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Guest
What is the name of your state? California
I apologize for the length of this post, but please bear with me. I am a maintenance worker for a large nonprofit corporation that provides housing for poor and formerly homeless individuals. In July, the boyfriend, R___, of a tenant who was being evicted, began threatening a social worker, K___ who worked at the site. She informed the police and her supervisors and we all hoped for the best. On August 23d, as I was walking to work (I lived in a building across the street, owned by the same organization), R___ crossed the street, shoved me against a building, slapped me in the face, and told me that I had "disrespected (his) woman". This referred to my response to a work order from her in April, in which I entered her unit to look at a window that had fallen out of its frame. The window needed further attention, so I left a note on her bed where she would see it before possibly opening the window and injuring herself). I reported the incident to the police and my supervisors. A couple of weeks later, K___ was stopped by R___ , right outside my residence. He produced a 10 inch chef's knife and said "b***h, I'm going to kill you". Luckily, K___ got away and reported the incident to the appropriate parties. Her organization then transferred her to another site. At this point I began to seriously fear for my safety. On September 27th, as I was coming to work, R___ passed me, slapped me in the head and walked away. I made the necessary reports and went home. I emailed my supervisor saying that I no longer felt safe at the workplace and he replied that I could "take a couple days off". I replied that I didn't think that would do any good and he replied that he'd see what he could do. A week later the site manager called me and told me that she had spoken to the H.R. director for the entire corporation, who suggested that I "find another route". I emailed him, explaining R___'s proximity to both my workplace and my residence, and emphasized that I was afraid for my life. He replied that he would see what he could do. He called the next morning to say that they would try to transfer me to another site. I then asked what would happen to the time I had taken off, explaining that I didn't feel it was fair that it be taken from my vacation/sick time. He replied that I still had another three or four P.T.O. days left and that after that "we'll be in a real pickle" (I'm sure this is irrelevant, but at no time did he express any sympathy or concern for my well being). They have since run me back and forth between a couple of properties, and have temporarily placed me at a site where I am doing, essentially, janitorial work, rather than the maintenance that my job title would suggest. They have, at least, covered all but three of my P.T.O. days, which, while better than nothing, still seems unfair, as I had no place to work, unless I wanted to put myself right back in the path of the crazed speedfreak with a huge knife and an irrational grudge. Did they have an obligation to transfer me from the workplace after the first incident? Or to offer counseling? I'm trying to "hang in there", but this is really taking a lot out of me, not only the trauma of being attacked by this guy, but also trying to deal with the organization, which seems to be going out of its way to make this even more difficult than it already is (this is probably legally irrelevant, but my supervisor told me, and I can't for the life of me figure out why he'd tell me this, that the H.R. director actually said "I can't help thinking he must have provoked this guy", even after all the evidence that R___ is a dangerous, deranged individual). Do I have any legal recourse here, or do I need to just find another job? I've been with this company for over five years now, and find it hard to believe that they would treat anybody this shabbily without feeling that they could just get away with it. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
I apologize for the length of this post, but please bear with me. I am a maintenance worker for a large nonprofit corporation that provides housing for poor and formerly homeless individuals. In July, the boyfriend, R___, of a tenant who was being evicted, began threatening a social worker, K___ who worked at the site. She informed the police and her supervisors and we all hoped for the best. On August 23d, as I was walking to work (I lived in a building across the street, owned by the same organization), R___ crossed the street, shoved me against a building, slapped me in the face, and told me that I had "disrespected (his) woman". This referred to my response to a work order from her in April, in which I entered her unit to look at a window that had fallen out of its frame. The window needed further attention, so I left a note on her bed where she would see it before possibly opening the window and injuring herself). I reported the incident to the police and my supervisors. A couple of weeks later, K___ was stopped by R___ , right outside my residence. He produced a 10 inch chef's knife and said "b***h, I'm going to kill you". Luckily, K___ got away and reported the incident to the appropriate parties. Her organization then transferred her to another site. At this point I began to seriously fear for my safety. On September 27th, as I was coming to work, R___ passed me, slapped me in the head and walked away. I made the necessary reports and went home. I emailed my supervisor saying that I no longer felt safe at the workplace and he replied that I could "take a couple days off". I replied that I didn't think that would do any good and he replied that he'd see what he could do. A week later the site manager called me and told me that she had spoken to the H.R. director for the entire corporation, who suggested that I "find another route". I emailed him, explaining R___'s proximity to both my workplace and my residence, and emphasized that I was afraid for my life. He replied that he would see what he could do. He called the next morning to say that they would try to transfer me to another site. I then asked what would happen to the time I had taken off, explaining that I didn't feel it was fair that it be taken from my vacation/sick time. He replied that I still had another three or four P.T.O. days left and that after that "we'll be in a real pickle" (I'm sure this is irrelevant, but at no time did he express any sympathy or concern for my well being). They have since run me back and forth between a couple of properties, and have temporarily placed me at a site where I am doing, essentially, janitorial work, rather than the maintenance that my job title would suggest. They have, at least, covered all but three of my P.T.O. days, which, while better than nothing, still seems unfair, as I had no place to work, unless I wanted to put myself right back in the path of the crazed speedfreak with a huge knife and an irrational grudge. Did they have an obligation to transfer me from the workplace after the first incident? Or to offer counseling? I'm trying to "hang in there", but this is really taking a lot out of me, not only the trauma of being attacked by this guy, but also trying to deal with the organization, which seems to be going out of its way to make this even more difficult than it already is (this is probably legally irrelevant, but my supervisor told me, and I can't for the life of me figure out why he'd tell me this, that the H.R. director actually said "I can't help thinking he must have provoked this guy", even after all the evidence that R___ is a dangerous, deranged individual). Do I have any legal recourse here, or do I need to just find another job? I've been with this company for over five years now, and find it hard to believe that they would treat anybody this shabbily without feeling that they could just get away with it. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
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