What is the name of your state? Ma. I have a difficult situation at work where I am excessively teased (ridiculed is more appropriate) in a manner which is intended to question my masculinity. From what I piece together, a particular female had a problem and apparently the situation resulted in certan sexual innuendos being made about me. This individual is from a foreign country so she gets an extraordinary amount of leeway. It appears that she and some coworkers that this person was friendly with, got to talking about me and what happened next was that many other employees over the course of time began propogating jokes having the following demeanor "He is probably gay" or "I think he is gay" or "He doesn't need anything", "he said he didn't want anything". After escalating into a fiasco that I cannot stop, it degraded even more into comments about potency, my masculinity, what certain male employees think I really need, etc. One wiseguy made a comment that I have AIDS. Don't doubt how far a ridiculous situation like this can escalate and I assure you that a situation like this can easily develop a mind of its own. It was brought to my attention that these coments began because a rumor was circulated that I have some sort of benefactor which is untrue. People are generally very competitive (a company mantra) and prone to an almost pathological jealousy over the belief of some benefactor. Word of mouth prevents this uncomfortable situation from ever ending because a) its too much fun and b) the HR department will not do anything because it will upset the harmony of the workplace if a popular person gets into trouble as a result. These folks really are over the top and there probably is something extralegal in all of this, however in a case like this, no government agency of any kind will get involved. By pursuing this, I get labelled as self centered and self absorbed. I cannot change their behavior so I grin and bear it (I gave a couple of attempts to go thru channels and will not repeat that mistake) but it is beginning to significantly affect the way people treat or deal with me. It is causing a string of 'copycat' comments wherein the process simply gets repeated. It particularly happens with certain younger female employees primarily because other male employees find this to be a good way to break the ice. I do try to ignore it in the hope that by not becoming frazzled, it would take away the fun. However it is now too late and ignoring this will not work. I have many other stories and some limited corroboration of some of these events. I also meet with various sales reps and others and I have clearly noticed a certain change in their demeanor and their language which indicates that they are probably privy to the joke. My field of endeavor is in area where myself and other employees have daily contacts with all the very same people.
I am now (after many years I might add) very motivated to pursue this as a civil affair. I may very well lose or have it thrown out of court of course, but I want to pursue it anyway. I am not trying to make money from this, but an apology will no longer work and only legal action by me can make it stop. I may lose whatever few friends I have, but I would settle for no friends in the workplace as long as I have a court case where these individuals are named in a public way or someone loses their job over it, or in general the court case results in a 'black eye' to the responsible parties. Its not revengeful but its a fact that this is the only deterent I have.
1. Its not illegal to be hostile or unfriendly of course but in the event that employees openly circulate ridicule to third parties and damage my reputation outside of work (or to employees of other companies related to my field), would this constitute any kind of slander or libel ? I have never given these people the right to represent me in any way, but if the situation is escalated by employees who insist on proactively representing me without my permission, what recourse do I have ?
2. If a third party turns out to be the cause of a problem like this, i.e. a third party intentionally introduced these issues into my workplace and caused these unpleasantries, can they ever be held liable for any of their actions ?
3. The constitution allows for free speech but do people have a right to misrepresent someone in matters that they are not qualfiied ? If someone makes a statement that I have AIDs either because of a feeling of personal animosity or because of some twisted mantra about competition, this is by no means an opinion but rather a misrepresentation of a person's medical health.
4. Do any of the matters I describe represent a hostile work environment ?
I am now (after many years I might add) very motivated to pursue this as a civil affair. I may very well lose or have it thrown out of court of course, but I want to pursue it anyway. I am not trying to make money from this, but an apology will no longer work and only legal action by me can make it stop. I may lose whatever few friends I have, but I would settle for no friends in the workplace as long as I have a court case where these individuals are named in a public way or someone loses their job over it, or in general the court case results in a 'black eye' to the responsible parties. Its not revengeful but its a fact that this is the only deterent I have.
1. Its not illegal to be hostile or unfriendly of course but in the event that employees openly circulate ridicule to third parties and damage my reputation outside of work (or to employees of other companies related to my field), would this constitute any kind of slander or libel ? I have never given these people the right to represent me in any way, but if the situation is escalated by employees who insist on proactively representing me without my permission, what recourse do I have ?
2. If a third party turns out to be the cause of a problem like this, i.e. a third party intentionally introduced these issues into my workplace and caused these unpleasantries, can they ever be held liable for any of their actions ?
3. The constitution allows for free speech but do people have a right to misrepresent someone in matters that they are not qualfiied ? If someone makes a statement that I have AIDs either because of a feeling of personal animosity or because of some twisted mantra about competition, this is by no means an opinion but rather a misrepresentation of a person's medical health.
4. Do any of the matters I describe represent a hostile work environment ?