I work in South Carolina. A co-worker is constantly making sexist comments to me about females and the fact that I am from KY. I am the only female in my department. One example: We were talking to sales reps who came to our facility to discuss their drivers. My co- worker said we had a problem with one of them and said "He must be half female because all he does is ***** and whine all the time." I was humiliated by this commment, especially because he did it in front of these sales reps. Everyone got a good laugh out of it but me. I asked him once why he picked on me and his response was "I can't go home and do this to my wife, so I gotta do it somewhere." I told my supervisor and all he said was that I needed to get thicker skin. This co-worker has now been promoted to my boss. What can I do. These comments continue on a daily basis and I have resorted to wearing a tape recorder under my clothes and I have him on tape. What do I do? Can I sue to stop this?

You MIGHT, depending on the EXACT circumstances, have a legitimate complaint about the sexist comments. However, "discrimination" on the basis of what state you are from is not illegal.

Thanks for the response. I would like to know what you mean by "Exact" circumstances. Is it not enough to have several instances documented where comments were made? What do I need to prove this in the eyes of the EEOC. It doesn't take much to stroke his ego and then he just rambles on about women and people from KY. Please let me know. I look forward to your response or anyone else that would like to add to this.

Your boss maligning people from Kentucky (or any other State) is not illegal, obnoxious and immature though his comments may be.

Regarding the stupid comments he's making about women, I expect what cbg means is that it depends exactly what he is saying, how frequently, and so on. The key legal question is whether he has created a hostile work environment for you which the law defines in this instance as a pervasive atmosphere of sex discrimination. We can't assess that from here.

Is there a human resources department where you work? If so, you should complain to them. If not, I suggest you talk to the senior manager on site (the president? the general manager?) about the situation. If they're smart, they'll put a stop to his stupid behavior immediately.

By the way, I strongly suggest you don't tell anyone at work about the tape recorder. While South Carolina is a "one party" consent State, that does not mean that you have authorization to tape record conversations in the workplace without management's consent. They could easily fire you for doing so.

If the comments continue, you are free to file a complaint with S.C. equal rights division or the federal EEOC.