I have worked as a manager at a company for over 6 years, which is owned by two brothers and their mother. Over that six year period, I experienced many incidents which I would have considered sexual harassment/discrimination, beginning with the job interview. The mother asked me questions like, "Are you married", "Do you have children" (I didn't at the time), "Are you planning on having children", and "Which church do you go to".
Almost immediately after I was hired, one of the brothers started making sexual suggestions and jokes. On one Valentine's Day, he asked me if I was married and seemed disappointed when I told him I was. He said that there were some clients in town, it was Valentine's Day, and they were away from their wives. He was looking for some girls to go to dinner and entertain them.
At one point, he also told me I was only there because of the way I look. There were other incidents similar to these over the next couple of years.
I never discussed these and other incidents with anyone at the company. We had no formal HR department, and all of my superiors were relatives to the brother in question. Months would generally go by without incident, and my job was otherwise going well. Approaching the rest of the family seemed futile.
Over time, the brother became more angry and often yelled at and cursed at me for trivial things. At this point, because the situation felt hostile, I did approach the other brother and told him about the anger issues. He seemed genuinely concerned and said he would take care of it. For a year, things were better.
This past November, I was called into our new vice president's office. He told me I was being demoted and being replaced by the man who filled in for me during two pregnancies that I've had during my time at the company. When I asked why, he said that the family felt my department should have been growing faster. I pointed out that I had exceeded all growth goals set for me, my growth rate was the highest in the company, and that this was the first time I'd been told of a problem. He stated that this was a fault with the company and that my goals hadn't been set high enough. When I asked what the goals should have been, he didn't know. Later, when the transfer took place, the new goals for the new manager were set lower than the ones I was demoted for. I later approached the new HR manager they'd hired who had been in the room for the demotion. She admitted to me that she didn't know why I was demoted and that the brother I'd had trouble with was the one to instigate the demotion.
Is there enough information to show that the demotion was based on sexual discrimination? If most of the harassment was over a year and a half ago, can it still be used to show the demotion was not based on performance? Also, all of the harassment was verbal, so I have nothing to back up those comments.
Almost immediately after I was hired, one of the brothers started making sexual suggestions and jokes. On one Valentine's Day, he asked me if I was married and seemed disappointed when I told him I was. He said that there were some clients in town, it was Valentine's Day, and they were away from their wives. He was looking for some girls to go to dinner and entertain them.
At one point, he also told me I was only there because of the way I look. There were other incidents similar to these over the next couple of years.
I never discussed these and other incidents with anyone at the company. We had no formal HR department, and all of my superiors were relatives to the brother in question. Months would generally go by without incident, and my job was otherwise going well. Approaching the rest of the family seemed futile.
Over time, the brother became more angry and often yelled at and cursed at me for trivial things. At this point, because the situation felt hostile, I did approach the other brother and told him about the anger issues. He seemed genuinely concerned and said he would take care of it. For a year, things were better.
This past November, I was called into our new vice president's office. He told me I was being demoted and being replaced by the man who filled in for me during two pregnancies that I've had during my time at the company. When I asked why, he said that the family felt my department should have been growing faster. I pointed out that I had exceeded all growth goals set for me, my growth rate was the highest in the company, and that this was the first time I'd been told of a problem. He stated that this was a fault with the company and that my goals hadn't been set high enough. When I asked what the goals should have been, he didn't know. Later, when the transfer took place, the new goals for the new manager were set lower than the ones I was demoted for. I later approached the new HR manager they'd hired who had been in the room for the demotion. She admitted to me that she didn't know why I was demoted and that the brother I'd had trouble with was the one to instigate the demotion.
Is there enough information to show that the demotion was based on sexual discrimination? If most of the harassment was over a year and a half ago, can it still be used to show the demotion was not based on performance? Also, all of the harassment was verbal, so I have nothing to back up those comments.
