Harrassment at work

[Jimmy The Saint]

I am 27, and looking to establish a sales career. I have been working for a national outside sales company for about 4 months, now. I have been threatened, harrassed, and continaully called words such as "loser, mother-f***er, etc" by my boss. He even threatened me with bodily harm. I addressed this concern with another manager, and he said "Mike drives numbers (sales) through intimidation. " I am really scared, because I wanted to get my first year of real sales experience under my belt, but am becoming sick with stress and anxiety so much that I literally feel sick. I dont want to quit, because then I will lose any experience (resume experience) that I have gained with this company.

 

In 2 weeks, I will become eligible for long-term disability, and am considering it. If I were to stay on long-term disability, would a future employer be able to see that I went out on disability? Is this confidential information? What will my present employer be able to say to future employers should they call them for references???

 

Jimmy

[HokeyReligions]

Do NOT tolerate this. Future employers can find out if you were on disability - this would be far worse then quitting or being fired or filing harassment charges. I know - my husband is on disability and before his condition got worse he tried to find work and no one wanted to hire him because they were afraid of missed days, health issues, possible accidents at work, etc.

 

Find the company policy for the company you work for and talk to Human Resources. This kind of behavior is against the law. If it's a small company and they don't have an HR department - talk to an HR Attorney and find out exactly what the laws are in your area. Document everything! Create a journal or log of dates, times, and conversations. Note to the side the tone (anger, yelling, clearly implied threat, etc.) and note your reactions and feelings too. Keep track of others that may have heard too - you might not feel comfortable going to them for corroboration - but if you note who was around when then an attorney, or a higher-up in the company can question them confidentially. Just document, document, document! Save this thread as part of your documentation -- it shows dates/times that you posted and you are already describing how this is making you feel.

 

Normally it would be up to you first to tell this boss that his behavior is unacceptable. You can do this in a non-threatening manner. But if you are scared of him and worried about retribution then it is in your best interest to find and HR intermediary within the company and then if necessary, escalate the situation to a HR attorney of your choosing.

 

Legally, your present employer cannot give any information other than the dates you worked there, your general duties, a salary RANGE, and if you are eligible for rehire. However, a LOT more is said when checking references. I had a woman give me a horrid reference from a place I used to work. She shouldn't have even been giving a reference as she wasn't my boss - but she pretended to be to the person calling in. thankfully, the person checking my reference told me about it, I got someone else to call and check my reference with her and got written statements from both as to the kind of reference she gave. I then told the company that I was going to sue them because they cost me a job. In the long-run I didn't because it was cost-prohibitive for me, plus I didn't want the fact that I tried to sue a former employer on my record anywhere -- that would have really damaged my ability to find new work. the woman that gave the bad reference - she got her hands slapped -- but I did get a good letter of reference from my actual boss and that helped. I've also had some wonderful references from people.

 

But you obviously can't trust this boss to do right by you and you do NOT have to tolerate the abuse. Does your company have a website? Intranet? Go there to find more information about their HR policies. Escalate this to someone who is not influenced by this boss.

[moimeme]

Really, I wouldn't bother fighting this issue. Your boss doesn't care and, in my experience, these situations don't get changed. Low man on the pole always loses. You'll just waste time, energy, and cause yourself a whole lot more stress. Just go.

 

I dont want to quit, because then I will lose any experience (resume experience) that I have gained with this company.

 

You've only been there four months. That's a drop in the bucket and the perfect time to leave. Do you really want to stay there another twenty months?

 

I have been in a couple of really dreadful work situations. Do NOT sell out your health for a job. It is just not worth it. Sure, you'll find jerks and liars and difficult people in almost every work situation, but absolutely nobody needs that level of abuse and you are highly unlikely to find that elsewhere. Organizations operate on inertia - no matter how bad some of their managers may be, the managers stay because nobody can be bothered dealing with their inability to do their jobs. It is usually completely pointless to try to change these things - far more trouble than it's worth.

 

Look for a new job immediately and get the heck out of there. It isn't that easy to go on disability and you sure couldn't just sit on disability for the remainder of two years. That would not be smart at all. Just cut your losses and leave. Really, four months' experience is nothing. Might as well leave now BECAUSE you only have four months there. It's not as if there aren't zillions of sales jobs!!!!

[Natural9]

Life sucks playing by somebody else's rules, KICK HIS ASS.

 

 

Have another job lined up though if you REALLY need money.

[Arabess]

Short of filing Unemployment under the "Harassment" charge....there isn't much you can do. The posts are correct....when future possible employers call...the information divulged is at a minimum. With only 4 months behind you......QUIT! If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck.....it's a duck. Some jobs aren't worth pursuing.