sillyreefer
05-29-2005, 04:53 PM
Oh my where to begin. The name of this company I am not going to reveal, or any supervisors or employees' real names either And is located in Minnesota. My roomate and I are both males and had worked at the same work place. We had noticed, on a day-to-day basis, sexual harassment ever since we worked there. The manager (Merideth [not her real name]) and all of the supervisors are all women, and they are always talking about sex. Sexually explicit emails were sent to the supervisors (from management and it was all "fun and games" to them) and to some coworkers. These emails catered to the women, and depicted of male gestures. There were also pictures of Brad Pitt with his shirt off posted all over the call center (telemarketing, inbound and outbound) including the cubicles and desktop wallaper. People are NOT assigned to any given workstation. There was even an instance when a supervisor said she'll pay for sex because she wanted to get laid. A supervisor, shall we say Mindy (Not her real name) had an awkward relationship with a subordinate. Not like a sexual favor because mindy did not have any powers except to supervise and manage an account that the company had. They always fondled each other, but it seemed appropriate to everyone else because it was "harmless fun and games". Have I thought about complaining? Of course, but when supervisors are great friends at work and outside of work, and they are all town drunks always going to the bar, and swearing and telling people to go F**k themselves, how can you complain? My point exactly! Merideth had told both of us that she had wanted to move us to an inbound representative, which the position was comprised mainly of women. We were excited because that meant our work load woudl be much less, and this WAS considered a promotion even though a pay increase was not allowed. We had changed our school schedule to work around our work schedule until Merideth told us a week after classes had started that she said "You dont have to worry about moving to MSO [the accound which Mindy was responsible for]" Like in a way that we never wanted it. Merideth had given the position to another female coworker. Angry about that, it was nothing to retalitate or quit. I came in, I did my job, I was on time etc. A few weeks down the line it turned out that MSO was getting rid of one of their call centers, so the work load at the company would increase. Merideth had then told us that she needed us to work inbound..AGAIN. Excited about that, Mindy was trying to find an excuse for us NOT to go on. This excuse was the fact that the account needed to assign each employee an email address. The network administrator for the call center did not allow any more email addresses. Merideth assured Mindy that we could use another coworkers. She agreed. A week later our schedule was still the same. It still read HP outbound, instead of MSO. She had given the position to another female. Coincidence? Perhpas. Then a month before my unemployment Merideth had said that they needed two inbound representatives for the company and said we qualified well enough for it and told us that our schedule would be changing from evenings to days (8am to 3pm). This was nice because our school schedule was from 5-10pm Tuesdays and Thursdays. The week our schedule was suppose to be different, it still read the same. Two weeks before, they had hired a female for prospecting, and outbound position. She was the one who got promoted to the company inbound position. Coincidence? I dont think so! During the month of March our manager was well aware of our intentions to move and that we were going to be busy moving the entire week. She was aware of it, agreed to it, and understood our situation. We submitted a schedule change request (This call center allows the employees to work THEIR own hours) to only Sunday Evenings. THis was not done, since the schedule still read the same. So to prevent us from being written up, we had called in on our scheduled days and told them we were moving. Everything was fine. Since I was becoming angry in the company and needed time to cool off, or until I can be promoted, I had submitted another schedule change request. That was ignored but my roomates was granted. So I continued to work the following week, however I was arriving late and got written up. I still came in on my suppose to be unscheduled days. I then spoke with merideth about my schedule and said that I need to call if I am going to be late. I had told her that I only wanted to be scheduled for Sunday evenings and Saturdays for two more weeks (I took someone elses shift on saturday for 3 weeks). Merideth agreed to my request and said that she will fit it in the schedule the next day, since it was around five o'clock and it was time for her to go home. I came in to work on Saturday, then a few hours later a supervisor comes up to me and says "why are you here?" I said i am taking someone elses shift. she had said "did anyone contact you?". I had said "No, why?", she had said "Because you are not suppose to come in". I had looked at her clip board with the scheduling on it,an dmy name was crossed off with the words "Notify him not to come in." I had finished the night, and worked the next day. Both my roomate and I were working and didn't even think to look at the schedule. I assumed that my wishes on my schedule were granted. Paychecks came in that Friday, but I was busy so came in the next Saturday and picked them up. Everyone who was working was like "You got fired, you got fired." How is that ANY of their business!?! They were like "Sally [another supervisor who's job was to manage the HP account, and this is not her real name either] said she tried calling you on Monday but you didn't answer". I had said "I never received a telephone call, not on my cell phone or my home phone, and no voice messages were recorded either". They were like "well you didn't show up for your shift". We looked at the schedule and my name was removed, and my roomate was scheduled for "0" hours. His position for Sunday evenings was given to a female. My roomate had called into work asking Lucy (The one in charge of one of the inbound accounts and two outbound accounts) about his schedule and if he was fired. SHe had said "no", but if they find a position open or if he comes in voluntarily he can still work. He had filed unemployment because he was taken off the schedule completely, he had filed it under "lay off". HIs unemployment was granted,and mine was declined. My company had said that I was always late, and they considered this a "no call no show". I submitted my rebuttal explaining my side of the story, and my compensation check was pending. This rebuttal was declined. Around the same time my roomate called into work asking about the schedule, then a supervisor told him that he was terminated. He emailed corporate and demanded the reason why he was fired. The owner had told him he couldn't work around their schedules because he didn't wnat to work tuesdays and thursdays. Well before we even started we had told them we have school Tuesdays and Thursdays, and it would be impossible to work. A week later I had news about my rebuttal, I was disqualified for unemployment. I had filed an appeal, and caught my company lieing. At first they stated they didn't receive any changes, then they ADMIT they received one of them. Hmmmm?! I was the one lying? Yesterday my roomate got a letter fromthe Minnesota Unemployment OFfice saying that he was "verbally warned" about his attendance (Even though he had never received any warning, either written or verbal) and he did a "no call no show". I mean I feel that we were both fired because of our gender. NOt to mention that the manger had even asked us if we were "gay" because of rumors that were floating around from some of the snickering and gossipy employees. I mean not only am I in debt right now,and disqualified for any kind of assistance (Including FOOD STAMPS because I am a student, and I do not live with my parents either), and I am not qualified for any work position here in the city I live in, but what i have experienced here should not happen to anyone! I do have other witnesses that this has went on, and I had brought it to their attention, and they were also fired last month also. I had told them about the potential lawsuit (If there is a case) and asked if they would participate, and they agreed. In total there are 5 people who had witnessed this. Also does it not look suspicious that they terminated "6" employees in one month? How about a red flag? What I am wondering here is what I should do. The company threatens employees by "We dont have to worry about people suing us because the owners wife is a lawyer and her father is a judge!" I dont think any of this is legal one bit! I need help.
