I was hired as a residential building inspector for an arizona municipality and performing the job duties of the Chief Building Official within 2 weeks, against my choice.

The CBO at the time of my hiring, "was out to get the town" as he put it. He continually harassed me about religion, my gender and my lack of qualifications to do the job I was hired to do. I told my supervisor, the Community Development Director about my concerns of being harassed and he did nothing. Everyone was aware of the hostile work environment as there had been several employee complaints within the department prior to my arrival.

I worked for 5 and a half months doing all the work for the Building Department with no training or support of any kind from my supervisor. I told him on several occasions, I want the job title of CBO and a raise and you need to hire another inspector as the work load is too much for one person. He told me I had to formally apply for the postion which I did twice and never heard a word from him or the personnal manager. They forced me into a job I did not want then refused to reward me for it.

I also started to uncover illegal activities (selective enforcement) and mentioned it to my supervisor who told me those cases were closed to me and no longer any of my business.
They hired two uncertified male inspectors and my supervisor asked me to train them and I said ok just as soon as you give me the CBO title and a raise. I was terminated the next morning.


There is so much more to this story but there it is in a little teeny nutshell. I was harassed, discriminated against (religious, gender, sexual orientation, and age), my professional credentials were slandered and jepordized, I was refused compensation from my performance, denied premotions and was not provided with a healthy work environment.



Any ideas or suggestions how best to deal with this situation?

Thank You, InterimCBO

He continually harassed me about religion, my gender and my lack of qualifications to do the job I was hired to do.

Need more detail with regards to the religion and gender - not enough here to establish if illegal discrimination occurred. "Harassing" you about your lack of qualifications may be unprofessional, but it is not illegal.

I told him on several occasions, I want the job title of CBO and a raise and you need to hire another inspector as the work load is too much for one person.

The fact that you want the job title and the raise does not mean they are required to give them to you, no matter how many times you ask and regardless of whether you formally apply or not.

He told me I had to formally apply for the postion which I did twice and never heard a word from him or the personnal manager.

They have no legal obligation to do anything about your application.

They forced me into a job I did not want then refused to reward me for it.

This may or may not be bad management. It does not come even close to being illegal.

I also started to uncover illegal activities (selective enforcement) and mentioned it to my supervisor who told me those cases were closed to me and no longer any of my business.

The appropriate web site appears to be down so I am unable to check whether Arizona law protects complaints of illegal activity that are made internally and not to the appropriate regulatory agency. In many states, but as I said I cannot at this time confirm whether Arizona is or is not one, internal complaints are not protected. If no one else has the answer between now and then, you might want to give the state DOL a call on Tuesday to check.

They hired two uncertified male inspectors and my supervisor asked me to train them and I said ok just as soon as you give me the CBO title and a raise. I was terminated the next morning.

This is blatant insubordination and I'm not surprised you got fired for this. I wouldn't have waited till the next morning - I'd have fired you on the spot if you said that to me.

The bottom line is that while you MAY have some legitimate complaints to make with regards to the discrimination and the whistleblowing, (unknown with the information available to us) the immediate cause of your dismissal appears to be not only legal but justified.

I don't even want to guess what kind of legal action might result out of this. Even if your claims are completely justified (and I am not saying they aren't - I simply don't know at this time) you handed your employers a perfectly legitimate and justifiable reason to fire you on a silver platter. You couldn't have played into their hands more perfectly, if they actually were looking for excuses to fire you. Worst move you could possibly have made.

All I can suggest it that you review the entire situation with a local attorney.