Workplace Harrasment?
I have a difficult work situation, but don't know if it qualifies as harrasment or not. My employer is rude, calls when off duty, and shows up at employee's home for work issues when univited. He shows up at work stations and rudely claims how he's the only one who knows how to do a good job, and constantly informs the employees how bad they are. He's disrespectful in the sense that he finds one employee he doesn't like personaly, and picks on them, and cuts their hours of work till they finaly quit. Also, he complains about an employees work to everyone else, BUT the intended employee. I 'was' a manager there till recently I found out i was demoted, and my hourly wage cut, but he never informed me of the change. Is that legal? Does it qualifiy as harrasment or discrimination? And what legal actions could I take to correct any issues?
Answers:
Some of it's legal and some of it isn't. It is illegal for him to demote you without what's know as a pre-determination hearing under the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Cleveland Board of Education v. Lowdermill (1985). He cannot harass you or come to your home. Individually, many of the other acts are legal, but collectively they have created a hostile work environment. You can file charges against him with either the EEOC (fed'l) or your state's equivalent, which is called the Human Rights Division in my state. Both have jurisdiction. Normally you could not file a complaint without going through your personnel or human resources department. However, he's your employer so you do not have any internal remedies. If you send this question with much more specificity in details to either of those 2 agencies, they will launch an investigation. If he fires you or harasses you further after you file a complaint, that's a different and additional cause of action called retaliation. I'd advise you to consult a local labor law attorney, but you could go ahead and call either of the 2 agencies today and get their complaint form. I defend these and you'd be better served to have an attorney help you draft the actual complaint. I agree with most of Hillary's answer, but in my state the department of labor would not be the right agency--it could be in your state or Hillary's state. The EEOC is generally more aggressive, however. The EEOC is removed from any state or local politics if that's a potential issue and they have field offices in almost every state and regional offices for my area in Phoenix and Dallas.
I don't think it's harassment or discrimination, but it is illegal to cut hours and pay rates without at least a write-up or some evidence of disciplinary action (i.e., a documented reason) for it. He also should never be showing up at your home uninvited, that's got to be harassment under the statute.
Contact your local or state employment development department and file a complaint about the wage cuts, and they'll likely make notes about the other stuff, too.
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