Inappropriate boss

Golfer74

New Member
Jurisdiction
Washington
I recently left a company after 6 years...was successful in my first two roles over 5 years but my last role was a nightmare. I was a business manager recommended by the VP. There is a long story about how I was not given an opportunity to succeed but will skip to the inappropriate interactions that I need to know if there are grounds for a suit.

My manager was female and on two separate occasions in her office with others present she told me out of the blue not to surf porn on the corporate network...something I've never down...it seemed to be a joke but was humiliating and and made me uncomfortable since it was only directed to me. The third thing that happened was when I accidentally text her an update and one of the word beginning with p auto changed to the word pussy. I quickly apologized and said it was an auto correct error. She was out of town with some of my peers and later that night she shared the text with some of the female peers at dinner and joked about it with them. I found out from one of my peers which was also humiliating. I've never sued anyone so not sure if there is a case or not. Please advise
 
Nope. No case.

Nobody "humiliated" you.

You "felt" humiliated because of some weakness in your emotional makeup and you made a mountain out of a molehill. You need to develop a thicker skin about this kind of stuff.
 
Were her actions inappropriate? Yes, I agree that they were.

Will they support a lawsuit or other legal action? I doubt it sincerely based solely on what you have posted, particularly if you never asked her to stop. However, since it does suggest a potential pattern of behavior, I don't think it could do any harm for you to have a brief chat with an employment attorney or a duty officer at the EEOC. Just for another opinion.
 
I too doubt it rises to a level that would sustain any type of complaint. Especially if you never brought it to anyone's attention -- hers, HRs, etc. at the time. Plus it doesn't sound like you were terminated due to this, but for some reason unknown to us, you left that position.
 
The third thing that happened

Just pointing out that this is only the second thing you've described.

I've never sued anyone so not sure if there is a case or not.

You described two things: First, she made some out-of-the-blue comment about not surfing internet porn. That might be somewhat inappropriate, but it certainly is not actionable by itself. The second thing is that you sent a text with an unfortunate typo, and she chose to tell others that you did it. That is neither actionable nor even slightly inappropriate. That you were humiliated as a result of the second thing is on you, not her. Blaming autocorrect is lame. Autocorrect does not send messages. Autocorrect only changes words as you type, but you must then hit the send button. If you're paying attention, it's very easy to see when a word has been changed, and when you're texting a business colleague, you'd better darn well proof what you've typed before sending. Also, autocorrect can be turned off.
 
The third thing that happened was when I accidentally text her an update and one of the word beginning with p auto changed to the word pussy. I quickly apologized and said it was an auto correct error. She was out of town with some of my peers and later that night she shared the text with some of the female peers at dinner and joked about it with them.


I just spent two hours trying to replicate your error on four different brands of mobile devices, and a Lenovo laptop.

I tasked four paralegals with recreating your inadvertent error using their firm issued iPads, iPhone 8 Pluses, and their laptops. These folks are always game at beating an old man.

Three of my young lawyers happened to hear the commotion in a conference room, and they decided to try. These folks like to pretend they're doing something important. Heck, I used to feel the same way back when. They only used a Blackberry, iPhone 8 Plus, and a Samsung Galaxy Note 8.

Unfortunately I failed, as did the other seven people.

Why is this remarkable? Because if this case went to trial, a similar demonstration would be played for the jury, as well as attempted live before the jury.

That one incident could be attributable to your troubled last year of employment with the firm, not the female boss.

Lastly, absent an employment contract, you were simply another at will employee. Your employment was subject to termination at any time, without explanation by either party. Apparently your employer exercised that right first.

I wish you well in your job search, if you haven't already landed your next great job opportunity. Yes, we sometimes do take the posters concerns very seriously, even investing out own time in some pretrial preparatory activities.
 
It sounds like the porn comment was made on two separate occasions, however, it is not actionable. It might or might not have been handled professionally, but there is nothing at all illegal in a supervisor reminding an employee not to do something which is against company policy. I'm not sure how you are certain you were singled out and others were not given the same warning. Even still, singling you out isn't in an of itself illegal. When you met with her privately after the first incident to let her know this made you uncomfortable, what was her response? Over what period of time were the comments made?

I agree with the above on the texting incident. Probably not the most professional conduct, but YOU sent HER the inappropriate message. How on earth is that her fault?
 
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