an employee who quit because she feels discriminated against

What is the name of your state? Michigan

Hello,

My husband (who rents office space once a week from a friend )brings in his own assistant once a week. Today we received a call from her stating that she quits. She stated that she doesn't feel comfortable and that she feels discriminated against. Please note that she is the only employee that works for my husband but his friend who he rents space from has a pretty much all white office employees. She is a black female.

What can we do as employers to protect ouselves from a potential law suit?


i would certainly appreciate any advise on this matter.

thanks!

Need a little more information, if you have it. (You may not.)

What has happened to make her feel discriminated against? What treatment did she receive that she felt was discriminatory? Any ideas? (It might make a difference to what actions I suggest you take.)

I'm not suggesting that she WAS discriminated against; I'm just wondering what happened to make her PERCEIVE discrimination.

She is the only black employee that works in an all white office. That is something that my husband can not control since he is renting space from someone who happens to have all white staff. She is my husband's only employee. When my husband asked her to help him out on fridays at work she agreed and business picked up and she pretty much comes every friday to assist him since then. it's been like that for the past three months.

To answer your question, there was an incident that happened at the office the day she was working. She called after that incident (after a couple of days) and stated that she doesn't want to work anymore. You see, the gentlemen that my husband rents space from just came up to her and patted her on the back. .he is an older friendly man and i guess she didn't like it or something. .she commented that he is a harsh man and she is a lady. so he patted her on the back in a softer manner and she stated that that was better. Nothing happened after that. She did tell my husband that she isn't comfortable working there after that and recited the incident to him and asked him whether the man did that to her because she is black. That's when my husband told her that this is not the case at all and told her that if she doesn't want to work anymore it's fine and perfectly up to her.
i guess i want to know whether we should have her sign something, document what happened or what? i'm really worried about this. . .

thanks for your help in this matter

Yes, you should very definitely document what happened. That should be a standard procedure for anything of the sort. The first rule of human resources and office management is Document, document, document!

That being said, I really don't think you have anything to worry about. If the facts are as you say (and I'm not suggesting that they aren't) even if she were to try to file a case I can't see any govt agency accepting a report. What's she going to say? "My boss's landlord patted me on the back and I'm sure he only did it because I'm black?" First off, patting her on the back is not discriminatory behavior and secondly, there's no evidence anywhere except in her own mind that he only did so because of her race.

Then of course, it's quite true that your husband has no control over who works in the space he rents.

Document the incident and what was said about it, put it in her file, and stop worrying.

thank you for your help.

quick question and this might sound a bit naive. When I document what happened, do I need to have her sign anything. I mean it's really my word against hers. .i'm asking this as a general question for future reference. In situations like this, do you ask the employees to sign any documents that you place in their files.

thanks!

If she were being disciplined for something I'd say have her sign it, so that she couldn't come back later and say that she didn't know she was doing anything wrong. But in this case I think having her sign anything would be counter-productive; it might indicate that she is being disciplined when she isn't, and that could work against you in the long run. While there's no definite right or wrong answer to this, in this specific instance I would say just write up a description of what happened and don't bother having her sign it.