Employed in CA-The Director of My Departement tried to implement an English only policy. I believe to have been origin discrimination as there are only two people in the department who speak spanish. Altough business is always conducted in English the supervisor believes that she can better manage by having everyone speaking english only-Other departments such as the manufacturing department have a high number of spanish speaking employees.However, this was not made a company wide policy. In response to this I made a confidential call the National Hotline Services to report my belived origin descrimination claim.
A few days after the Director sent an e-mail to take back the english only policy.However, everything took a diffrent direction from here.
On my performance review the director of the department wrote a line stating that I need to see him first for any copmany related issues-even tough my call to the hotline was confidential-on my performance review under the employee comments I asked the director to elavorate more on that matter and to give an example of me not following that practice. Coveniently he was out of the office on vacation the following week, but told me we would get back together upon his return to discuss it (but it never happened).
Prior to the english only policy I had sent an e-mail to the director and my supervisor asking for a change of schedule to start 30 min earlier and leaving 30 min earlier. I didn't hear from the director, but my supervisor asked me a few weeks later if I had received a response form him. I said no and asked my supervisor to look into it for me. However, I never heard from either one so I took it as a denial of my request. Then 3 months later they approved the same change of schduled to the newest person in the department who at the time had been working for the company for less than 1 year vs 2 1/2 years that I have been employed there. When I confronted management they claimed to have never received my request (e-mail). I found a copy of my original request in my e-mail archives and I re-sent it to them as proof, but they denied that they had ever received it and washed of their hands telling me that I shoul've followed up on it.
During the same week I was called for Juty Duty and submitted the top part of my Summons notice to management. I left work early and went on my way. The judge ordered to return to the court room the next day.The same morning before leaving my house I called the Hotline again. This time to report that I had been retaliated against for calling reporting the origin discrimination. The same day in the afternoon when I arrived to work from Juty Duty I came to a surprise that I had been denied access to the building. I entered the building thru the reception are and when I tried to log in to my phone and my computer. The service had been terminated. I felt so humiliated and terrified that I was going to be fired that I went to talk to the HR manager for an explanation immediatley. She said "don't worry the access to your system is being re-established as we speak" but she wanted me to discuss with her my call to the Hotline. She was very rude and intimidating trying to make me give her an explanation of my call to the hotline. She stated had received the report from the national hotline in the morning and wanted to make clear that I was not supposed to call the hotline with my issues as its primary purpose was to report financial related issues only. I refused to explain myself again since she had the report of my claims in her hands;then she took me to the CEO's office to be confronted about my claims. During the confrontation with the Corporation's CEO and the HR manager I was intimidated. I was prohibited to call the hotline, the CEO stated that because I called the hotline the company was being charged
$500/hr for an attorney to initiate an investigatin and that all of my co-workers were going to take a hit on the quarertly profit sharing compensation as the attorney's fees have to come from somewhere. The HR manager stated many times that I wanted to take the situation to a diffrent venue and wanted me to tell her what I wanted to gain from my claims-refering to me trying to get a monetary compensation fron the situation. I challenged them to give me a sound explanation as to why I had been denied access to everything. I asked if there was something they needed to tell me-was I being fired? The CEO responded that I had left angry the day before and that for precausionary measures they had to terminate access to my computer system because I have acces to my e-mails from home and they were affraid I was going to share the company's information with the competitors. I over stated that I had gone to Juty Duty and that my supervisor/Director were informed.The CEO said how do I kow that you really were there? I said I had just submited proof my Juty Duty for both days to the HR manager. It was more of an interrogation and intimidation meeting targeted to me. My questions were not answered. Was a being retaliated for leaving work early/coming in late for reporting to Juty Duty?
The strees of the preceding days and the confrontation with the CEO/HR Manager, all the intimidation and humiliation that I was exposed to created an acute stress reaction/depresion. I was referred to counceling by my Primary care provider and he placed me on state disability for 7 days.
During my disability- HR sent me 3 e-mails on diffrent days to my home e-mail address asking if I was filing for Workers Com (I did not file a WC case because I have been looking for a job and can't afford having a WC case in my record),or FMLA. The HR manager attached a leave of abcense form in her first e-mail. My Counselor (psychologist) offered to have HR contact him with any questions regarding my disability, but HR kept on e-mailing me(even after the Doctor faxed them a letter informing the company of my disability start date and release date).My sister also submited a copy of the same letter from the Doctor to the HR manager. HR also e-mailed me a questionnaire for my doctor to fill out and submit to HR via fax or e-mail before my return date to work. In that same e-mail HR included a copy of a new modification of my job description stating that I needed to prove that I was fitted for my position. The new point added to my job description was "mental toughness". When I e-mailed them back refering them back to my doctor for any information pertaining to my disability, then they e-mailed me an authorization form for release of my medical records to have it signed so that they could have access to my medical information. I did not sign it.
Upon my return from Disability-Once again they had disactivated my electronic key to enter the building and the access to my work station. When I confronted the HR manager she said I was not supposed to resume to my job until she got an answer from the company's attorney to determine that I was still fitted for my Customer Service Position. I was left without acces to my work until 4pm. Again this was a treat that they were having me fired, but for some reason they decided not to do it. However, I felt so humiliated and descriminated all my peers could sence that there was something wrong going on as I had no access to my computer and phone for hours.
Due to the fact that there is a 7 day cooling period before you can receive compensation under state disability. I did not get compensated for a whole week as HR did not want to use my available Flexible time off for that pay period, according to the HR manager I did not submit a leave of abcense form so She could not apply my FTO to my pay.
Management and HR have tried really hard to find a way to fire me. I have been working under a lot of stress, a lot preassure and I have being harrased for everything and anyhting. I am an exempt employee but they are making me pay for the missed time from my FTO bank and/or make up for the missed hours as I have exausted my FTO. According to the company's policy there is a 40 hr work week qualifier as part of my responsibilities and job description and because I am not meeting that qualifier, today I was given a Performance Improvement Plan for the next 30 days in which is stated that if I don't meet their expectatins my employment could be terminated at any time. There are a lot more details to my case.
Will I have grounds to conctact an attorney even touhg I haven't been terminated? Will it be better to schedule an appointment with the Departent of fair employment and housing in CA? or will it be better to file a claim with the EEOC?
I have a lot of written documentation (e-mails) and dates as evidence of my claims. If I am offered a position somewhere else and I resign with my current employer will I still be able to do something about it?
Please someone give me any advise. I don't know what my rights are and I am very stressed out. I don't know what to do. And I am terrified.
A few days after the Director sent an e-mail to take back the english only policy.However, everything took a diffrent direction from here.
On my performance review the director of the department wrote a line stating that I need to see him first for any copmany related issues-even tough my call to the hotline was confidential-on my performance review under the employee comments I asked the director to elavorate more on that matter and to give an example of me not following that practice. Coveniently he was out of the office on vacation the following week, but told me we would get back together upon his return to discuss it (but it never happened).
Prior to the english only policy I had sent an e-mail to the director and my supervisor asking for a change of schedule to start 30 min earlier and leaving 30 min earlier. I didn't hear from the director, but my supervisor asked me a few weeks later if I had received a response form him. I said no and asked my supervisor to look into it for me. However, I never heard from either one so I took it as a denial of my request. Then 3 months later they approved the same change of schduled to the newest person in the department who at the time had been working for the company for less than 1 year vs 2 1/2 years that I have been employed there. When I confronted management they claimed to have never received my request (e-mail). I found a copy of my original request in my e-mail archives and I re-sent it to them as proof, but they denied that they had ever received it and washed of their hands telling me that I shoul've followed up on it.
During the same week I was called for Juty Duty and submitted the top part of my Summons notice to management. I left work early and went on my way. The judge ordered to return to the court room the next day.The same morning before leaving my house I called the Hotline again. This time to report that I had been retaliated against for calling reporting the origin discrimination. The same day in the afternoon when I arrived to work from Juty Duty I came to a surprise that I had been denied access to the building. I entered the building thru the reception are and when I tried to log in to my phone and my computer. The service had been terminated. I felt so humiliated and terrified that I was going to be fired that I went to talk to the HR manager for an explanation immediatley. She said "don't worry the access to your system is being re-established as we speak" but she wanted me to discuss with her my call to the Hotline. She was very rude and intimidating trying to make me give her an explanation of my call to the hotline. She stated had received the report from the national hotline in the morning and wanted to make clear that I was not supposed to call the hotline with my issues as its primary purpose was to report financial related issues only. I refused to explain myself again since she had the report of my claims in her hands;then she took me to the CEO's office to be confronted about my claims. During the confrontation with the Corporation's CEO and the HR manager I was intimidated. I was prohibited to call the hotline, the CEO stated that because I called the hotline the company was being charged
$500/hr for an attorney to initiate an investigatin and that all of my co-workers were going to take a hit on the quarertly profit sharing compensation as the attorney's fees have to come from somewhere. The HR manager stated many times that I wanted to take the situation to a diffrent venue and wanted me to tell her what I wanted to gain from my claims-refering to me trying to get a monetary compensation fron the situation. I challenged them to give me a sound explanation as to why I had been denied access to everything. I asked if there was something they needed to tell me-was I being fired? The CEO responded that I had left angry the day before and that for precausionary measures they had to terminate access to my computer system because I have acces to my e-mails from home and they were affraid I was going to share the company's information with the competitors. I over stated that I had gone to Juty Duty and that my supervisor/Director were informed.The CEO said how do I kow that you really were there? I said I had just submited proof my Juty Duty for both days to the HR manager. It was more of an interrogation and intimidation meeting targeted to me. My questions were not answered. Was a being retaliated for leaving work early/coming in late for reporting to Juty Duty?
The strees of the preceding days and the confrontation with the CEO/HR Manager, all the intimidation and humiliation that I was exposed to created an acute stress reaction/depresion. I was referred to counceling by my Primary care provider and he placed me on state disability for 7 days.
During my disability- HR sent me 3 e-mails on diffrent days to my home e-mail address asking if I was filing for Workers Com (I did not file a WC case because I have been looking for a job and can't afford having a WC case in my record),or FMLA. The HR manager attached a leave of abcense form in her first e-mail. My Counselor (psychologist) offered to have HR contact him with any questions regarding my disability, but HR kept on e-mailing me(even after the Doctor faxed them a letter informing the company of my disability start date and release date).My sister also submited a copy of the same letter from the Doctor to the HR manager. HR also e-mailed me a questionnaire for my doctor to fill out and submit to HR via fax or e-mail before my return date to work. In that same e-mail HR included a copy of a new modification of my job description stating that I needed to prove that I was fitted for my position. The new point added to my job description was "mental toughness". When I e-mailed them back refering them back to my doctor for any information pertaining to my disability, then they e-mailed me an authorization form for release of my medical records to have it signed so that they could have access to my medical information. I did not sign it.
Upon my return from Disability-Once again they had disactivated my electronic key to enter the building and the access to my work station. When I confronted the HR manager she said I was not supposed to resume to my job until she got an answer from the company's attorney to determine that I was still fitted for my Customer Service Position. I was left without acces to my work until 4pm. Again this was a treat that they were having me fired, but for some reason they decided not to do it. However, I felt so humiliated and descriminated all my peers could sence that there was something wrong going on as I had no access to my computer and phone for hours.
Due to the fact that there is a 7 day cooling period before you can receive compensation under state disability. I did not get compensated for a whole week as HR did not want to use my available Flexible time off for that pay period, according to the HR manager I did not submit a leave of abcense form so She could not apply my FTO to my pay.
Management and HR have tried really hard to find a way to fire me. I have been working under a lot of stress, a lot preassure and I have being harrased for everything and anyhting. I am an exempt employee but they are making me pay for the missed time from my FTO bank and/or make up for the missed hours as I have exausted my FTO. According to the company's policy there is a 40 hr work week qualifier as part of my responsibilities and job description and because I am not meeting that qualifier, today I was given a Performance Improvement Plan for the next 30 days in which is stated that if I don't meet their expectatins my employment could be terminated at any time. There are a lot more details to my case.
Will I have grounds to conctact an attorney even touhg I haven't been terminated? Will it be better to schedule an appointment with the Departent of fair employment and housing in CA? or will it be better to file a claim with the EEOC?
I have a lot of written documentation (e-mails) and dates as evidence of my claims. If I am offered a position somewhere else and I resign with my current employer will I still be able to do something about it?
Please someone give me any advise. I don't know what my rights are and I am very stressed out. I don't know what to do. And I am terrified.
