StutterGirl
New Member
I work in a small law firm in California. There are only 2 employees (myself & another girl) who are not either related to another employee or attend the same church as the Partner in the firm. In fact, 98% of the employees were hired without legal experience. The other 2% are myself and the other employee I mentioned. I am Caucasian and the others are Hispanic. The other employee that I mentioned about and myself have law office experience and attend law school.
I feel the Hispanic and Spanish speaking employees receive preferencial treatment as well as the one who has the same religion as the Partner. I have been there longer than all but one of them and they get all kinds of time off, when I ask I get a hard time about it (I rarely ask). I have a son and I was told I had to wait for medical benefits when I first started. Another employee hired after me said she had a kid and wanted to get them sooner, her request was granted. I asked if I could leave 30min. early twice a week for a few weeks to help out at my son's school and my request was denied, I even offered to make up the time. Yet, two other hispanic employees are able to leave early on a regular basis. One of them leaves early 3 days a week to go to the gym. The other leaves early to attend a Civil Litigation class being paid for by my boss because she had no legal experience (by the way, I was told I had to work my law school schedule around my work schedule). A long-term employee recently quit because she was tired of the preferencial treatment and being told that she should learn spanish because she's Mexican, she was picked on a lot, especially after she became friends with me.
I am not trying to toot my own horn, but I have literally created a more successful, organized practice since I have been there. I am a very hard worker and know how to do my job very well. At first, everyone was really nice. But, once I got into the swing of things and one girl realized that I may be a "threat" she turned a few other employees against me. The employees that receive preferencial treatment speak Spanish, I do not. Spanish speakers are a huge asset to my boss because he gets some good cases that involve Spanish speaking clients. They often carry on 20-30min. conversations in Spanish with me sitting in the same (very small) personal office. I can understand some phrases and have realized on a couple occasions they were making deragatory comments about me. There have also been a few instances of conversations being had on the office instant messaging system about what they can do to "make me crazy enough to leave." I complained to my boss about the treatment and his "quick fix" was to have a "mediation" between me and the employee that feels threatened by my level of experience (trust me, I do NOT want her job). His solution was for us to not speak to each other (we share an office) and he ordered a wall to be put between us.
Now, everything I say or do is being used against me. I'm constantly being watched by them. I can't even leave my desk for 2 minutes for a bathroom break without being questioned. I rarely take lunch breaks out of fear that I will get in trouble. The receptionist will frequently transfer people directly to my voicemail then "tell on me" to my boss and say I am not taking calls because I'm on a personal call (which is not the case, clients tend to be comfortable with me and talk to me in a more relaxed tone). I've developed some very painful health issues with my stomach due to stress and a terrible stutter because I'm afraid everything I say, even to clients, will be somehow twisted around and used against me. I have also lost a lot of weight (which is not always a bad thing but now I'm losing too much too fast and I am starting to look unhealthy). All of these problems have been documented by an M.D.
I have always been very articulate and a wonderful communicator, I don't know where that person went. Even my Professors and Family have noticed a huge difference in my level of confidence and overall emotional well being. I understand the "mental anguish" cases are usually bum. My boss is completely oblivious, even though I have talked to him about my concerns on a few occasions. I understand he doesn't want to lose any employees. But, I did express my concern about how unfair it is for the Spanish conversations to be carried on in front of me (another Attorney in the firm told them to stop a few times because it's rude before I had even mentioned it to anyone). Not to mention the conversations tend to be VERY loud, I have asked them nicely to keep it down when I am on the phone with clients and received nothing but dirty looks. I've mentioned that the preferencial treatment is noted and I believe that it is unfair. I've asked him to move me to another office because I would feel more comfortable, but he doesn't respond. Is there anything that can be done? Or do I need to just shutup and deal with it or move on to something else? I love what I do, I just don't like what I have to deal with to do it.
I feel the Hispanic and Spanish speaking employees receive preferencial treatment as well as the one who has the same religion as the Partner. I have been there longer than all but one of them and they get all kinds of time off, when I ask I get a hard time about it (I rarely ask). I have a son and I was told I had to wait for medical benefits when I first started. Another employee hired after me said she had a kid and wanted to get them sooner, her request was granted. I asked if I could leave 30min. early twice a week for a few weeks to help out at my son's school and my request was denied, I even offered to make up the time. Yet, two other hispanic employees are able to leave early on a regular basis. One of them leaves early 3 days a week to go to the gym. The other leaves early to attend a Civil Litigation class being paid for by my boss because she had no legal experience (by the way, I was told I had to work my law school schedule around my work schedule). A long-term employee recently quit because she was tired of the preferencial treatment and being told that she should learn spanish because she's Mexican, she was picked on a lot, especially after she became friends with me.
I am not trying to toot my own horn, but I have literally created a more successful, organized practice since I have been there. I am a very hard worker and know how to do my job very well. At first, everyone was really nice. But, once I got into the swing of things and one girl realized that I may be a "threat" she turned a few other employees against me. The employees that receive preferencial treatment speak Spanish, I do not. Spanish speakers are a huge asset to my boss because he gets some good cases that involve Spanish speaking clients. They often carry on 20-30min. conversations in Spanish with me sitting in the same (very small) personal office. I can understand some phrases and have realized on a couple occasions they were making deragatory comments about me. There have also been a few instances of conversations being had on the office instant messaging system about what they can do to "make me crazy enough to leave." I complained to my boss about the treatment and his "quick fix" was to have a "mediation" between me and the employee that feels threatened by my level of experience (trust me, I do NOT want her job). His solution was for us to not speak to each other (we share an office) and he ordered a wall to be put between us.
Now, everything I say or do is being used against me. I'm constantly being watched by them. I can't even leave my desk for 2 minutes for a bathroom break without being questioned. I rarely take lunch breaks out of fear that I will get in trouble. The receptionist will frequently transfer people directly to my voicemail then "tell on me" to my boss and say I am not taking calls because I'm on a personal call (which is not the case, clients tend to be comfortable with me and talk to me in a more relaxed tone). I've developed some very painful health issues with my stomach due to stress and a terrible stutter because I'm afraid everything I say, even to clients, will be somehow twisted around and used against me. I have also lost a lot of weight (which is not always a bad thing but now I'm losing too much too fast and I am starting to look unhealthy). All of these problems have been documented by an M.D.
I have always been very articulate and a wonderful communicator, I don't know where that person went. Even my Professors and Family have noticed a huge difference in my level of confidence and overall emotional well being. I understand the "mental anguish" cases are usually bum. My boss is completely oblivious, even though I have talked to him about my concerns on a few occasions. I understand he doesn't want to lose any employees. But, I did express my concern about how unfair it is for the Spanish conversations to be carried on in front of me (another Attorney in the firm told them to stop a few times because it's rude before I had even mentioned it to anyone). Not to mention the conversations tend to be VERY loud, I have asked them nicely to keep it down when I am on the phone with clients and received nothing but dirty looks. I've mentioned that the preferencial treatment is noted and I believe that it is unfair. I've asked him to move me to another office because I would feel more comfortable, but he doesn't respond. Is there anything that can be done? Or do I need to just shutup and deal with it or move on to something else? I love what I do, I just don't like what I have to deal with to do it.
