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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.
 


tranquility

Senior Member
Statistical discrimination suits are rarely successful and usually involve far larger numbers. Unless you have a specific, prohibited, reason for the actions taken against you, there is nothing illegal being done here.
 

commentator

Senior Member
I slightly disagree. While it is difficult to prevail in a complaint that involves discrimination against a specific ethnic group, (I'm a young Asian male and this is the reason she's behaving in this manner) in an EEOC complaint, I think there may be quite enough evidence of discrimination to take this to the next level, to HR within this specific company. It sounds as though this person has documentation, he has reason to believe that this supervisor dislikes him specifically and he has some evidence she does not treat the other people in her group the same way. It may be that she just profoundly dislikes him personally, or it may be that she just really doesn't like Asians, or she has a perception about Asians that makes her feel threatened by them as a group, or by him personally. But I think there's enough there to make it worth pursuing, at least to the next level in his company.

After all, what does he have to lose by asking HR to intervene? She isn't going to be able to treat him much worse than it sounds like she is anyway, and they might be able to remedy the situation, either by changing who he reports to or by giving her a heads up to change her behavior. Then, of course, he would carefully observe and record and report any retaliatory behavior as well. In a situation where someone does have documentation, there seems to be some hint of difference being made, and they are mildly threatened by a complaint, I would think HR would really appreciate a chance to remedy it.

I don't believe I'd go through that next step you mention,the personal contact with this person to try to determine why she is discriminating....with a neutral third party etc. on your own.
What do you think you will achieve by threatening her without involving anyone with the ability to do anything about this situation? Skip this step.

Accusing her outright of discrimination and harrassment personally isn't going to do anything but make her really really mad at you. When you do it, you need to have official sanction of your actions, even just through HR. Be prepared, of course, to be discharged from the job for anything else they can get on you, as they may go 100% to the manager's side. Be looking very hard for that other job.

It sounds like this OP is doing everything right otherwise. My own personal advice would be also (1) make sure you are doing everything else right, follow all company procedures and rules, watch your time, your attitude, your productivity, your internet usage, everything else that they might look at that she might try to use to justify her behavior. And 2) DO NOT discuss the situation with your co-workers, either at work or off the job. This "are you all right?" theat you've heard indicates they have observed the problem, and they may be called on to testify about the problem to HR or higher ups, but you need to be very discreet about your situation. Good luck, both in your complaint and in your job search elsewhere. DO NOT quit this job until you have another good one to go to.
 
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