Will get fired for doing the right thing

[welwood]

I am a bartender in rhode island at a nationally franchised hotel. My boss, a woman, is the bar manager. She has a habit of sleeping with not only employees (her old boss who was fired) but with our regular customers on a regular basis. This has had an impact on the nights when I work, as all the regulars we have do not come in on the nights when I work. They have told me to my face that they dont come in on my nights due to my lack of t&a, and have even told me that because they know of my boss's penchant for sleeping with customers that they would rather spend their time at our bar on her nights because they might "get lucky". This is proven by the lack of business on my nights, as opposed to the booming business on the nights that she is on. All our clientelle is now male. I talked this over with my boss, who was also a friend of mine (yes ONLY a friend, yet a good one) and told her that even though I had no intention of butting into her personal life, that her personal life was affecting the bar, my sales, and my tips, and that the inappropriate behavior was giving our bar an undesired reputation, one that my boss's boss (also female) has acknowledged as late as 3 days ago. I was setting up for the night 2 days ago, when my boss's boss came in and said "well asdf doesnt need to worry about anyone ruining her reputation, she seems to be doing quite well on her own". At this point I expressed my concerns, using the exact words that I had used with my boss regarding how I felt. I hadnt heard anything for the past few days, but then I received an email from my boss's friend, who had recieved an email from my boss stating that she was going to fire me, most likely due to my talking with her boss about the situation. HELP! can I be fired for blowing the whistle and actually trying to improve the situation at my bar? My boss's boss did agree with me that things were out of control and needed to be changed, but the only thing I see changing is that they might remove the person who is being bothered by it, me. Someone give me some advice please.

 

[cbg]

I'll have to check the specifics for Rhode Island, but in general, "whistleblower" laws apply only when you report illegal activity to the appropriate agency. In a very few jurisdictions, this can be extended to making internal complaints. If Rhode Island is one of those jurisdictions, then they cannot fire you for this; if it is not, then they can since the activity you reported is not technically illegal and in any case you did not report it to an outside agency. Whether they will or not is a different story. I won't have access to the RI regs till Monday at the absolute earliest. Remind me if you don't hear back.

 

[Beth3]

I'm not familiar with Rhode Island's reg's, so we'll have to let cbg explain that on Monday, but the bottom line appears to be that your boss sleeping with everything in pants is not illegal unless she's charging for her services (which would appear to be her next logical step.) Therefore complaining about it is not protected. Additionally, with a few exceptions, internal complaints are not afforded "whistleblower" protections - those usually only apply when you make a complaint to a gov't agency.

At this point, it appears you really have nothing to lose by talking to your boss's boss again, explaining that you believe your boss is about to fire you, and see if she's willing to intercede.

No matter how this turns out, you really should be looking for another job. You don't want to be associated with a place where they're known in the community as the place to go if you want to "get lucky" with the staff.

 

[cbg]

The only information I can find would indicate that it would have to be a violation of the law that you reported before Rhode Island whistleblowers laws would apply. That being the case, it appears that, sad as it may be, they can fire you if they wish.