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Guidance in hostile situation?

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tompetty1

Junior Member
Cannot see my original post.

I am in the state of Kentucky.

I'm unable to see my original post. I'm on mobile, so I'm not sure if that has to do anything?

My working environment has gotten so bad with a co-worker for the past four months that I cannot give her a note that a customer called them without being torn apart verbally. When first confronted, the response was she was "being professional".
 

tompetty1

Junior Member
Update

I have documented all of the extremely rude and uncalled for statements with any interaction I've had. My supervisor says and does nothing. HE is aware and doesn't seem too concerned. But I'm job searching when I love my position and my job.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
Saying that you have a coworker or a supervisor who makes "rude" or "uncalled for statements" is vague. What, exactly, is the subject matter of these statements?
 

PayrollHRGuy

Senior Member
Keep looking and go above your supervisor. Does your company have an HR department.

Do you have any idea the basis of your coworker's attitude? Does she just act that way with you?
 

commentator

Senior Member
Tompetty love your music, btw...but do you have any reason to suspect that your co worker's attitude is in any way based on that you are a member of a protected category related to EEOC issues, such as a racial, religious, age, sex, etc. issue? Is it just that this person doesn't like you and is being ugly to you in general?

Are you a union organization? How large is your business? Is there any way you can take things, if necessary, over your immediate supervisor's head?

Actually, most people believe they have lots more rights and privileges on the job than they do. "He can't do/say/threaten this to me, can he?" is very common, and usually yes, in most cases, a person can do just about anything to you, and it's not illegal, simply because there is no law that prohibits it.

If you feel you are being mistreated, especially due to an EEOC related reason, it is very important that you try to work the situation out by going through channels, in other words, reporting it to your supervisor and trying to work things out at the very lowest level possible. If you were to quit the job and your reason was that your co worker was crawling all over you verbally every time you said or did anything on the job, the first question they'd ask is "What did you do to try to solve the problem before quitting?"

Of course the first step is to try to work it out with your co worker.
Responding with "Why are you acting like this? ....saying this? ...doing this?" and possibly, "I'd like you to stop with this verbal abuse you're handing me. I do not appreciate it!" would be an appropriate first step.As there is no law against people saying things unkind to you, there's certainly no law that says you cannot tell them to stop doing it. Politely and professionally, of course. No screaming, no cursing, no crying, no threats, just tell them to take a hike. What they say is unimportant. If they curse, holler, cry or carry on, it just makes them look stupid, and you win. Of course, if they hit you, do not retaliate. Call the police and press charges for assault. If they goad you into a big confrontation, both of you will probably be terminated. Don't let them deprive you of your job until you are ready to go.

The next step, of course, is to talk with your supervisor, describe what is happening and ask them to deal with it in some way. And in each of these two cases what you are trying to avoid is having them say, "We had no idea there was a problem, she/he never said anything to us!"

The next alternative is to leave. And be double-dog sure that you do not leave the job UNTIL you have something better to go to. Until then, hang on, ignore the abuse. Just do your job, get through the days. Because if you quit your job and then file for unemployment insurance and tell the agency that you quit due to the abuse of a co worker, they're not very likely to approve you to draw benefits. You have to prove to them that you have exhausted every reasonable means to solve the problem before quitting.

It is usually better to be terminated, for unemployment purposes, than to quit your job. To terminate you without unemployment, the employer would have to show that they had a valid misconduct reason to terminate you. Lose it and sock this co worker in the nose, and you'll be out of work without unemployment.

If your co worker does not have the power to fire you, you don't really have to be concerned about whether or not they're being nice to you. It's not legally required that they be nice, or polite, or even reasonable to you, it's not your problem, really, as long as you are doing your best on the job and being professional in your dealings with them.

That said, it is usually impossible to fix a bad workplace. Is there any other place in this company you could request a transfer to, in order to get away from this particular co worker? If not, I strongly suggest you do a lot of looking for other jobs while still working at this one. If this person is being awful, and the supervisors won't deal with it, you need to vote with your feet and move on and do better. Best wishes to you. A bad situation at work is something that will sap so much of your energy and family time if you let it. Hope it will work out.
 

eerelations

Senior Member
Unless your coworker's behavior is based specifically and directly on things like your race, gender, age (if you're 40+), religion and/or disability, then you don't have a Hostile Work Environment (HWE) as defined by law. Which means you have no legal recourse to stop this behavior.
 

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