What is the name of your state? Louisiana
Hi! I'm currently going through some troubling issues and I'd like some advice. I'd just like to know what my options really are and if there would even be a point to go forward in any way. A couple of things that may be important to note are: 1) I am poor. I can not afford a lawyer in any way. 2) I don't care about getting money out of this situation. I loved my job, but would never go back with the current GM at that store. A satisfactory outcome would be getting my job back, though I don't see it as a likely outcome. 3) I suffer from a medical condition that causes severe pain. I've had two small surgeries and take multiple medications, including a small supply of opiates to mitigate the pain. I can't afford pain management, so I'm unable to work more than part time. 4) There is a lot of information relating to this situation. I will try to keep it as short as possible, but some nuance will be lost. If anyone wants me to elaborate on any topics, please ask and I will do so as soon as possible. Now, I'll get started.
My problems began, and I started recording my calls and meetings with my boss, when on a performance review, she stated that she had to lower some of my scores, because someone higher up had told her that she was giving too many people scores that were too good (Perfect reviews on most sections, I assume.) She said that it didn't really matter, but I pointed out that it was used to determine raises. At some point, either a little before or after this situation, I began having trouble with an employee. It's important to note that I was a shift manager at this store. This employee would disregard my requests constantly. It was mostly a lot of little "pushing the boundaries, but not really breaking them" things. He refused to follow uniform policy when I asked him to tuck his shirt in. He would put off work and sits down playing on his phone for between 1-2 hours on average everyday. He is rude to customers to the point that I've personally gotten many complaints about his behavior. I asked my manager to address these issues several times. I've personally tried both tough and kind ways of changing his behavior myself. My GM never dealt with this issue. It got to the point that a few days before I had to work with him one week, I had the first panic attack of my life and contacted my doctor on facebook asking for an early morning appointment. I was put on anxiety medications, which I stopped taking, because they made me feel bad.
There were many other issues. One of my assistants was originally rehired after being fired from another store for stealing money. She openly admitted this to me herself. I raised this issue with my DM when she was applying for the assistant manager position, however, they gave the position to her anyway. This worried me because she had access to the same safe that I did. My GM also punished me for correctly an employee who had be very rude to a customer on the phone and slammed the phone down. I simply told him that he couldn't talk to customers like that and if he had a "problem" customer, that he could simply put them on hold and I'd be happy to handle it myself. He said "I don't need this f**king job, I'll just walk out." He later told my boss that he wasn't being rude and that I was lying about that. She started leaving extra work for me everyday and openly stated this was because of that situation.
I'll move on to the endgame at this point, but there were many other small situations that relate to my accusation of harassment, mainly just being treated differently than others. One day I noticed that my hours were getting cut. It's important to note here that my boss is very friendly with the assistant manager and the merchandiser, all female. She cut my hours that week, but the next week she cuts my hours even more. Then she cut the hours of two of the full time male employees and her friends still had 40 hours/week. I found this to be unfair treatment. Then another employee told me that she said, "I have to give (the merchandiser) 40 hours a week, because she has to pay for her insurance. We all have bills. Coupled with everything else that had been going on, this was the last straw for me. I proceeded to file a complaint against my GM with HR.
That didn't go so well. The "investigation" was nothing more than a form that we had to fax back to corporate writing down answers to specific questions. The form was written with obviously custom questions that were related to my complaint, however it also included "gotcha" questions like, "Have you ever heard anyone curse?" When I saw that, I knew exactly what was going to happen. I filled out the form honestly, though, and gave it back to my GM so she could fax it back to corporate. This is the second issue with the "investigation." Even though my complaint was against the GM, she is the one that faxed it back. And when only one form needed an extra sheet of paper, it's pretty easy to figure out who was making the complaint. The entire process wasn't to protect me from harassment, it was designed to get rid of the complainant. I waited for the inevitable.
A couple of days later, when they were supposedly sending an "investigator" to the store, it turned out that he was simply my DM. He also didn't interview anyone, especially the couple of people who would have supported my side. He only wanted to talk to me and he issued me a ridiculous final written warning. They skipped several steps of their discipline policy, such as: 1) Verbal warning, 2) First written warning, and 3) Second written warning. I commented that I found this very odd, but I knew what was happening, especially after I read "There will be no further disciplinary action if you reach your performance goals." It's important to note that that wording effectively gives them reason to fire me for just about anything, because performance goals include so many different metrics that no one ever fully reaches. The a couple of weeks later, the electricity went out in my home and my family didn't wake me up until I was an hour late for work. I was sent home when I got there. I came back a few days later to work and was fired. The wrongful termination would be on the issue that the final written warning was wrongful, which they used to fire me.
Below, I will include a reply I made on the several issues they used to justify my final written. A couple of the reasons were in my opinion, insulting.
Final Written Reply (Pastebin)
I've recorded most of my calls and meetings with my managers and taken videos and pictures to document many of the issues in case I ever needed to defend myself. Louisiana is a one party state. While it is legal for me to record them, I understand the fickleness of recordings being allowed in court or not. Regardless, I sent one more e-mail to HR in the hopes of getting this situation reversed. However, it was sent early on the morning that I was fired. The day after I was fired, my DM spent all day in the office looking through paperwork with the door locked. He called me that same day offering me my job back, but at a different store. I can't do this, because I don't have reliable transportation at the moment. I got another call from who I believe to be another DM for the company, but I haven't be able to reach him to discuss the voicemail he left me and want he wanted. I assume they are trying to keep this from going to court. I can't afford a lawyer, so I can't really take this to court anyway. A worker told me that they're sending someone to the store on tuesday. I assume it's because they want to interview everyone and see if they can find anything bad about me. Considering the couple employees that wouldn't do their job, and the fact that my GM's friends always take her side, I'm sure they'll find something, if that's what they're doing.
I don't really know what to do from here. It's not a matter of money or suing them. I strongly believe in fairness and treating others equally. I feel they have failed on this part in every way during this entire process. I intend for my next step to be filing a complaint with the EEOC, but HR haven't responded with my request for copies of my termination paperwork. Again, I am sincerely sorry for the long read. I tried to cut it down as much as I could, but there's a lot going on here. Thank you for taking the time to read this and please give me your honest opinion. I'm not a lawyer, so I need any opinions anyone has on this subject. Thank you in advance.
Hi! I'm currently going through some troubling issues and I'd like some advice. I'd just like to know what my options really are and if there would even be a point to go forward in any way. A couple of things that may be important to note are: 1) I am poor. I can not afford a lawyer in any way. 2) I don't care about getting money out of this situation. I loved my job, but would never go back with the current GM at that store. A satisfactory outcome would be getting my job back, though I don't see it as a likely outcome. 3) I suffer from a medical condition that causes severe pain. I've had two small surgeries and take multiple medications, including a small supply of opiates to mitigate the pain. I can't afford pain management, so I'm unable to work more than part time. 4) There is a lot of information relating to this situation. I will try to keep it as short as possible, but some nuance will be lost. If anyone wants me to elaborate on any topics, please ask and I will do so as soon as possible. Now, I'll get started.
My problems began, and I started recording my calls and meetings with my boss, when on a performance review, she stated that she had to lower some of my scores, because someone higher up had told her that she was giving too many people scores that were too good (Perfect reviews on most sections, I assume.) She said that it didn't really matter, but I pointed out that it was used to determine raises. At some point, either a little before or after this situation, I began having trouble with an employee. It's important to note that I was a shift manager at this store. This employee would disregard my requests constantly. It was mostly a lot of little "pushing the boundaries, but not really breaking them" things. He refused to follow uniform policy when I asked him to tuck his shirt in. He would put off work and sits down playing on his phone for between 1-2 hours on average everyday. He is rude to customers to the point that I've personally gotten many complaints about his behavior. I asked my manager to address these issues several times. I've personally tried both tough and kind ways of changing his behavior myself. My GM never dealt with this issue. It got to the point that a few days before I had to work with him one week, I had the first panic attack of my life and contacted my doctor on facebook asking for an early morning appointment. I was put on anxiety medications, which I stopped taking, because they made me feel bad.
There were many other issues. One of my assistants was originally rehired after being fired from another store for stealing money. She openly admitted this to me herself. I raised this issue with my DM when she was applying for the assistant manager position, however, they gave the position to her anyway. This worried me because she had access to the same safe that I did. My GM also punished me for correctly an employee who had be very rude to a customer on the phone and slammed the phone down. I simply told him that he couldn't talk to customers like that and if he had a "problem" customer, that he could simply put them on hold and I'd be happy to handle it myself. He said "I don't need this f**king job, I'll just walk out." He later told my boss that he wasn't being rude and that I was lying about that. She started leaving extra work for me everyday and openly stated this was because of that situation.
I'll move on to the endgame at this point, but there were many other small situations that relate to my accusation of harassment, mainly just being treated differently than others. One day I noticed that my hours were getting cut. It's important to note here that my boss is very friendly with the assistant manager and the merchandiser, all female. She cut my hours that week, but the next week she cuts my hours even more. Then she cut the hours of two of the full time male employees and her friends still had 40 hours/week. I found this to be unfair treatment. Then another employee told me that she said, "I have to give (the merchandiser) 40 hours a week, because she has to pay for her insurance. We all have bills. Coupled with everything else that had been going on, this was the last straw for me. I proceeded to file a complaint against my GM with HR.
That didn't go so well. The "investigation" was nothing more than a form that we had to fax back to corporate writing down answers to specific questions. The form was written with obviously custom questions that were related to my complaint, however it also included "gotcha" questions like, "Have you ever heard anyone curse?" When I saw that, I knew exactly what was going to happen. I filled out the form honestly, though, and gave it back to my GM so she could fax it back to corporate. This is the second issue with the "investigation." Even though my complaint was against the GM, she is the one that faxed it back. And when only one form needed an extra sheet of paper, it's pretty easy to figure out who was making the complaint. The entire process wasn't to protect me from harassment, it was designed to get rid of the complainant. I waited for the inevitable.
A couple of days later, when they were supposedly sending an "investigator" to the store, it turned out that he was simply my DM. He also didn't interview anyone, especially the couple of people who would have supported my side. He only wanted to talk to me and he issued me a ridiculous final written warning. They skipped several steps of their discipline policy, such as: 1) Verbal warning, 2) First written warning, and 3) Second written warning. I commented that I found this very odd, but I knew what was happening, especially after I read "There will be no further disciplinary action if you reach your performance goals." It's important to note that that wording effectively gives them reason to fire me for just about anything, because performance goals include so many different metrics that no one ever fully reaches. The a couple of weeks later, the electricity went out in my home and my family didn't wake me up until I was an hour late for work. I was sent home when I got there. I came back a few days later to work and was fired. The wrongful termination would be on the issue that the final written warning was wrongful, which they used to fire me.
Below, I will include a reply I made on the several issues they used to justify my final written. A couple of the reasons were in my opinion, insulting.
Final Written Reply (Pastebin)
I've recorded most of my calls and meetings with my managers and taken videos and pictures to document many of the issues in case I ever needed to defend myself. Louisiana is a one party state. While it is legal for me to record them, I understand the fickleness of recordings being allowed in court or not. Regardless, I sent one more e-mail to HR in the hopes of getting this situation reversed. However, it was sent early on the morning that I was fired. The day after I was fired, my DM spent all day in the office looking through paperwork with the door locked. He called me that same day offering me my job back, but at a different store. I can't do this, because I don't have reliable transportation at the moment. I got another call from who I believe to be another DM for the company, but I haven't be able to reach him to discuss the voicemail he left me and want he wanted. I assume they are trying to keep this from going to court. I can't afford a lawyer, so I can't really take this to court anyway. A worker told me that they're sending someone to the store on tuesday. I assume it's because they want to interview everyone and see if they can find anything bad about me. Considering the couple employees that wouldn't do their job, and the fact that my GM's friends always take her side, I'm sure they'll find something, if that's what they're doing.
I don't really know what to do from here. It's not a matter of money or suing them. I strongly believe in fairness and treating others equally. I feel they have failed on this part in every way during this entire process. I intend for my next step to be filing a complaint with the EEOC, but HR haven't responded with my request for copies of my termination paperwork. Again, I am sincerely sorry for the long read. I tried to cut it down as much as I could, but there's a lot going on here. Thank you for taking the time to read this and please give me your honest opinion. I'm not a lawyer, so I need any opinions anyone has on this subject. Thank you in advance.
