My kid works at a shop, with only 3 guys in it. The boss, a helper and himself. My son is handicapped, and I think this plant got money for hiring him because of the handicap. Anyway, his boss is constantly harrassing him. Or I think so anyway. He needs a tape measure to work, well he broke his on a Tuesday, payday was Friday. He was going to wait until payday to buy a new one, and there was one in the shop to use. The boss saw him using the one that belonged to the shop, told my kid he had to buy a new one. My kid told him that he would buy one on Payday. The next day, my son goes to work the tape measure is gone. He saw the boss laughing as he was searching for it. When my son asked about it, the guy said.. no tape measure, go home until you are ready to report for work. The boss hid the tape measure on him.

This boss is always telling him he forgets how to do things too fast, and he is going to find another person to take his job. He is told this on a daily basis. My son called into work sick one day... he has worked for this company for 3 yrs.. called in ONCE before, no problem. HE called in on a Friday, the boss told him before he comes back to work, he needed a DR note. This boss throws things when he gets mad. The helper at this shop constantly screws up my sons machine to try and get my kid in trouble. The boss knows this and blames my son.

Is this considered hostile work enviroment, and if so, how do I do about pressing charges, and getting him some help. God knows there are not many jobs out there in MI right now, and I would hate to see him lose his, but this guy is making my son suicidal.

The meaning of "hostile work environment" in a legal context is an environment that is made hostile by harassment based on a characteristic protected by law, such as race or gender. Disability is also a characteristic protected by law. If your son is being targeted because of his disability, and if the employer has the requisite number of employees (15 under federal law, unknown under your state law), then what you would describe is probably an illegal hostile environment. But it could be difficult to prove that your son is being targeted for that reason. Also, filing a charge of discrimination with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or your equivalent state agency, is unlikely to make your son's work environment any smoother.

You're in a tough situation and I'm sorry. Is there anything less drastic than filing a charge, that might help? Is there a sympathetic manager, or a human relations department you could speak to? If the company did get government money for hiring your son, is there someone in the government agency you could speak to?

If your son does quit -- and it sounds like it may be important to his health for him to do so -- then by all means contact the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission if you suspect he was targeted because of his disability. The EEOC will investigate and may help you get a settlement, or even (maybe, but long shot) be interested in bringing a lawsuit on your son's behalf.

I wish you good luck.

I agree...

But it is not discrimination to expect everyone to show up at work with the tools required to do the job.

Nor is it the responsibility of management to provide him with tools he was told he would need to provide. It is also not the responsibility of management to provide him sufficient time to replace his tools at his convenience.

I am not unsympathetic... really. I am just saying that if your son wants to be treated like one of the crew he needs to know there are responsibilities to that role.

If one of my employees didn't bring his, say, laptop to work and told me he would pick it up on payday and wouldn't be able to do any work until he got it or I provided a replacement, I would send him home.

Cyjeff, I understand what you're saying, but some aspects of what the OP described seemed so malicious as to be suspicious. For example, is there a good reason that he can't use the shop tape measure for three days? Is everyone forbidden to use it? (Wonder why they even have one.) Why hide the dang thing on him? And laugh about it?

And the entire middle paragraph sounds malicious.

OP, does this boss treat everyone in such a threatening and malicious manner, or just your son? Does your son's work performance justify being threatened with replacement?

My son gets confused easily. He is deaf, and therefore the boss must communicate on paper. The first year he was at work the owner gave him a 100 bonus at xmas, the second year, he got a present and 50 bucks, and this xmas he got 100 bucks again. Now if his performance was so terrible, I can not see him getting bonus bucks at Xmas time.

As I stated, there are only 3 people in the shop, the helper kid, who is lazy and gets away with an awful lot of BS compared to my son. And of course, I am getting just his side of the story, however, if he was that bad of an employee, god knows this economy there are hundreds looking for work. So fire him already and hire someone else. I mean there are probably 100 candidates they could get to apply for his job tomorrow. If he was really so awful, why would they keep him for 3 yrs?

Without some evidence that one of the other employees would be treated differently, I'm not seeing illegal discrimination.

the helper kid, who is lazy and gets away with an awful lot of BS compared to my son.
That, at least, suggests that the OP's son is being treated differently.

I would certainly be interested in hearing if the boss has hidden the shop tape measure from other employees, and if the boss has always told others on how they forget how to do things too fast, and if the boss has threatened others (on a daily basis) that he is going to find another person to take their job. I would be interested to hear if the bos has asked any other employees for a doctor's note on their second absence in three years. I would also like to know if the boss tolerates "mistakes" from other employees that are set up by someone other than the employee.

Yes, I would want to know all of that before I assume that there's no discrimination going on here.

My son says that the other guy told him he has never had to have a Dr note before returning from his sick days off. And this other guy calls off work quite often.

I am going to make some phone calls today, see what else I can find out. I have a state agency that is supposed to stop in and check on things there from time to time I made a phone call yesterday to let him know the situation there, and will call him back today to see what he has gotten done. I am also thinking about talking to a lawyer to see if there is something we can do to get this guy off my kids back.

I am also not sure the owner of this shop is aware of all the b.s going on there as he is not there very often. I am thinking of giving him a call as well. My son is very naive, I will give him that, but lazy, I dont buy. Forgetful sometimes, yes, but they agreed to hire a handicapped person. Handicapped people come with a little extra burden most of the time.

I just found out that they are actually in violation of the law. They need to bring an intrepreter in to help when they have meetings with my son and when a problem occurs there needs to be an intrepreter present to sort out the situation. This has never occured. The boss refuses to help my son fix this machine, and for 3 days my son tried and can not figure it out. The boss said for the last 3 yrs. he has showed him how to fix that problem, and he just doesnt get it. Well apparently he should have had an intrepreter in there to explain the problem and the solution long ago. That is the law for deaf employees. So we will see what happens now that I have a deaf/hearing advocate involved.