I have been working at my company for almost 10 years. I have been in the same Department for 9 of them, doing the same job and gaining more and more experience as I deal with every day tasks. My company employs a little over 25 people, and there is not really an HR department. There is one person who handles complaints.
I have a moderate Hearing impairment. I wear a hearing aid, but day to day activities are a lot harder than someone of normal hearing, but I read lips very well. The phone is not clear, and I'm also worried I'll get something wrong on the phone so I stick to dealing with people through email – which works most of the time. If a client needs to talk to someone, a coworker of mine will do me a favor and help me with the call.
My employer has never given me the same opportunities as other workers. For example, the Boss has offered new employees paid training and a chance to get their Licence for more pay. For 8 years, I was never once offered to take the class in order to get my license, and increase my pay and a promotion. There were only 2 of us in my Department, and my boss paid for my teammate to take the class – never offered it to me. My teammate who only has 4 years experience now makes more money than I do. She was easily able to take the class, whereas I cannot sit in a class room and learn because of my impairment. When I was finally told about a year ago, they wanted me to get my license. I looked into it, and I did not have to take the class if I had at least 3 years experience and a signed letter from my boss. It took about 8 months for me to receive the signed letter after asking for it several times, and I have to study with just a book alone, which is taking me forever to learn, because I would not do well in a discussion situation.
This is just one example – there are other employees who started after me, who had been offered to take the class.
About 5 months ago, a coworker of mine, told me that the Senior Vice President of my company has ridiculed me and made fun of my hearing impairment to coworkers- He denied it, but i have witnessed him first hand making fun of clients of ours, because theyre either fat or cant speak english well, so no one was suprised when I made the complaint. Not only did the situation cause a lot of embarassment and upset me – I had to address it to the president of the company, who immediately removed the VP from overseeing my dept. Problem is, is that it did not stick. The VP was told not to talk to me, but has done so since then- in which I had reported it again to the President. I was then told that they wanted to open a 'full investigation' on what happened and that I needed to tell the president who told me that the VP makes fun of me – I am not a rat, and that person was afraid they'd be given a hard time for it. So I didn't say. The president also told me that there would be a note put in my file about the incident, and I have asked for a copy of it several times and have gotten no response. I have also been in situations where the VP has been sitting in meetings when I am being questioned about accounts. Its awkward, and it makes me nervous to the point where I stumble, being afraid I'm not going to hear something right & answer a question wrong.
I give 1000% at my job, and I'm extremely punctual. I make tons of money for my company, and my boss has my emails set up where she can read all of my emails (as well as my teammates). I understand that they own the email system, but when were are not allowed to have cell phones on throughout the day, and I cannot hear on the phone the email system is the only way I can communicate. The office manual states they allow a certain amount of time for personal phone calls, and obviously I cannot use that time. So if I need to get in touch with family, I have to go outside and send a txt message or send a private email, that my boss can read.
This office situation has made things almost impossible for me – because it takes me alittle longer to do certain things, that could be done very easily by picking up the phone and I don't have that luxury. I get yelled at for not getting around to do every day administrative stuff, because I take longer to do the more important things, because i have to use Email.
Do I have some certain rights here? I've been subject to not being giving the same offers everyone else has & I have been subject to ridicule at work.
I have never played the disabled card in my life, which is why I'm unsure if this is something I could go further with?
I have a moderate Hearing impairment. I wear a hearing aid, but day to day activities are a lot harder than someone of normal hearing, but I read lips very well. The phone is not clear, and I'm also worried I'll get something wrong on the phone so I stick to dealing with people through email – which works most of the time. If a client needs to talk to someone, a coworker of mine will do me a favor and help me with the call.
My employer has never given me the same opportunities as other workers. For example, the Boss has offered new employees paid training and a chance to get their Licence for more pay. For 8 years, I was never once offered to take the class in order to get my license, and increase my pay and a promotion. There were only 2 of us in my Department, and my boss paid for my teammate to take the class – never offered it to me. My teammate who only has 4 years experience now makes more money than I do. She was easily able to take the class, whereas I cannot sit in a class room and learn because of my impairment. When I was finally told about a year ago, they wanted me to get my license. I looked into it, and I did not have to take the class if I had at least 3 years experience and a signed letter from my boss. It took about 8 months for me to receive the signed letter after asking for it several times, and I have to study with just a book alone, which is taking me forever to learn, because I would not do well in a discussion situation.
This is just one example – there are other employees who started after me, who had been offered to take the class.
About 5 months ago, a coworker of mine, told me that the Senior Vice President of my company has ridiculed me and made fun of my hearing impairment to coworkers- He denied it, but i have witnessed him first hand making fun of clients of ours, because theyre either fat or cant speak english well, so no one was suprised when I made the complaint. Not only did the situation cause a lot of embarassment and upset me – I had to address it to the president of the company, who immediately removed the VP from overseeing my dept. Problem is, is that it did not stick. The VP was told not to talk to me, but has done so since then- in which I had reported it again to the President. I was then told that they wanted to open a 'full investigation' on what happened and that I needed to tell the president who told me that the VP makes fun of me – I am not a rat, and that person was afraid they'd be given a hard time for it. So I didn't say. The president also told me that there would be a note put in my file about the incident, and I have asked for a copy of it several times and have gotten no response. I have also been in situations where the VP has been sitting in meetings when I am being questioned about accounts. Its awkward, and it makes me nervous to the point where I stumble, being afraid I'm not going to hear something right & answer a question wrong.
I give 1000% at my job, and I'm extremely punctual. I make tons of money for my company, and my boss has my emails set up where she can read all of my emails (as well as my teammates). I understand that they own the email system, but when were are not allowed to have cell phones on throughout the day, and I cannot hear on the phone the email system is the only way I can communicate. The office manual states they allow a certain amount of time for personal phone calls, and obviously I cannot use that time. So if I need to get in touch with family, I have to go outside and send a txt message or send a private email, that my boss can read.
This office situation has made things almost impossible for me – because it takes me alittle longer to do certain things, that could be done very easily by picking up the phone and I don't have that luxury. I get yelled at for not getting around to do every day administrative stuff, because I take longer to do the more important things, because i have to use Email.
Do I have some certain rights here? I've been subject to not being giving the same offers everyone else has & I have been subject to ridicule at work.
I have never played the disabled card in my life, which is why I'm unsure if this is something I could go further with?
