she approaches me from a demeaning, condescending tone. She will give one direction on assignment through my supervisor, and then question me directly why I didn't follow suit in an opposite direction. For example, she would approve (via multiple face to face review sessions) certain email distributions which would go out to her peers, but then publicly criticize me about how the email left out content and how she didn't like the wording after it's been sent out. While some of her questions may be legitimate, I explained to her that we had reviewed this multiple times. She often browbeats and interrupts me when I am answering her. Once she shut me down stating "Don't talk challenge me, don't talk to me like I'm stupid", when I was only answering her questions - directly and confidently. I do my best to stay polite, objective, professional, and neutral in my dealings with her. I've also directly approached the Director to ask for feedback on what behavior is causing this, and what I should change, but was given no feedback. I've been documenting what's been occurring with each unpleasant instance but I haven't been able to capture any hard evidence on email yet.
There have been a total of 3 instances (2 of which were public) where she would continually question me, to the point where I feel like it is harassment. After these meetings, Its hard to maintain morale and productivity for both me and my team, especially when other people keep asking me if I'm OK throughout the week. It appears that the other managers seem to have no issues with her, and she has not treated this way to them in public.
Out of 37 people who report into her from the department, only six are male. Most individuals are white, over 40, married, with children. I'm the only male manager within reporting into her in this department, and I'm the only one who is Asian, without children, and under 30. The remaining management team members are of the given demographic. I will look further into the company employee handbook for further information on escalation procedures for management. I'm going to schedule a meeting to talk to her again directly with a neutral third party as witness to explain that I feel like I'm being discriminated against. But in case this event goes sour, I want to make sure that I come prepared and armed in case it does go to that level. I've only been here at this organization for 10 months, but I'm proactively networking and job hunting at this point in time.
Given that she's only treated me this way, and not the other managers, and that I'm not the typical demographic of her team, I'm wondering if I have a case to report to HR for discrimination? Should I involve the VP? Or would this be treated as a trivial he/she said and should I just lay my head down while I keep job searching? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.