Supervisor made homophobic comments

[happyguy]

What is the name of your state NJ?
I work for a super power of a company and my boss has made some antisemitic and homophobic comments at work. This does bother me deeply since I am Jewish and my daughter is gay. I am more bothered about the gay comments since my daughter has recently come out to us. I have started to record as many of our conversations that I can just in case it continues and no one will step forward in the investigation. Will these recordings be able to be used in court should i follow up with legal action. I want to know if I'm wasting my time?

 

[Zigner]

What is the name of your state NJ?
I work for a super power of a company and my boss has made some antisemitic and homophobic comments at work. This does bother me deeply since I am Jewish and my daughter is gay. I am more bothered about the gay comments since my daughter has recently come out to us. I have started to record as many of our conversations that I can just in case it continues and no one will step forward in the investigation. Will these recordings be able to be used in court should i follow up with legal action. I want to know if I'm wasting my time?

What sort of legal action do you expect to be bringing?

 

[cbg]

Not necessarily, but you're also a very long way from having a court case to bring. There are quite a few steps you need to go through first.

Your first step should be to tell your boss that you find the comments offensive and ask him politely to please stop. Next is to discuss the issue with upper management or HR. If you cannot resolve it at that level, then you need to file a complaint with the EEOC and/or the NJ Commission of Human Rights, or whatever they call it. ONLY after they have completed their investigation and issued you a finding/right to sue letter, which could be anywhere from six months to two years from now,can you file any kind of legal case.

And I wouldn't be expecting too much of a windfall here, either, tapes or not, since it does not appear that you've suffered any actual damages.

 

[happyguy]

What sort of legal action do you expect to be bringing?

I don't know what kind of legal action but if i had to say a hostile environment. I am just preparing for what may come down the road. Honestly I'd just like to get away from him. There have been other things but this is by far the most serious of them. The other issues are minor but they have been gradually happening more often. To add to the situation HR walked in on the conversation and just moved along.

At first my gut reaction was to forward the recordings to the LGBT, ADL, JDL, and copy our CEO and my boss, basically anyone who would listen and post it on YouTube. They say the court of public opinion is worse then the judicial system.

Just to add a quick note. I don't get me wrong about this situation this is certainly not a money thing because up until recently I really enjoyed working here over the previous 20 years or so.

 

[eerelations]

I don't know what kind of legal action but if i had to say a hostile environment. I am just preparing for what may come down the road. Honestly I'd just like to get away from him. There have been other things but this is by far the most serious of them. The other issues are minor but they have been gradually happening more often.

The steps cbg outlined are the steps you are required by law to follow before you are legally allowed to initiate legal action.

(Sorry for the bolding I did it by accident and for some reason can't remove it.)

 

[commentator]

Okay, your supervisor at a job with a much larger "super power" employer is a jerk. He has made anti homosexual and anti-Jewish comments which you find offensive, you being Jewish and having a gay daughter. My question is, how long ago did these remarks happen? and did you let him know you did not find them acceptable at the time he made them? Does he know you are Jewish? I don't really think you'd need to tell him anything specific except that you find his remark offensive and you'd appreciate it if he wouldn't say this sort of thing.

But if you don't say anything, and collect these offensive statements up over a period of time, and then see an attorney, you'll not have much of a case because all your company has to say is "We were unaware that there was a problem." Your supervisor would likely say, if confronted, "He laughed right along with me and even made a few of these sorts of jokes himself!" (Whether it's true or not.)

No case will be makeable unless you first give him a chance to understand you do not approve of his statements, or that you find them hurtful. Then if that's not helping, you make the company aware that there is a problem and give them a chance to fix it. If there is then no relief from the situation, you contact the EEOC and file a complaint. They decide it there was actually illegal discrimination going on, and would eventually give you a "right to sue" letter if they decided there had been discrimination.

It being a large super power company, I would strongly suspect they have some type of EEOC compliance officer within the company. Your complaints should be routed through them long before you go out and seek to sue them on your own.

If you were to quit the job because of your supervisor's harassment, you would be unlikely to be approved for unemployment benefits, because the first thing they're going to ask you, even if you have recordings and eight by ten still photos of him sexually harassing you, is "what did you try to do to solve the problem before quitting?" They expect you to have taken any reasonable action to attempt to resolve the situation before you leave, even if you leave and are filing a lawsuit.

 

[CSO286]

I don't know what kind of legal action but if i had to say a hostile environment. I am just preparing for what may come down the road. Honestly I'd just like to get away from him. There have been other things but this is by far the most serious of them. The other issues are minor but they have been gradually happening more often. To add to the situation HR walked in on the conversation and just moved along.

At first my gut reaction was to forward the recordings to the LGBT, ADL, JDL, and copy our CEO and my boss, basically anyone who would listen and post it on YouTube. They say the court of public opinion is worse then the judicial system.[/]

Just to add a quick note. I don't get me wrong about this situation this is certainly not a money thing because up until recently I really enjoyed working here over the previous 20 years or so.

The bolded?? WILL most likely cost you that job you've "really enjoyed doing for the last 20 years or so", since you did nothing internally to try and put and end to the problem.

 

[happyguy]

Okay, your supervisor at a job with a much larger "super power" employer is a jerk. He has made anti homosexual and anti-Jewish comments which you find offensive, you being Jewish and having a gay daughter. My question is, how long ago did these remarks happen? and did you let him know you did not find them acceptable at the time he made them? Does he know you are Jewish? I don't really think you'd need to tell him anything specific except that you find his remark offensive and you'd appreciate it if he wouldn't say this sort of thing.

But if you don't say anything, and collect these offensive statements up over a period of time, and then see an attorney, you'll not have much of a case because all your company has to say is "We were unaware that there was a problem." Your supervisor would likely say, if confronted, "He laughed right along with me and even made a few of these sorts of jokes himself!" (Whether it's true or not.)

No case will be makeable unless you first give him a chance to understand you do not approve of his statements, or that you find them hurtful. Then if that's not helping, you make the company aware that there is a problem and give them a chance to fix it. If there is then no relief from the situation, you contact the EEOC and file a complaint. They decide it there was actually illegal discrimination going on, and would eventually give you a "right to sue" letter if they decided there had been discrimination.

It being a large super power company, I would strongly suspect they have some type of EEOC compliance officer within the company. Your complaints should be routed through them long before you go out and seek to sue them on your own.

If you were to quit the job because of your supervisor's harassment, you would be unlikely to be approved for unemployment benefits, because the first thing they're going to ask you, even if you have recordings and eight by ten still photos of him sexually harassing you, is "what did you try to do to solve the problem before quitting?" They expect you to have taken any reasonable action to attempt to resolve the situation before you leave, even if you leave and are filing a lawsuit.

I spoke up about something before and that's when things seemed to become worse. I wouldn't be so hesitant about doing that if on another occasion for something different I spoke to HR and I wanted it documented they said "no one else has complained". From what it seems like the only time anyone gives a hoot is if they get a letter from a lawyer from what I hear.

 

[cbg]

None of which changes the fact that you have a weak case at best and that even the strongest case has to go through certain steps before you can take legal action, and you have taken none of them so far.

 

[eerelations]

From what it seems like the only time anyone gives a hoot is if they get a letter from a lawyer from what I hear.

You won't be able to provide them with a letter from a lawyer until you follow the steps outlined by cbg. Period.

 

[cbg]

Oh, I imagine he could probably pay an attorney to write them a nasty letter without going through any of the steps I outlined.

But by doing so, he'd be painting a target on his own back.

 

[happyguy]

None of which changes the fact that you have a weak case at best and that even the strongest case has to go through certain steps before you can take legal action, and you have taken none of them so far.

Thank you everyone for you valuable advice. Now I know the direction I have to go through

 

[commentator]

Behave professionally. "I complained about something else once and things just got worse" doesn't justify your lack of action in appropriate ways. That HR (this is interesting, the whole department or just one person?) walked through when this guy was making what you consider inappropriate comments and didn't notice/hear/take interest doesn't justify your not telling them, either. It is not necessary that they always do what you want, or that they treat you nicely or that you get immediate results. For any future actions you might have to take further on down the line, it is very necessary that you follow the steps and take things up through the company as we've described to you.

It certainly wouldn't justify your action if you followed through with your negative postings about the company on social media. Think about this. Think of exactly what the company would be likely to do. We've explained to you, in detail, what is involved in a real sexual harassment or EEOC discrimination suit. What you're thinking of doing would not be appropriate at all.

The larger and more professional your company is, the less likely they will be to be overly impressed with any bogus threatening letter you could get an attorney to write for you. They'll pass it up to a level where someone with the authority will say, "Lose this clown quick." And you'll be gone. They'll find some reason. And if you truly like your job and do not want to leave it, don't let this supervisor with a nasty mouth and attitude take this job away from you. Respond wisely, handle things maturely and professionally. Good luck.