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do i have any recourse?

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daydreeemzz

Junior Member
Ne..im 60 and work with several girls in their 20's. We got a new lead that right away started with sexual remarks, touching and other little things to these girls. I saw it and called him out and he started giving me grief whenever he could. I finally went to the operations director, told him and he said, not to go to HR, that he would take care of it. Well, within a week this lead started following me, threatening to write me up, just making my life miserable. I figure that the operations director must have told him. I had tomstart taking a xanax just to go into work because of the anxiety. After 2 weeks of this, i came into work and he was going to write me up formeating a cookie while i was working, we all do and this lead eats at least 4 times a day. I just couldnt take it anymore and quit on the spot. I went a did an exit interview and this lead is being investigated for the sexual harrassment and theymjust told me they were sorry. Do i have any recourse at all? A few of the girls said they would talk to a lawyer with me and tell him they saw it going on and how i was being treated.
 


kecochra

Junior Member
Buy a small recorder to document what he says to you.
If it gets out of hand (you old...) you have some evidence against him. If you can prove that there is a real issue, they would have to move that person to another workplace (take some action) otherwise the company can be sued.
Write down the harassment (i.e.- he is eating 4 meals and writing you up for frivolous stuff) that sounds like a harassing boss. He is picking up co-workers and they are flirting with each other constantly it is a place of work not a singles bar, that could be an uncomfortable work environment and the company might do something about it (unless he is friends with his supervisor and they all do it). Just some advice.

I forgot to read that you quit. I think it would be more in you're favor if you had stayed. Get those girls to put something in writing for you or some statement of what happened! Try to get you're job back and explain you quit because that lead was making you uncomfortable.
 
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daydreeemzz

Junior Member
I already have 2 of the girls that i worked with the most who will write everything they saw up. Theres already an investigation going about his sexual harrassment. I had to do an exit interview with HR and I told them everything and they told me about the investigation and that he shouldnt have taken things out on me. They apologized and that was about it. Funny thing this is a catholic hospital and we all have to live by "their creed". I have found another job which starts in a few weeks but had to take a pay cut and wait 90 days for insurance. When youre 60 you have to take almost anything offered because its tough out there for older people. Ive been reading about whistle blowing and harrassment. Im talking to a lawyer on the phone tomorrow but i dont have the money to hire one. Its just so unfair to almost be forced to quit because they know how far you can be pushed. Also, the girls arent flirting with him. They tell him hes creepy and to stop but he just laughs, hence the investigation. He had to have been told that I was the one that said something about the sexual harrassment. Him and my operations director(the one i told and he was also the one that told me not to go to HR, that he would take care of it) are close. Im not the only one that has been told not to go to HR
 
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Proserpina

Senior Member
Buy a small recorder to document what he says to you.
If it gets out of hand (you old...) you have some evidence against him. If you can prove that there is a real issue, they would have to move that person to another workplace (take some action) otherwise the company can be sued.
The employer is not compelled to move the offending person. At. All.

Write down the harassment (i.e.- he is eating 4 meals and writing you up for frivolous stuff) that sounds like a harassing boss.
Being a jerk isn't illegal. Who determines what is "frivolous"? Are you trying to say that everybody has to be treated the same way?


He is picking up co-workers and they are flirting with each other constantly it is a place of work not a singles bar, that could be an uncomfortable work environment and the company might do something about it (unless he is friends with his supervisor and they all do it). Just some advice.

I forgot to read that you quit. I think it would be more in you're favor if you had stayed. Get those girls to put something in writing for you or some statement of what happened! Try to get you're job back and explain you quit because that lead was making you uncomfortable.
You think that the "girls" are going to put their own jobs on the line? Nope.

Do you think they're going to rehire? Nope.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
The employer's legal obligation is to make the illegal behavior stop. Period.

You *might* have some recourse since legally, the company was put on notice when you initially reported it and the behavior continued. However, I say *might* rather than *do* because it now appears that they are doing an investigation; you may have quit too soon.

However, no matter what, if you are ever to have any legal recourse at all, you MUST file a complaint with the EEOC and/or the state equivalent thereof. You cannot sue, no matter how strong or weak your case, without a right to sue letter from one or the other.

By all means have your conversation with the lawyer. But he can do nothing, even if you had a slam dunk case (which you do not) until you file with the EEOC.
 

commentator

Senior Member
Immediately, if you have not already done so, FILE FOR UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE. You quit your job, true, but you quit for a valid, employment related reason. There will be fact finding done, if you file a claim. There will be an inquiry. You will tell them what was going on, and why you quit the job, and they will contact the employer, and ask them about the situation. I hope you didn't tell the employer's HR that you "quit for personal reasons." In fact, you should have gone to HR immediately, disregarding what your supervisor told you, as soon as any type of harassment began. Hindsight being very good, of course, there were many better ways to handle this situation.

I agree that it was a very bad thing for you to quit, as of course it did nothing for the case against the sexual harasser and made your personal situation a whole lot worse. But even if you have a job to go to in a day or two, or a week or two, you need to file for unemployment and get this inquiry going. This will help to clarify the situation with whether or not the employee was actually being allowed to harass women on the job. I agree, no matter what they have promised you, these girls he was talking to improperly will never jeopardize their own jobs to the extent of doing someone else a favor. If you are denied benefits initially, and you appeal your unemployment case, you can actually subpoena them for comment in the hearing if you think it will help the appeal.

At your age, I am sure you felt that you needed to be the one to speak up, though you were probably not the target of sexual harassment yourself. But at your age, the fact that you were harassed and pushed into quitting because you spoke up could be some sort of age discrimination situation, particularly when your supervisor told you not to go to HR and then did nothing to help you when the supervisor's harassment began.

After you've filed your claim for unemployment, you may want to have a consult with a labor attorney. If you haven't done so, I suspect one of the first things they'll encourage you to do is file a claim for unemployment. It does flush the answers out of an employer and provide some of the information you may need to go further. But they will never ever determine if illegal harassment occurred or provide you with any damages, or even share their information with the EEOC or any other agency. They'll just determine whether they think you had a valid work related reason to quit the job. And make your former employer realize that you aren't going to just go away quietly. It is not welfare, not income or needs based, and it is not something you put off doing when you've lost a job. It is an insurance program that you need to ask for if you are out of work through no fault of your own, even for a few days.
 

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