Discriminated Because I Am A Woman

[aliceann]

I need advice. I am an assistant to an account executive for a marketing firm. I have been there since January. My old AE left company 1 month ago. I have been doing his job since then. The VP of company starting taking resumes for old AE's job. I ask him to let me have the job since I was already doing it and I know the accounts. He told me he was looking for someone with a certain type of experience. Then he hires someone who doesn't have that experience or any experience related to our company. The new guy has NO computer experience either which is something that is required of all assistants before employment. The AE's job requires heavy computer exp. in Excel, Powerpoint, Word, AS400, etc. I have all of that experience. The new guy started this week. I am having to trian him for the position as well as how to use computer. In the meantime until he learns the job I am still doing the job as well as my job. The AE position pays twice what I make as well as commissions. I have done the job of the AE for the whole month but found out I will not get the 1400.00 commission check for May. The VP of Mkt. will get it. For June I will still be doing the job and the new guy I am training will get commission. The VP does not like women AE's. There was another AE who was a woman who left company a month ago because her account was resigned. She tried to get my old AE's job and was told that there was not enough work to justify putting a full time person in old AE's position which was not true. The old AE's and I have 22 accounts which kept us both busy. If there was not enough work the VP wouldn't have hired this new guy. So the woman AE left company. I feel as if I am being discriminated against because I am a woman over 40. The woman AE who left was over 40 also. My old AE was a man who was 34 and the new guy is early 30's. I ask several times for the position and got different answers everytime. The VP always brushed me off. I am qualified to do job until VP found replacement and I am qualified to train replacement and qualified to still do job while replacement learns job, so wouldn't you think I am qualified to have the job and pay that goes with it. I even had to teach the new guy how to send and email. I cannot afford to quit right now and jobs are hard to find in our area, but I have to do something because I have got to the point where I feel used and even hate going to work. I did enjoy my job until my old AE left and I got put in this situation. I have been told by several people to file a lawsuit against company as they have a history of treating women this way. Should I? I am from NC.

 

[buddy2bear]

You should talk to the woman who left first. If you still feel that you need to sue, you and she should then go to the EEOC, which is the first step. Just be aware that, particularly in the South, you will probably lose your job and they will probably say it was for "poor performance."

 

[aliceann]

Thanks for the info. I think if they fired me they would have a hard time justifying using poor job performance because I have an execellent reference letter from my old AE that I got him to write before he left. Also the company office manager has offered to write me one as well in case I decide to leave. She is really disgusted with the way the VP treats women. Someone in the company also keeps posting jokes on the boards about women. One of them was a job description about women. It basically said that a woman's place was to only keep house, have babies and make sure her husband is happy. We all know it was one of the men who posts this junk, we just don't know which one. The VP has stated to some that he will not hire anymore women AE's. When he was interviewing for the old AE's job he would not even interview any women who sent in resumes. He only called in men for interviews.

 

[buddy2bear]

If possible, take the posted jokes or copies of them. Write the date on the back and where posted. Get any letters of recommendation you can without letting anyone know you might be considering a suit. See if you can get copies of your evaluations from your personnel file on the QT. Keep a daily log of what you consider adverse employment actions against you. Anything adverse to women.

The more documentation you have, the better your chances.

 

[Always searching]

Personally, I would have selective memory about training. If there are things the new AE needs to know, he needs to contact the other AE's. I worked in the television business before I worked any personnel and I can relate to exactly what you are going through. You are, as I was a very dutiful employee. You worked hard and were proud of your work and were treated like a used dishrag. You stayed late, took phone calls, answered letters and did several of the AE's work that they didn't have time to do. They made the commission, you get a lousy paycheck. Now, for the retraining.......What is your job discription? I would start putting the monkey's back on the AE's. Tell them that they will have to do it, you are way too busy. You can have selective memory loss. Let them seek the information they need. Let your boss train them. Don't do such a great job. They know you are so useful and they are using you. I would as Buddy said, make detailed records you can use later.

You have to train him to email? Is he from the Ice Age? I would show him once and if he asks again then treat him like he is stupid and tell him he should have taken notes. You have a job, you don't have to have everyone like you. People only dump on you because you allow them too. Don't be a victim or a volunteer. Start handing things back to the AE's and tell them it is their job and you have other things you are required to do. Do this politically and be your nice friendly self but do it. When these guys find out they can't dump on you, you might feel better about things. Maybe you will outlast the new AE.

 

[aliceann]

Thanks Buddy2Bear & Always Searching for your responses. My situation has not improved at all. I am looking for another job. Buddy2Bear I took your advice and have a copy of the junk one of the men posted and recorded the dates on the back. The worst one was posted for 3 weeks. My new AE is a moron. I had to show him how to type a memo the other day. When I say he has no computer experience I really mean NO computer experience. He supposedly was a manager of a furniture store for 2 years until 2 months ago. Something is fishy about his past I believe. How can a person manage a chain furniture store and not no how to send an email or type a memo. I also found out this week from a friend that the new AE worked for my friends dad several years ago and was fired after 3 months because he was so lazy and would not do his job. I didn't know until I ran into my friend at lunch that he knew the new AE. When I went back to work after lunch I told AE that I ran into a friend that said he knew him and that he had worked for his father. He looked at me with a shocked expression and admitted that he knew my friend but that he had not worked for my friends father. He said that he talked to the father about a job a long time ago but had never worked for him. I can't believe he lied to me. I did not tell him that my friend told me he had been fired but I can tell he knows that I know. It was kind of funny!! He had told me that he had worked at a county job for 4 years in the early 90's. I think he may have been let go from there. I told him yesterday that I knew the director and several employees who have been there 15-20 years. He claimed not to know any of them. It is not a large county office so he had to know them especially the director who would have been his boss. I got a chance to see his resume that he sent to our company (friend in Human Resources) and he does have the county job on there but not the one he was fired from. How could anyone work in a county office in the 90's and not know how to use a computer??? I talked to the EEOC yesterday and was told that they thought I had a legitimate complaint for sexual discrimination. Just as soon as I find another job I am going to file a complaint & lawsuit. I have 180 days from day new AE was hired. But I have to have another job first because I can't afford to be out of work. I really don't want any money from a lawsuit. I just want the VP to admit that he would not hire me because I am a woman, so hopefully he will learn not treat other women this way in the future. My brother says that I should ask for at least one year salary at the rate I would have received had I got the AE position plus 1 year commissions. But I don't know. What do you all think I should do? I also have decided not to help him anymore on the computer. He ask me how to do something yesterday afternoon before I left. I left early because I had my 40 hours in and decided not to work overtime. I told him that he would have to ask someone else because I was leaving and did not have time to go over it with him. He had the nerve to ask me why I was leaving which was none of his business. I do not have to have his permission. I had ask the VP early yesterday morning if it was ok and he said yes. I just told him that I had my hours in and that my work was done for the week. He is going to drive me nuts!! He wants to change a few things around in our filing system which because of the amount of paperwork is a kind of complicated filing system. I told him he could change it if he wanted but I said I was not going to because I did not want stuff screwed up and it was they way it needed to be. So he left it alone. I am a very organized person and know where everything is and want it to stay that way. My system works so well that several other AE's have ask me to show their assistants how my office is organized so they can get theirs that way. I have helped several organize theirs and they love the way it works. Anyway sorry this is so long I just wanted to share what is going on. Sometimes it helps to know that there are others out there that understand what I am going through.

 

[Always searching]

Good for you. I am proud of you. I went to a seminar in Dallas many years ago and I am going to share the visual advice that this motivational speaker told all of us. He had 50 stuffed monkeys on the stage. He was the manager of an office. Well, every person that came to him brought him a monkey and attached it to his suit. The monkey represented a problem that a person brought him. He could either keep the monkey or give the monkey back and allow that person to deal with the problem. If you imagine every person in your surroundings with a monkey, get busy and throw it back to them. This simple illustration has helped me in many facets of my life. I am glad you talked with EEOC. I would recommend a visit with an employment attorney. They will not charge on the first visit and he or she will see if this case is manageable or not for them. If one doesn't want to take it, another person will. I had a killer of an attorney and it was a grueling process but I won. You will have to document times and dates and what was said to whom by whom etc. You have to have a tough skin to do this and understand that you may not be able to work in the same industry. I changed streams and survived and you will too. Just I want you to understand that being a Joan of Arc is a lonely place to be. You are smart to look for another job. I am almost excited that you left early!! First big step. Let us know how things go.

 

[HotRedCathie]

SEX DISCRIMINATION

Please refer to the information that I sent to VL102371 on 06-04-01 SEXUAL RUMORS. This is some useful and vital information that will include some websites to increase your knowledge. Don't wait to late because time is of great essence. I hope this information will be useful.

 

[aliceann]

Update on job situation. I gave a 2 week notice this afternoon. I was called into the owners office and told to leave today. I was escorted back to my office to pack my personal things while they cut me a final paycheck. They did not ask why I was giving a notice or any questions. I still can't believe that they did not even ask why or anything. I will be filing a complaint with EEOC tomorrow.

 

[Always searching]

Oh my gosh!!!!!!! You have some work to do. Be very precise in your statement to the EEOC. Also because you quit and didn't get fired, it will be a battle for unemployment. You should use words like.....I was forced to quit my employment because of a hostile environment and sexual discrimination. The work environment made me uncomfortable and all of the discriminatory posters and jestures made in my presence FORCED me to make the decision that working in this environment was no longer an option. I was verbally degraded and by the posters, visually degraded because I am the (only) female in the office. I did not quit willingly, I was forced to quit.

Let us know how it goes.

 

[patticakes]

aliceann......hang in there. sad to say, i have been through that situation. I filed a complaint with my company for gender discrimination. I was removed from my job and it was given to a man. I then filed a complaint with the EEOC and received a ruling in my favor. I was threatened with "reorganizational layoff". Hired a highly acclaimed employment attorney and my case has been through the District Court and the Fifth Court of Appeals. Sad to say, my case did not even make it to trial, it was thrown out on procedural matters. My attorney failed to submit the authenticated documents. Not only did I NOT get my day in court......I now have to pay the company's appeal costs.This entire process has taken me 5 years and over $5000 to date, plus now the company's appeal costs. It is not as easy as everyone makes it seem. Even with tapes, 17 boxes of documentation,5 witness' prepared to give sworn statements as to the acts of hostility, attempts at intimidation, isolation, retaliation and the ruling in my favor from the EEOC............the system does not work in the interest of the employee. Please consider it carefully.......find a better place to work and enjoy life. It's too darn short to go through what I've been through and put my family through for the past 5 years for nothing.