Do I Have Any Recourse Here?

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Jerz

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I have posted this in UI forum and am getting responses with regard to UI. I'm posting here so that I can hopefully get some help with regard to filing a complaint.

I was fired from my job by my assistant manager. Mr (x)

Background:
I have faced racial discrimination at my job. When I was made full-time it was said I got it because of my race. Other racist comments have been made. A customer would racially harass me. Other staff members complained to my assistant manager. He asked me if I wanted to take care of it myself. I said yes and didn't do anything. I just wanted to let it go. He didn't report it to HR. The manager who fired me has made racist jokes and I have said something about this to him before.

Incident:
A server came into work to serve me papers in regard to a jointly held debt. I did not want to take the papers. The server figured it was for me and so he started shouting that if I didn't take the papers he was going to get me fired. Then he started using racial slurs. He put his hand up to me and at that point I may or may not have pushed him.

Outcome:
The police were called. The guy said I pushed him. The manager on duty, my supervisor and another staff member, who saw the incident, said they didn't see me push him. The police told the server to leave and that was it. Mr (x) 'investigated'. He asked all the staff members who had been on duty until he found one who said he had seen me push the server. He then fired me.

I called him the next day and tried to explain to him that I had been racially harassed. He said it wasn't a racially motivated incident and quoted the handbook that said no harassment, by anyone, will be tolerated and is grounds for instant dismissal for an employee. Although he had tolerated and perpetrated racial harassment against me in the past. I spoke with HR who said I had to speak with the store general manager when he gets back from vacation.

Do I have a discrimination claim anywhere in here?
 
No you do not have a discrimination claim. Unless you have an employment contract, you may be fired for ANY reason that is not legally discriminatory.

You were fired due to a claim by another employee that you did indeed push the server. Due to the company policy of no harrassment, you were terminated.

Even if the employee was mistaken, the employer may rely on this information and legally terminate you. It is unfortunate for you, yet fully legal and NOT discriminatory.

Even if the incident between you and the server was indeed racially motivated, your employer's decision to fire you was not racially motivated.
 
Thanks for the info. Doesn't look good then.

Does the fact that the assistant manager who fired me had previously made me the butt of his racist jokes have any bearing? Do i have any recourse against the racist behavior that I experienced on the job?
 
Does the fact that the assistant manager who fired me had previously made me the butt of his racist jokes have any bearing?
No, not unless you have proof that your termination was directly related to racism. You were terminated, per the manager's decision, based upon the policy of no harrassment. This has no relationship to his previous making of racist jokes.

Do i have any recourse against the racist behavior that I experienced on the job?
You have already taken the proper step of contacting HR. It is outlandish that they told you to contact the General Manager. THEY should have done this, not you. Yet, that is all behind you now that you are no longer employed there.

Move on, and best of luck.
 
No, not unless you have proof that your termination was directly related to racism. You were terminated, per the manager's decision, based upon the policy of no harrassment. This has no relationship to his previous making of racist jokes.

Here's what I was thinking.

The employee that made racist comments and racially insulted my wife was not terminated. My supervisor and another employee complained to the assistant manager.

Now, the handbook says harassment of any kind will not be tolerated.

So, when the employee harassed me it was not addressed. Although he could have been fired he was not even reprimanded.

I was fired under the same rule. And in my case the assistant manager who fired me was the same manager to whom the previous incidents of racial harassment were reported and he was also the manager who had made racial jokes.

You have already taken the proper step of contacting HR. It is outlandish that they told you to contact the General Manager. THEY should have done this, not you. Yet, that is all behind you now that you are no longer employed there.

Move on, and best of luck.

Thanks. I wish I could just move on. But with this on my record then I'm practically unemployable. Not only that, I feel like I put up with so much while I was there that they could have given me the same chance as they gave the racist employee. Besides, I really need the healthcare!
 
Speak with a local attorney about this.

Most will speak with you initially for free.

They'll tell you the same thing you've been told here.

After that happens, maybe you can move on, otherwise this will destroy you.

Even if someone else did something, does that excuse what you did?
 
Speak with a local attorney about this.

Most will speak with you initially for free.

They'll tell you the same thing you've been told here.

After that happens, maybe you can move on, otherwise this will destroy you.

Even if someone else did something, does that excuse what you did?

Thanks. I'm just tryng every avenue. I'm hoping that I have something in terms of a racist manager fires me for a rule violation. Another employee did not get fired for violating the same rule. No go? Why? (genuine question)

I know I'm stuck on this but I really want my job back.
 
You were not fired under the same rule. You were fired for getting into an altercation with a third party who did not work for your employer. How on earth you are relating this to alleged racial remarks made by your manager is beyond me.

Different situation; different result.
 
My assistant manager informed that was the rule I was fired under.

An employee racially harassed me on several occasions. He made derogatory comments about my race. Made assumptions about my intelligence and abilities because of my race. He insulted my wife and made comments about why she would want to marry "insert name of an animal that eats bananas and climbs trees". A word that he had used to me before.

My supervisor and another staff member reported him to my assistant manager. My assistant manager should have reported him to HR and could have fired him for harassment. He did nothing except ask me to take care of it.

The same assistant manager had also previously made racists jokes about how he likened me to a movie where an actor had played a role where he was subservient. He had made racists jokes about what I eat because of my race.

This is the same assistant manager who fired me.
 
You'll never get THAT job back, never!

Fight for something you have a realistic chance at achieving.

That train has left the station!
 
Jerz,
You aren't hearing what is being told to you. We can appreciate your feelings on this, yet you must understand what we are saying to you.

1) There is no law that says the employer and/or HR must terminate someone who breaks policy. You may be legally fired for good cause, bad cause, or no cause at all. There are only two exceptions, "public - policy" & "implied contract", and your termination does not fit within either of these two exceptions.

2) Unless you have direct and positive proof that your termination was due to racism, the termination is not illegal.

3) You've indicated that the employer terminated you due to an altercation between you and another individual. Whether this happened or not, and regardless of the details of the incident, this is ALL irrelevant. The employer broke no law in terminating your employment. It may have been unethical, yet NOT illegal.

Upon the first insult to me or my wife like what you described, if the assistant manager or HR did not respond properly I would have taken the matter directly to the President and/or owner of the company. If this person hadn't taken care of it, then to the media.

As for your job - it is too late. Sorry. You will find a better job in a better atmosphere. There is no need to offer any detail of why you left your former employer unless directly asked by a potential new employer. If asked in an interview, keep your explanation short and to the point. Simply state that remarks were made and management did not react and this lead to your dismissal. Nothing needs to be said about the altercation. Normally HR departments do not provide specific info of terminations to employer inquries. "They simply say, yes he worked here and he is not rehirable."

Sorry, and good luck!
 
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And just in case you're still not getting it:

It is 100% legal for an employer to discipline different employees different ways for the same offense. If they want to fire you, and put a nastygram in the manager's file, for committing the same offense, the law allows them to do that.

But you did not commit the same offense, and absolutely nothing you have posted here is going to get you your job back.
 
To me what you are saying makes sense Jerz. But you would have to convince a Judge that either you were racially harassed or your termination was racially motivated. Going to court would hopefully act as a deterrent to prevent against that company using racial insults against other employees in the future.

On the other hand, if you have no proof you face an uphill battle. You may feel at the moment that the descision was racially motivated, but I don't think you really know that for sure. And going to court means you'll lose them as an employment reference, unless you can secure that as a settlement. As far as I know, you could go to Small Court without a lawyer, then you have less to lose.

You mentioned the sever 'He put his hand up to me'. If that was done in a physically threatening way, that could be self-defense what you did, but I can't say.

I agree with Army Judge, you can't get your old job back, the only possible compensation would be $.
 
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