Hostile Work Environment -- How to Protect Yourself From a Bully Boss
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Lenora's Journey Through a Hostile Workplace
In two previous Hubs a 52 year old nurse named Lenora was harassed and abused by her new (younger) boss and former co-worker Michelle. Feeling distressed and sick, Lenora stayed home from work and called her brother in law, a corporate employment lawyer named Curt.
Although he usually works on the side of the employers, he wanted to help his family member. Talking on the phone and over lunch Curt explained the difference between legal and illegal hostile work environments, and explained why the concept of "employment at will" is so crucial to fighting back against a bullying boss.
Lenora wants to turn her boss Michelle into the hospital's human resources department for "unfairly" attacking Lenora at work. Curt is trying to persuade Lenora to let go of the idea of "unfairness", because U.S. employment law does not require supervisors to be fair.
It is shocking to Lenora that employment "at-will" actually allows employers to terminate workers at any time, for any reason or no reason (even a bad reason), just so long as it's not an illegal reason. As we re-join their conversation, Curt is trying to explain to Lenora that the best way to fight back against a hostile work evnironment is to focus on the "illegal reasons" instead of focusing on "fairness".
Fight With Fairness, or With a Protected Class?
Curt Urges Lenora to Forget "Fairness"
"Thanks for returning my call, Curt; you've been very generous with your time," said Lenora.
"Anything for family, Lenora. And besides, I don't want you to go and screw yourself by thinking you can get what's 'fair'", said Curt.
"Said like a true lawyer," Lenora replied. "Right, I shouldn't believe that fairness matters. Do people really pay you hundreds of dollars an hour to tell them stuff like this?"
"The pay me many hundreds per hour, because I know what works. It may not sound like what you want to hear, but it will get you where you want to go. Fighting back against an abusive boss is not path down a flowery trail marked 'Fairness: this way'. It's a tough journey that requires you to take up arms and fight."
"Now you sound like a football coach."
"Okay, I'm going to hang up the phone now--"
"No no no! Sorry. I'm just frustrated. Michelle can treat me like crap, and when I turn to attorney for help what's the first thing out of his mouth? 'It's perfectly legal for you boss to treat you like crap.'"
"But there's more to the rule!" said Curt. "There are exceptions to the rule that it's legal for your boss to treat you like crap. That's what I'm trying to tell you about: the exceptions."
Your Protected Class is the Key
"But you are also telling me that one of the exceptions is NOT fairness, right?" "Yes, right," said Curt. "Well I still say that's stupid, " said Lenora. "Supervisors should not be able to drive you out your job and some tiny little mistake while allowing other people to gossip their entire day away."
"And what I'm trying to tell you is that the law doesn't allow supervisors to do that if the peple getting run out of their jobs are all older men, and the gossipers are all younger women. Or if it's Asians getting run out of their job, while all the gossipers are Caucasian. Or pregnant women getting run out, or veterans or... well do you see what I mean?"
"I think so. Even though I'm upset Michelle is getting away with attacking me unfairly, I can't say that."
"Right," said Curt. "You have to say, 'Michelle is attacking me and singling me out because of my age. Because THAT is illegal. THAT will get H.R.'s attention. They don't care about unfairness because no law prohibits unfairness. Saying all this crap Michelle is putting you through at work is happening because of your age is what will turn you from a whiner into a warrior."
"Okay, I get it and I'll do it. Even though I still think the law should be different. Don't complaint about unfairness. Complain about mistreatment because of age." Lenora smiled to herself. "I can't wait to get back to work and do this."
Abused at Work?
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Thanks! Hearing back from people like you encourages me and keeps me going.
I'm not sure where to start. I am a secretary for a Carpenters Union. I belong to the Office Professionals Union which has a contract with the Carpenters union to employ Office Professional Union members. The Carpenters Local that I work for is currently preparing for an upcoming election for a high ranking office in the Carpenters Union Council that governs our region. In our local, the hiring hall business agents that dispatch the carpenters to work are employed by the regional council, not the union. Also in the same union hall are a group of organizers who are also employed by the council. The union local is governed by 10 executive board members that are elected by the members, one being the financial secretary who is my boss. However, his position is not a paid position, and he is a full time working carpenter and is rarely in the office. There are 3 secretaries in the office, myself, another front office secretary, and the office manager. We are all paid by, and work for, the union.
The upcoming election is for the position of executive secretary treasurer for the council. This person is the "boss" for all of the business agents and organizers that currently work at our local. Running in the upcoming election against this person is the current president of our local's executive board.
The current Executive Secretary for the council has sent computer techs from his office into our local to steal files from our server. We were told that they needed to create a larger back up for the server so we allowed them access. The server actually facilitates both the local and council networks, however, the local network is supposed to be secure. After these techs left our office, we noticed files being transferred to another location on the server monitor. There had been a search performed under the name of our current executive president and election files were being transferred. We took pictures and shut down the server. The next day, the council techs came back to the office and TOOK the server to an undisclosed location. We did contact the police department because we could not prove who was transferring these files. In addition, our network has confidential information for over 2500 members and employees, myself included, which include social security numbers, addresses, phone numbers, etc. We did notify all of our members of a security breach, but because we are governed by the very person that took the files nothing has been done. We have requested the return of the server with no response, and we have requested guidance with no response. This is only the begining.
On a daily basis the secretaries in the office are exposed to constant belittling, degrading comments by the business agents. They come to our office in pairs now noting every single conversation that they have with us, even if they are just requesting office supplies. There are rude comments made under their breath, constant snickering and laughing as we walk by. A simple good morning is met with a glare or a snicker, and we have been constantly subjected to rude comments with regard to our executive board.
There are also security cameras in our office which have online access. A person with the IP address can go online and watch any 1 of 4 cameras at any time 24/7. No one is supposed to have this information but the union officials. However, although we have no proof, we know that the business agents have this IP address and are watching us daily. Yesterday, just 2 of us were in the office. My boss left her desk to go to the restroom. As soon as she closed the office door, which the agents can see clearly from where they sit, her phone intercom started ringing. We are aware that the agents consistantly ring our intercom when we are away from our desks and leave the intercom on in order to listen to conversations. I got up from my desk and looked at her phone to see where the call was coming from and immediately heard loud laughter. The phone continued to ring, and ring, and ring. When my boss returned from the restroom and sat at her desk, as soon as she reached for the phone, they hung up. More loud laughter.
I know this sounds so petty. And it is. However, day after day after day, 8 hours a day, it has become unbearable to go to work. I get in my car and begin shaking. I can barely think or concentrate at work, and I don't know what to do any more. My son is in the army and is on his second tour in Iraq. He is going through a really tough time right now and I have talked about personal issues behind closed doors with my boss. Now I feel that these very personal things have been overheard by these people. I don't know how I can prove that they have been listening, or where to start looking for help, but I want something done. The other girl in the office is much younger than my boss or I, and these men don't seem to have an issue with her at all. I have been to the Dr. once and she has suggested stress leave and that was over 2 months ago. I turned it down, but I am returning on Monday because I can't take it any more. It's so wrong for me to have to take stress leave and a reduced income in such a bad economy because of this.
US-Army-Mama,
First, Let me just say that my heart goes out to you -- both for the ridiculous problems you are being subjected to at work and for the hard time your son is going through serving our country.
Second, this is not petty. It's serious, and you should not have to put up with it. You have a number of options and possible courses of action to take.
FMLA Leave: you mentioned seeing your doctor, and you can get FMLA leave for up to 12 weeks, assuming there are more than 50 total employees. This would give you a break, but not address the harassment that makes you need a break in the first place.
WHISTLEBLOWING: You can report the theft of the server, at least to the other side in the election, and to the NLRB. The NLRB (as you probably know) watches over union issues, and it's not legal for one side to steal the other's server -- not to mention all the private info on there.
AGE & GENDER HARASSMENT: you have claims for both a hostile work environment based on age and on gender. The harassing conduct is targeted at you and your co-worker for those two reasons. The younger co-worker is left out, and no men are subjected to this type of treatment. You can file a claim for either/both of these things with the EEOC or your state's Dept of Labor.
RETALIATION: Worse treatment because of your Whistleblowing or complaint to the EEOC, if it occured, would be illegal retaliation. If that were to happen I would recommend updating the EEOC (or State Dept of Labor) right away.
PRIVACY: On the issue of the cameras, you appear to understand that those can be used properly for supervision, but they are not. The cameras are being used by non-supervisors as a tool to harass you. Who is allowing this to happen? Your supervisor. This is not right, and I think you should include this as evidence of harassment when you file your complaint with EEOC/State Dept of Labor.
Finally, please know that you are not alone. There a nice community of people online who encourage each other and want to help.
-Curt (Undercover Lawyer)
So this is what breathing feels like, I had forgotten!!! I am so overwhelmed with gratitude right now that I don't even know what to say. Thank you. God Bless you. I will follow through and keep you posted!
I have a question..=) 0f the 8 business agents and 4 organizers that work at our local, there are 2 women other than the 3 secretaries that work there. These 2 women that work WITH the agents and FOR the council are of or about the same age as myself and the other secretary that I mentioned earlier. These two women are not treated with the same disrespect as the secretaries. Would I still have a claim based on age/gender harassment? Once again, we are employed by the union, they are employed by the Regional Council which governs our union local. Again...thank you!
You are welcome for the answer, I'm glad you feel encouraged. The law does provide employees a lot of rights that most folks don't even know about.
Regarding your question, if these other three women work for the Regional Council, and you are employed by the union, then these other women are not comparable. Don't worry about them.
I found your website AFTER I was fired. Is it too late?
317718, Whether or not it's too late depends on what happened, and how long ago you were let go. If it's been less that 180 days (about 6 months) then you have more options. Also key is *why* you were terminated. And I don't mean the reason they gave you. I mean the real reason.
Hello! Wanted to give you an update....On Monday, I wrote a letter to the Union's Executive Board explaining that although I had nothing but respect for the leaders of Local 25, I felt that they had dropped the ball in supporting the clerical staff during the election period in which their local was under attack. I explained AGAIN that during this time (I only spoke for myself) I endured extreme hostility and undue stress and workload due to a hostile work environment and felt that my attmepts to gain support from the union had fallen on dead ears. At this point I felt it necessary to take action outside the union. I also suggested that they take the matter of the security breach of our server to the NLRB as I was very concerned that nothing had been done still, months later, as my confidential information was also on that server.
On Tuesday I went to a workmans comp Dr. and had my supervisor begin a workmans comp claim for stress in a hostile work place. The Dr. put me on leave for 1 week, at which time I will see him again and be revaluated. I explained to him that I would like to take as little time off as possible, so he decided to evaluate my progress weekly.
I then contacted the EEOC filed the preliminary screening and was passed to progress to filing the actual charges against the Regional Council for harassment. They gave me a phone number to make an appt. as the actual office is over an hour from my location. When I called, the message indicated that the person was on vacation until the end of July and to leave a message!!! I downloaded the complaint/charge form, have completed filling it out and am now in the process of organizing all the notes I have taken over the last few months in chronological order. I will retype them and provide a copy with my charges. I am also including in the charge, retaliation because in March, I made what was supposed to be a confidential complaint and my name was mentioned. After that, the harassment increased significantly. My intention is to send the charge form certified mail by weeks end, and take the rest of the week to decompress, and begin to regain my home life! You can't believe what a relief it was just to not have to worry about going to work this morning!!
I do have a few questions...more questions =)... Once the charge has been filed, what happens next in the process? I know they will investigate to see if there is any validity to the charge, is this normally a lengthy process? If they find there are valid claims against the Regional Council, does it go to court and do they provide council or should I retain an attorney? In general, how long does this process normally take? Either way, can I expect compensation from a lawsuit in addition to the satisfaction that these men are FINALLY being held accountable for their actions? Thanks again for your help! By the by, found out my son is doing great in Iraq, and will be on a plane home by Julys end!
THANK you so much for all the information that you have given to me in my email i can't even begin to let you know what a differench that it has made for mwe at my job. I work at Cheddars Casual Cafe here in Charlotte NC in the kitchen and am the only american in the kitchen. I have so much work dumped on me due to the fact that the management finds it easier to communicate with me than to try to communicate with the rest of the help in the kitchen. I personally don't have a problem with the help i just have a problem with the way the management fails to manage them and to utilize them as much as they depend on me because of the language barrier. Not only that but you have helped me in other ways. I work with a boss thats a bully constantly talking about my age calling me old and in spanisn anciano which means old. You have given me techniq
Tim, thanks so much for taking the time to let me know the the info has helped. It sounds like you are in a really tough spot, but that you are handling it the right way. Keep up the good fight, Tim. -Curt
Okay I have a serious issue..
I have worked for a nation wide comapyn accross the world , i gotta say at firs ti loved my job because of my customers. Unitl i got sick and had a er surgery done with in 10 minutes going to a dr office. My job then became night mare calling my dr. wanting to know when i will be released to go back to work... Yeah nice employess and District manger, anyways i heard alot of bad rumors on my copmany history,, I really paid no mind until they shut my door down for busines with no notice prior..
that hit hard. though i got rehired at another location of the main companys business. I thought ok i can handle this. other then them taken salary from only two of manager and non other managers, again i let this go but noticed the owners lic on the wall and always wonderded if his business is doing so bad why has he not ever come in to see what was going on to save it.. i asked questions got no answers i left it alone. Until i took vacation to settle my military family in there new home for my son back from afgahn.
During this time i was on vacation i got a phone call every day but one in a week while i was on vacation that district manager is freaken over keeys , lawn etc. lead me say. i was strictly told the keys for the vacant building and grass was not my problem yet i get yelled a tover my vacation. OKKKKKK another grrr moment.
To coming back to work in a week time frame 15 customers come in with written and verbal complaints how my Dm talked to them treated them like criminals that as long as she comes in town we will loose there busines. i went to her with complaints she called me a liar , customers a liars, i gave her the benifit until the complaints contunie to come in , i took it above her to the supposly owner her did nothing on top of complaints her bullying her staff , verbal, emmotionally attacking us, nothing done other then the owner gives his dm the benift of no doing wrong,
always threaten with not getting a paycheck, always verbal yelled at. i litterly go home and vomit... i don't eat , i don't sleep, i have night mares, 15 customers complaints 3- plus employee complaints and she get nothing, well now she litterly is making my life miserable to get me to quit. well she ain't winning...
well hear is the bad part, i come home try to put all this together with my husband just being deployed son coming home from deployment to deal with this crazy women,
I discover my company has been abanded accross the US in many states to how he runs his business... this is a LOL...
he has been sued / partners over 2.2 million one serving prison time. now i see why they put us through hell to collect our debts and get money to come in. it is to bail these ass's out of there own debt breaking the law and law not even knowing it. if this was to ever uncover it will hit every news channel accross the world. now tell me what do i do knowing i just learned all this and want there busines her in my town and state shut down and make them pay for everything they cost my customers and there empoyeess. any suggestions...
Since you can't say exactly what you know, it's hard to tell you exactly what to do about. However, I suggest you contact the Wage and Hour division of your state's Department of Labor, because a company cannot withhold paychecks. Also, your employer is not allowed to contact your personal physician directly. HIIPA may provide you with a remedy there. Beyond that, check out my other Hubs and see if the problems I discuss and solutions I suggest appear to fit your situation. -Curt
the bully boss fits.. with out a doubt. I am sitting on a time bomb company... no more then i should no. affraid for all i know. does this make since..
I work for a company who is breaking the law , this company has been sued abanded from nay states. its all over the web. i had put it all together, i see there scam and if they knew what i knew. I'd defent be fired with out a doubt and only god nows what else. these are crazy people..
Hello!! Have a question I really need help with. A lot has happened since my first post at the union hall. I filed a workmans comp claim for stress and have been off work for the last 3 weeks. The Dr. has recommended that I see a specialist and now says that he is not qualified to keep me off work any longer and sent me back to work on July 29th. On July 28th our local was taken under Trusteeship by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters International and all of the clerical staff was let go as of July 31st. I was not there when they took over, and I was told by the other clerical staff that the other older woman in the office was told to pack her personal belonging and go home. She would be told on monday august 3 whether or not they would require her services any longer. The other secretary was told to come back after lunch. At 3pm she was told to go home and they would let her know on friday july 30 if they would need her services, but was not told to pack her belongings. Our union business representative has been told that they have no intention of honoring our collective bargaining agreement/contract with the local, as per they cannot let us go for the reason that they did. When I was released from the Dr. the next day, I went to the local, with my husband as witness, and was informed by the person in charge as to the situation. I was told, what the other two had not been told, and that was that we had all been let go and that they would be taking applications for our positions the following week. I was told that because I had been released to come back to work the following day, thursday, that I would be paid for thursday and friday, but not to return to work. My personal items had been packed for me, were given to me and I left. I recorded the entire conversation on my cell phone, however I did not inform him that I did so. The cell phone was in plain site in my hand. Someone told me afterwards that this was illegal. Is it? I hope not, because I was told that I could pick up my final check the next day, and when I called, I was told that I had nothing coming to me. When I asked why, he said that he told me yesterday that I was laid off as of yesterday. I informed him that was NOT the truth and he said it absolutely was. I then told him that I had record our conversation and played for him the part where he told me I would be paid. I don't know if he put me on speakerphone where there were witnesses. I feel so stupid. I didn't know, I was so afraid to even walk in there after everything they had put me through and knowing that they had taken over the office that I felt I needed to protect myself. I have contacted an attorney but have not had a chance to meet with him yet and this just happend. HELP!
USARMYMAMA, I'm glad to hear that you have a local attorney, because this is no longer an issue of how a bad boss is treating you. Now it's an issue of whether the national union seized the assets of the old union, or whether it acquired it and your contract. Obviously you want to argue that your contract continues, and the national union assumed the contractual obligations of the previous local. I find it sad that the national union is refusing to honor your own local union agreement -- and instead the national union is terminating you like you were an "at-will" employee. That is the height of hypocrisy.
Is it illegal that I recorded my conversation with this man without his knowledge?
That depends on the state you are in. Some states require both parties to know a conversation is recorded, some just require one side to know. In others it's not "illegal", but the recording can't be used as evidence in court.
Dear Undercover Lawyer:
I am working in the cleaning company as a supervisor. I also have relative who is working in ther same company, but diffrent account. We are from the immigrant family. We have a same disrespectfull manager who targets us specificalyt for sone time now. I believe that he trying to get to my relative so he could hurt me, becouse we have disagrement and I belive personaly that he is laundering money from the company. I need to know how to protect my relative as well how to protect my self? Any sugeswtions. As always thank you for helping honest people every day.
I think you need to file a discrimination complaint with the EEOC, alleging that this person is targeting you and your relative because of your immigrant status. You can find info on how to do that on my regular web site.
What do you do if you get called into a meeting about your performance over allegations from 3 party's.Than Told you took 5 weeks off! I could not answer back with I took 5 weeks off but 3 was sick time and was on call at home the other 2 were banked time at 58 hours than vacation.I did answer back with "I work 6000.00 in over time last year and this year I am at 5200.00 at witch I am using banked time now. I do not want all hours and I am obligated to only work 32hours week Due to contract. I have work for 2 years and done a great job. Now new ED comes in and is talking behind my back with other employees and make up lies. I did enter the meeting with a 9 paragraph letter that saved my butt . Also a board of directors was in meeting as well that I was not aware off till I attended caught me off Gard. They well made me feel like crap and were making comments like do you know what boards are all about!So now you are a Shrink!She also took glory for ideas things that I made suggestions about and made it her own.
I can not meet her alone again could crush me what do I do ?
Dutch Lady says:
5 months ago
More great info!