Retaliation after an HR report

[kaizen]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MI

Hope I'm posting in the right place. I work for a staffing agency part time. I have no benefits, no contract, no union, etc. (in case any of that is relevant).

A couple weeks ago, there was a problem in the building that I have been assigned to work at. One of the employees (of that building itself - not the staffing agency, still part time but part of a union). The employee said some grossly inappropriate (for the work place) things. I was profoundly offended and went to HR. HR apologized profusely for what happened and told me they'd have a meeting a with individual, her supervisor (who is also my supervisor) and their union rep. HR said they should not retaliate, etc. and if they did to report that back to them.

The individual who was offensive handled it maturely. The supervisor did not. With the first two incidents of the supervisor's retaliation, I let it go - thinking time would take care of her anger and it'd blow over. I didn't want to be "that" person. But with the third incident, I went back to HR. They again apologized, said if the supervisor had never before complained to me about the things I was reporting in the time I'd worked there, but just suddenly took issue with so much, it did seem like retaliation. They said they'd talk to her and asked me if I wanted a transfer. They made it clear I did not need to take it, but if I wanted it...the offer was there. I told them I'd think about it and that was that (I never got back to them).

Three work days later, I was called by my boss at the staffing agency. He told me the school (via an email from the HR person I'd been speaking to) wanted me out of that bldg., and offered me two other positions (the same ones the HR person had offered). This time, it was not a choice.

My question is do I have any recourse? Clearly I have been wronged and ultimately retaliated against by the very HR person who warned me retaliation was not an acceptable response...or do I just have to take it since I don't actually work for them and am not part of their (or any) union?

Thank you.

 

[cbg]

THIS MATTERS.

What kind of inappropriate things were said that triggered this whole business?

 

[kaizen]

My daughter passed away at age 11 from cancer. My co-workers knew this.

The incident that started this was colleague saying she had a theory on cancer...that there was indeed a cure for it but it was like deer hunting. Said that when there's an over-population of deer, they issue more hunting licences so people can take care of the over population. She said cancer is like that...that if they shared the cure for it, imagine the over-population there would be and that's just how it has to be to take care of the population boom. That this is just like the hunters killing off the excess population.

She was going on and on and my insides were hurting - imagining my daughter being on the receiving end of a hunter's bow and arrow. To try to break the tension and shift the conversation, I said "SO....how about the weather out there today?!" She looked at another lady (in order to explain my random comment) and said "oh, she had a daughter that died from cancer."

But again, this person has handled the reprimand maturely. It's her (our) boss that is being retaliatory now. Things that used to be no big deal, things that she used to not have a a problem with....she suddenly did. I didn't put the trays the right way (seriously, she wanted them horizontally down the serving line instead of vertically when I'd done vertical for 7 weeks!) , couldn't I just do one tray at a time, and didn't want to sign my time sheet, saying I left five minutes early (when she'd clearly told me before that if work was done - I can go, as we all did up until that point).

 

[jiggy78]

"Having a child who died from cancer", while tragic, does not make you a member of a protected class.

I don't see any laws being broken here. And it's not like you are out of a job. You are being re-assigned because somebody at the client site didn't like you.

 

[sandyclaus]

It sounds to me like the HR department DID take care of the problem. Your assignment through the staffing agency was terminated, but you were offered a placement elsewhere in the company - away from the offending supervisor.

Yes, the supervisor said some pretty inappropriate things. However, while horrible and certainly against your views, it wasn't anything illegal that the supervisor was doing you. And you have to admit that the subject matter was probably something that you were pretty sensitive to, so what the supervisor's OTHER co-workers heard and dealt with may not have been as deeply impacting.

I don't believe that you were discriminated against as much as you were simply being removed from a potentially difficult working relationship and placed elsewhere that your work would no longer suffer. Unless the new assignment was for less pay, fewer hours, or anything else which might have been considered a punishment, it's something I might have done as well as an HR representative.

 

[ecmst12]

The behavior you complained about was not illegal, so retaliation because of your complaint is also not illegal.

I would have just spoken with the other employee rather than going to her boss.

 

[Antigone*]

If every time someone took a drink in front of me and I equated it to my own daughter's tragic accident due to someone's drinking, I'd be wearing a white jacket.

You need to learn how to develop a tougher skin, for your own sake.

 

[cbg]

There are some sorts of complaints that are protected by law, and some that are not. Yours falls into the category of those that are not.

Because it is not a protected complaint, "retaliation" because of it is not illegal and does not provide you with legal recourse. This would still be the case even if you were directly employed and not an employee of the temp agency. Contrary to what far too many people believe, not all or even most retaliation is illegal. If it were, you couldn't be fired for any kind of misconduct because that would also be retaliation.

I'm not defending the behavior of anyone involved, and you have my sympathies on the loss of your daughter. But I'm not seeing any legal damages, here.

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

As stated, you have no recourse, you appear to have created you own situation. I have severe health problems. I have already outlined to my spouse where I have drawn the line on continuing to live. I have also had a son die. Much of my family has died. Death is a fact of life.

 

[commentator]

The real issue here is that you don't work for this HR, this business, this worksite. You are an employee of the staffing service. And if they offered you another assignment, and you refused it, you may very well not even be able to get unemployment benefits after being removed from your work assignment.

when you go in to file, nobody will want to hear a word about the situation that caused the worksite to request you were removed. they'll just say, "did they have another assignment for you? If so, why didn't you take it?"

Nothing in the comments, however repugnant they may have been, was an assault on a protected class of worker. Or even incivility to a co-worker, which you aren't to that lady. And if the supervisor wants rid of you because you complained about something, or because you came to work wearing purple socks, or you look like her Aunt Gladys who she can't stand, all she has to do is tell the temp agency, and they will remove you from the worksite. The worksite is their client. You are expendable. People who work temp are employees of the temp service, not the worksite. it's really crummy for them sometimes, good for the work site employer, who can sort through prospective full time employees at will.

I am quite sorry about your situation and your daughter. I was once told at a religious meeting that people who get cancer do so because they have unconfessed sin in their lives and are not right with God. I thought seriously about adding a very visible sin to my life, when I strangled this self righteous turkey, who hadn't gotten cancer YET. A favorite quote of mine is, "Your life will be better if you assume that people are just idiots, not that they are #$@holes."

 

[Antigone*]

Word of advice: Make certain you don't allow yourself to become a liability. The moment you stop being an asset, you can count your assignment coming to an end.