Office Quandries
Peter Rachleff
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
|
||||||
|
|
PUNCHING OUT page 1 of 2 | |||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
Weekly Answers to Office Quandries |
|
Professor Peter Rachleff |
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 My friend has been horribly harassed by her supervisor. He's
threatened her, belittled her and generally made her feel entirely
unsafe at work. She's gone through the chain of command to report this
harassment but the company she works for has done nothing, even though
harassment has also been reported by
one of her co-workers. Her supervisor has become aware of the complaints
against him and the harassment has gotten worse. And to top it all off,
he's now begun to get back at her by accusing her of being incompetent
and insubordinate. Even though there is absolutely no evidence of
wrongdoing on her part and ample evidence of wrongdoing on the
supervisor's part, the company is still siding with him. My friend is at wit's end. On the one hand, she thinks she should save her sanity and
resign but on the other hand she thinks she ought to stay and fight for
what's right. The stress of the situation is taking a major toll on
her. What should she do? Are there resources out there that can help
her?
Northwest
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||
I wish you had been more specific about the nature of the harassment
your friend has been experiencing. There are categories of harassment
that are now against the law--that based on race, sex, and age in
particular. If the harassment your friend is experiencing fits into any
of these categories, and given the incredible insensitivity higher
management seems to be demonstrating, she ought to go outside the
company. Her best option would be to approach the local office of the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). At some point, she might
need legal representation, and she might find it available from a Legal
Aid or Legal Services agency in her community.