11 replies to this topic

[iluvmyjobb]

I reported sexual harassment to HR and turned in emails to back my accusation but they are refusing to let me work but allowing the accused to continue to work during the investigation .... is this allowed?? Why am I being treated like I did something wrong and not allowed to report to work but the accused is?

[iluvmyjobb]

By the way, this is in Ohio

[FindLaw_AHK]

To learn more about this subject matter, you may wish to visit the Employment Law Center and read Sexual Harassment as a good resource. You may also wish to visit the Workplacefairness.org: Ohio Government Agencies for clarification on your claim.

[pg1067]

Why am I being treated like I did something wrong and not allowed to report to work but the accused is?

We have no conceivable way of knowing your employer's motivations.

[My employer is] refusing to let me work but allowing the accused to continue to work during the investigation .... is this allowed?

This begs the question why your employer is doing this. Without some information about that, we cannot possibly know. I suggest you contact your supervisor and/or someone in human resources and ask what's going on.

[NewYorkEmploymentAttorney]

I am not admitted as an attorney in the State of Ohio and so I cannot offer you legal advice, however, you should sit down with an experienced employment attorney in your locale and discuss your right to be free of retaliation under Title 7. Under Federal law you should be protected from negative work consquences as a result of making a complaint of sexual harrassment.

www.QueensEmploymentAttorney.com

[iluvmyjobb]

The investigation is over and I am able to return to work tomorrow ... but will I now have a bullseye on my back and have to worry about them finding any reason to fire me? And if it was proven he did harass me, do they legally have to fire him? I am going to be so scared and uncomfortable working with him still hes probably pissed....

[iluvmyjobb]

What is the point of a three day investigation if my employer doesnt fire him andb still lets him be my boss?

[pg1067]

And if it was proven he did harass me, do they legally have to fire him?

No.

Your other questions appear to be rhetorical. If you did not intend them to be, I suggest you direct them to someone who can do more than guess blindly about the answers.

[iluvmyjobb]

I was able to go back to work, but even with the proof I turned over he was disciplined with no suspension, no relocate and he still gets to be my boss that has control of my time off requests, my reviews, and everything else .... oh he has to do sexual harassment classes that work pays for....and I now have babysitters in my office to work with me, the silent treatment and cold shoulder from everyone and someone he was firing last week that he is now forcing me to train her to do my job .... so glad i reported it .... it has made my life hell!

[Tax_Counsel]

Under federal law, the employer is only required to make the sexual harassment stop. It is not obligated to discipline the offender, fire him, or reassign him. You are protected from retaliation, though retaliation can be hard to prove unless it is pretty blatant. As for the cold shoulder from co-workers, there's nothing much you can do about that. Time may warm them up again, perhaps.

[BOR_BOR]

The investigation is over and I am able to return to work tomorrow ... but will I now have a bullseye on my back and have to worry about them finding any reason to fire me? And if it was proven he did harass me, do they legally have to fire him? I am going to be so scared and uncomfortable working with him still hes probably pissed....

I live in Ohio also. and if any retaliation against you happens, you can file a complaint with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission. In Ohio, if you are discriminated or discharged due to a sexual harassment complaint, you can file suit under the Public Policy exception to at will employment.


If by chance you are terminated, immediately sign up for Unemployment. In Ohio if it is determined you were fired "without cause", you are eligible for unemployment compensation, fact specific course.

Even if the termintaion, for the sake of argument, is legal, that is a different element of law for collecting unemployment.

[Fallen]

You're free to sit down with HR and say that you don't appreciate everyone and their mother knowing about this such that you wind up getting the cold shoulder, and ask them to explain how it was necessary to inform X-Y-Z folks (unless these people were potential witnesses and needed to be asked about what went on). I'd be careful to suss out whether it's not a matter of the boss in question telling folks X or them knowing about the situation beforehand and they're all now just uncomfortable. (You're free to ask HR whether they told your boss not to discuss this with anyone, for instance.)

We can't know from here what boss's history is, but it sounds like the HR folks haven't an earthly clue in terms of training about how to handle sexual harassment claims. When they first heard from you, they simply ought to have told this guy to knock off whatever the heck it is that he was doing and that's that. (You don't provide a single detail, so we cannot know from here what he did; presumably it wasn't a matter of his physically assaulting you, but instead saying inappropriate things and not stopping even after you asked him to do so. You did ask him to knock it off before going to HR, yes?)

If your boss treats you poorly, I'd feel free to talk with a local employment law attorney and also file a complaint with the EEOC. If others are treating you differently since then and you talk with HR and nothing changes, same thing.

I'm a bit surprised that HR would reveal to you that X-Y-Z occurred with co-worker (they oughtn't have done, but perhaps figure it was best vs. only likely to result in frustration).

Sounds like you need to find a forum where you can vent about this, but this site is for questions of a legal nature.