Harrassment/Alabama

[AASMITH]

I have been working for almost 20 years for the State of Alabama. I have worked the past 8 for one boss. He has been harrassing me by making fun of my weight, make-up, trying to control who I talk with, holding grudges when he doesn't like something I did (at home or at work), telling me other people are extremely unhappy with me and that he is the only one who can help me keep my job, talking about having the HR Director in his back pocket, cussing, tellling me lurid stories even when I object (listening isn't as bad as the hell I catch for saying something), asking me sexual questions about me and my husband, showing me a gun which baked up a subtle threat and numerous other things. I have talked with several people at work and many have seen the abuse first-hand. I did not go to HR because of his relationship with the Director. He has continually told me how lowly snitches are and what they deserve (including what his NJ friends could do). I know several supervisors were aware of his actions. I did not go to the AA/EEOC employee because of the repricussions. I talked to the Administrative Assistant to the VP over this man and was told that the VP thinks very highly of him and would probably not be swayed. I was asked by the Admin. Assist. to wait to tell because of upcoming workload and to wait until the Admin. Assist. was out of town. I waited until the day after the workload was over and the first day of the Admin. Assist. vacation. They put my supervisor on leave until his retirement a few months later. My problem is since then I have had to be medicated and counseled (my daughter also since he verbally abused her too and showed her the gun while alone with her in the elevator), I have been told I have Post tramatic stress disorder by my regular physician and the counselor but never actually was diagnosed by an appropriate Dr. I am still on meds 7 months later. The AA/EEOC person says that appropriate action was taken and I should get no compensation. i say that since so many supervisors were aware of the situation and I was paralyzed by fear that I should not have had to tell HR myself to get help. They seem to think that since they were only hearing rumors that they could not act until I specifically told them myself. One of the HR employees overheard one of his degraading comments and reported it to the Acting HR director a few months earlier and one supervisor had told the Acting HR director about the comments and the gun about two months before I did. But, they still did nothing until I had had enough. The morning I told the VP and HR Acting Dir. my boss had been especially lurid in his communication. Is HR right? Did they act properly. There is so much more to all of this. I also think my daughter should be compensated. She works in my building and is a student assistant. HELP ! ! ! I still don't sleep well.

[Beth3]

They seem to think that since they were only hearing rumors that they could not act until I specifically told them myself. That's not true. Not only is an employer liable for prohibited discrimination/harassment that an employee reports to the employer, they are also liable for discrimination/harassment that they knew about by other means or that they SHOULD have known about because it was apparent.

Even if you have a viable SH claim to make, it's possible the statute of limitations has passed to do so. At the federal level, that's 180 days from the most recent incident of discrimination/harassment (which would have been the last time your boss harassed you prior to his "retirement" so it sounds like that ship has sailed.) I don't know what the statute of limitationso is to file a complaint with your State but often it's 300 days so you still may be within the window.

I suggest you speak with an employment law attorney asap and you should also discuss whether you should file a worker's compensation claim for your PTSD.

[AASMITH]

What is the difference for me as to whether it can be filed Federal or State?