ThatGatorGuy
Member
I'm not sure if anyone can help me here but i don't really know where else to go.
I've been working for my county animal shelter for about 7 years now. I absolutely love working with the animals. The problems with my job started about 4 years ago. We had a management change as our director had left to take another position with another county.
Since then they hired a new manager and a new director to replace the last director. This new management is, really awful, for lack of a better phrase.
First off our turnover rate has skyrocketed. We literally can not keep employees. Not because the job is difficult but because of how toxic and abusive management is. Management loves to start and spread drama and gossip. They have this little clique where the rules only apply when they feel like it and to who they feel like it. One example is that my daughter had volunteered at the shelter for years, and when the time came for her to find a job she applied for the shelter. Despite the fact that she wouldn't be anywhere near my department, she was told she couldn't have the job because i would be working to closely to her. We both accepted that as it made sense. However, shortly after that they hired the son of one of the other ladies who works with them in the front office and hired a kennel staffs aunt to be the lead Animal Control Officer and then allowed that same kennel staff member to transfer so that he would work directly under his own aunt.
I have overheard management laughing and joking about piling extra work onto employees they don't like in order to make them quit so they wouldn't get unemployment benefits.
I have been told on multiple occasions "that's a mans job" and made to unload truckloads of heavy cat litter despite having a back injury i sustained while working at the shelter that required surgery to fix.
When i was going through PT for my back injury i was openly called "broken and useless" to my face by my female supervisor because i was not able to lift anything over 15 pounds.
They've attempted to bully and peer pressure employees to get them to work during their lunch breaks to the point that we went months without getting an actual lunch break.
They asked one kennel staff member to pick up donations from a volunteers house on her day off, only to then accuse her of stealing those donations when she brought them to the shelter the next day, in order to fire her.
We also had one kennel staff member threaten to stab a co worker. Management was told about the threat. Told the co worker who was threatened to just avoid the kennel staff member, and did nothing about the kennel staff member who made the threat.
I've walked in on the manager asleep at her desk multiple times.
They allow untrained people to euthanize animals. Just today i walked in to see the kennel staff member and his aunt euthanizing a dog. They waited until after the dog was dead to check its file in our system and found that no one had attempted to contact the dogs owner and then scanned the dog for a microchip to make sure they had the right dog AFTER the dog was already gone. This same kennel staff member has never been certified to euthanize and animal, and does not wait to confirm death before he is bagging the animal up and putting it in the freezer. I have brought this up to management multiple times and they do nothing about it.
My wife had been involved in a bad car accident that almost killed her a few years back. I went to HR and applied for and received FMLA, so that i would be able to take her to her appointments with her surgeon. Management tried to get me fired for using my FMLA. I had to go into HR and have an awkward meeting where they accused me of just calling out one day a week for several weeks.
I can continue, as i have years of this stuff written down, but i guess what I'm hoping for here is some advice. A phone number to contact. A law i can use to my advantage. Something. Anything. I used to love working with the animals, but now I'm on multiple anxiety/depression medications and i have panic attacks every morning as I'm getting ready for work. Everyone tells me to just find another job, but I've been here for so long and i make good money here and have great benefits so its hard to just throw that away when i got a family to support and start over. I've tried HR, but the last time i brought anything to their attention they told my management what i said about them and then i had weeks of dealing with managements vindictiveness.
Please, I really need help here.
I've been working for my county animal shelter for about 7 years now. I absolutely love working with the animals. The problems with my job started about 4 years ago. We had a management change as our director had left to take another position with another county.
Since then they hired a new manager and a new director to replace the last director. This new management is, really awful, for lack of a better phrase.
First off our turnover rate has skyrocketed. We literally can not keep employees. Not because the job is difficult but because of how toxic and abusive management is. Management loves to start and spread drama and gossip. They have this little clique where the rules only apply when they feel like it and to who they feel like it. One example is that my daughter had volunteered at the shelter for years, and when the time came for her to find a job she applied for the shelter. Despite the fact that she wouldn't be anywhere near my department, she was told she couldn't have the job because i would be working to closely to her. We both accepted that as it made sense. However, shortly after that they hired the son of one of the other ladies who works with them in the front office and hired a kennel staffs aunt to be the lead Animal Control Officer and then allowed that same kennel staff member to transfer so that he would work directly under his own aunt.
I have overheard management laughing and joking about piling extra work onto employees they don't like in order to make them quit so they wouldn't get unemployment benefits.
I have been told on multiple occasions "that's a mans job" and made to unload truckloads of heavy cat litter despite having a back injury i sustained while working at the shelter that required surgery to fix.
When i was going through PT for my back injury i was openly called "broken and useless" to my face by my female supervisor because i was not able to lift anything over 15 pounds.
They've attempted to bully and peer pressure employees to get them to work during their lunch breaks to the point that we went months without getting an actual lunch break.
They asked one kennel staff member to pick up donations from a volunteers house on her day off, only to then accuse her of stealing those donations when she brought them to the shelter the next day, in order to fire her.
We also had one kennel staff member threaten to stab a co worker. Management was told about the threat. Told the co worker who was threatened to just avoid the kennel staff member, and did nothing about the kennel staff member who made the threat.
I've walked in on the manager asleep at her desk multiple times.
They allow untrained people to euthanize animals. Just today i walked in to see the kennel staff member and his aunt euthanizing a dog. They waited until after the dog was dead to check its file in our system and found that no one had attempted to contact the dogs owner and then scanned the dog for a microchip to make sure they had the right dog AFTER the dog was already gone. This same kennel staff member has never been certified to euthanize and animal, and does not wait to confirm death before he is bagging the animal up and putting it in the freezer. I have brought this up to management multiple times and they do nothing about it.
My wife had been involved in a bad car accident that almost killed her a few years back. I went to HR and applied for and received FMLA, so that i would be able to take her to her appointments with her surgeon. Management tried to get me fired for using my FMLA. I had to go into HR and have an awkward meeting where they accused me of just calling out one day a week for several weeks.
I can continue, as i have years of this stuff written down, but i guess what I'm hoping for here is some advice. A phone number to contact. A law i can use to my advantage. Something. Anything. I used to love working with the animals, but now I'm on multiple anxiety/depression medications and i have panic attacks every morning as I'm getting ready for work. Everyone tells me to just find another job, but I've been here for so long and i make good money here and have great benefits so its hard to just throw that away when i got a family to support and start over. I've tried HR, but the last time i brought anything to their attention they told my management what i said about them and then i had weeks of dealing with managements vindictiveness.
Please, I really need help here.