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trueleo1975
10-06-2004, 03:39 PM
First I want to say that I know it would be considered harassment, but not sure what it would be under or what my rights are for Pennsylvania.

The situation is this I work in a call center surrounded by several people, but the person next to me tends to get irrate at times and when you do not agree with him then he starts to take it on you. My situation is this that he was complaining about a process we have and I offered him a suggestion that maybe he take up with management and long story short he didn't agree and would rather complain about it. I told him that he does not need to be negative, that you can expect change if you don't ask for it. You took it all the wrong way and he told me to shut the f*ck up. A similiar scenario happened 2 months prior when he got in my face and screamed at me to sit the f*ck down and shut the f*ck up. At that time I told him never to talk to me like that. His reply was that I am not your child and you can't tell me what the f*ck to do. Well, I basically told him if he would ever talk to me again like that I would go to HR. Needless to say we buried the hatchet about a month later. Then not even two weeks later we were in an enviroment where everyone was joking with everyone and it was nothing offensive or in sexual in nature. Just poking fun, he poked I poked back. It seemed all well. Then I went to sit in my seat and he had positioned a thumb tack in the upright position so when I would go to sit down it would stick me where the sun doesn't shine. Thankfully he did stop me, but it offended me as well as the other people in the room. I let it blow over. Then just yesterday he started to cuss me out once again. I said I have told you about that before and started to mock me; so I got up from my seat and went to my supervisor told him. My supervisor is friends with this employee so much so that he doesn't get written up for when he is late, but everyone else does. I told him and he said he would talk with him and when I come in tomorrow he will move my desk. It didn't happen fast enough and he talked to him but didn't write him up for talking to me that way. Basically brushed it under the rug. I decided to got to HR and I don't know what to expect from them, but I had a bad feeling about the whole situation. Typically once HR investigates and they believe that it is to be true, what course of action should be taken? If no action is taken what can I do? I am sorry if it is so long winded. Thank you for helping me!!! :)

LConnell
10-06-2004, 08:18 PM
Not all harassment is illegal (though it should be). Is he harassing you because of your race, religion, disability, pregnancy status, national origin or your gender? If so, that is discrimination. If the HR Department is involved, my guess is that they will investigate the situation. If they have a policy against any harassment, they will ensure that the person is counseled, disciplined, etc., depending on the seriousness of the matter. Their goal will be to ensure that the harassment stops.

If they don't feel that there is illegal harassment and they choose not to pursue it, you can file a complaint with the US eeoc, assumign that your employer is covered by the law. The EEOC's website has a great explanation of discrimination, including sexual harassment. It is at eeoc.gov

Let me know if you have any other questions.

* Find more information on Equal Employment Opportunity-Discrimination.
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