Help! I'm Being Harassed
By Charges Of Harassment!
Here
are the facts of my difficult situation:
- I was a controller of a company responsible for managing the Accounting
Department
- Caught another married department manager putting in for on-call pay,
while talking to one of my employees on the telephone.
- Documented the above and presented the evidence to my boss (the CFO)
- The CFO told me to run interference between my employee and married
employee (keep him out of accounting office).
- Other manager was disciplined
- My employee resented my trying to keep other manager out of accounting
office
- My employee became friendly with my boss (CFO)
- One day my boss (CFO) came into my office and said my employee accused me
of constantly following her around the office.
- Called in by HR Person & Boss and told that employee made allegations
about me. They would not tell what the specifics of the allegations were and
was immediately put into a counseling harassment session and told not to go
near the employee.
- HR person conducted a conflict resolution investigation with me and
accuser.
- Kept asking the CFO and HR Person that I wanted a meeting with everyone
present. So I could hear exact nature of allegations and iron out any
perceived or imaginary difficulties.
- For approx. 30 days this employee was going around and telling anyone who
would listen that I was harassing her when I requested any kind of work out
of her.
- Approx. 30 days after the allegations were made. Another female employee
came into my office and said, "What XXX is doing to you is wrong,"
This employee went on about how the married employee was undermining me with this
employee. Such as when they were together outside the accounting office and they
would see me. The first thing he would say is "here comes your shadow"
or if she thought someone was reading her e-mail or listening to her voice mail.
The married employee would say "It must be JXXX"
- I immediately
reported this conversation to HR & CFO
- Next thing I knew my working
life was made a living hell
- I finally resigned.
- The minute I resigned I was
moved out of my office and moved to another part of the building and told I
could not go into the accounting office and was locked out of it. It was
broadcast unofficially throughout the company that I was not allowed in
accounting office.
- Approx. 2 weeks before my final exit date. The CFO &
HR Person called me into a meeting and told me to leave the building
immediately. In this meeting they denied that any allegations were leveled
against me in other words it was all in my head.
- After about 18 months CFO
and HR Person left company and company asked me to return as a consultant. Which
I did.
- As soon as I walked in the door the employee who used to work for
me went to HR and complained that my returning makes her uncomfortable and that
I physically threatened her before being asked to leave the premises the first
time.
- HR conducted another investigation. During the investigation they
found documentation of the first investigation (1st investigation I was
cleared). Eventually I received a letter from the company that I was cleared and
that no harassment occurred.
- Companies assets were bought by another firm
and all employees were terminated and hired by new company. My contract was
assumed by the new firm.
- Employee went to new CEO and had a meeting with
him. Next thing I know is that I was asked to vacate the premises immediately.
This was communicated to me by a non-employee of the new firm (Consultant of the
previous company)
- Since returning I found out that the ex-CFO was having an
affair with this employee and the other married employee was transferred by
order of the ex-CFO & ex-HR Person to another office.
MY Questions are the
following: 1.) How can I stop this employee from constantly repeating the same
allegations over and over? When I have a letter stating there was no harassment.
2.) Is what the new company did legal by asking me to leave without conducting a
new investigation? 3.) Is there any Fed or State agency I can turn to?
Thanks for
any input you can provide
Signed,
Caught In A Soap Opera
Dear
Caught:
In no way meant to make light of your lengthy statement of facts, they do
provide enough skeleton for plotting a novel or possibly an "Analyze
This" type film. Have you considered changing your profession to writer?
One with the job expertise you possess surely can find work elsewhere.
Sometimes voting with your feet is the best route to emotional balance. Those in
charge at your workplace bear much responsibility for clearing your name at this
juncture as belatedly was the case before your firm was taken over by another.
But as you forcefully state, the accuser was re-employed and persists in her
accusations. If you were independently wealthy, you might sue her for
defamation; however, this kind of "she said--I did nothing to provoke
her" likely would be difficult to prove.
Since you were employed under an individual contract, I doubt there is any
legal recourse for you, even less than you had before with your former employer
under the at will doctrine, which, you probably know, means one can be fired for a
just reason or no reason. You are the accused and entitled to a fair hearing
before permanent dismissal. This does not mean that you can not be asked to
vacate the premises until a hearing is scheduled. The Equal Opportunity Agency
probably would not be of much help. They are more committed to helping victims
of harassment and are very slow in doing that.
I have forwarded your inquiry to a couple of our associate correspondents. If
they send me any additional information, I will promptly send it on to you.
Sorry that I can't provide any good news.
WEGO speaks up and fights
injustice, but finds that some fights are not worth the effort.
Bill Gorden
And Some Additional Advice. . .
Dear Caught:
I mailed your query to another correspondent. Here are her additional
remarks. We do not provide legal advice; however, this individual suggests the
legal path as one possible way to halt the accusations. I hope this perspective
lessens the choices you have to consider. Do remember that assertiveness is not
a one-time effort; your accuser has proven that. And this forces you to match
her persistence or take the avoidance path of making distance your protection.
WEGO seeks insight from
varied sources as you have and weighs the alternatives as you must.
Bill Gorden
This is a complex fact pattern, however it seems that this one employee is
definitely out to get him. I would suggest one way to deal with the problem is
to bring a suit for slander. There has definitely been damage caused by the
unsubstantiated statements that have resulted in measurable damages to this
person. I don't see any governmental agency that could really lend support since
this person is the accused harasser and not the harassed. If he could
substantiate some sexual harassment leveled against him, then maybe a cause of
action might exist. As far as it being legal to be asked to leave, it would
depend upon whether the state in which he was employed was an "at
will" state in which an employee can be terminated for any reason at all.
If there were no contract of employment then he would have a hard time claiming
damages under any wrongful termination claim. Hope it helps.
Bonnie
