Hello,
I am writing after giving this much thought and having to practice a lot of patience in recent months hoping this issue will resolve itself and it has not. I would like to get some advice from the experts on whether or not I should proceed with legal action based on my situation.
I had major back surgery in August 2005. I was out of work until November at which time I tried to return part-time. I returned part-time, but was given a full-time schedule. I quickly realized it was too much too soon AND I was trying to withdrawal from pain medication - so I was forced to leave again - under the care of a pain management doctor. It was all justified, legal, done the right away, covered under FMLA, etc.
Well, when I announced to my group that I had to leave again - I was on a conference call with my peers and a very aggressive team member confronted me in front of the entire group. She inappropriately lashed out at me in a very unprofessional manner telling me what a hardship I was creating for the group and I shouldn't have come back in the 1st place if I couldn't handle it. I obviously was very taken back by this and upset but had to do what was right and continue on getting better. Well, the day prior to my departure - another team member (who happens to be a buddy of this other) called me to get info prior to my leaving. And at the beginning of the conversation she said to me, "WHY do you have to leave again for that long?! Why can't you do this in a week?! (pertaining to pain med withdrawal). Well, again I was taken back by this confrontation and just tripped over my words and we ended our conversation.
I came back in January. My relationship with my peers has not been the same since. Everyone on my team is against me (with the exception of one person). These 2 particular employees continue to be rude in a passive agressive type of way so that they can't really be held accountable for it - their comments/actions could be taken either as legit or just downright hateful.
But, I did have ANOTHER confrontation with the employee that embarrassed me on the call. I called her in Feb/Mar to have an offline discussion that wasn't even intended to be an argument. It was really an attempt on my part to generate discussion and hopefully ease the waters a bit. Well, this turned into one big heated discussion and she started SCREAMING on the phone at me. SCREAMING! It was HORRIBLE! And this person had just been put into a team lead position. I had called to give her ideas on how we might be able to offset some of the frustration in our group with regards to having to work long hours and she screamed the comment, "DO YOU THINK I WANT TO BE WORKING THESE KIND OF HOURS AT MY *AGE*?". Let me add that these 2 particular employees are both in their mid-50's and I am 37. I know what that must feel like to have someone younger than you on the team and I do come with a great deal of experience/education, etc. I often wonder how I might feel and if I might feel threatened when the grade school kid down the street might become my boss some day!
But, this comment just reassured me that she feels threatened by my age and this other woman does too because she is constantly reassuring me how many years of experience she has as a Project Manager (we're all PMs).
So, I digress. After stewing on the 2nd SCREAMING confrontation for about a month and not seeing the relationship improving, I went to my manager and said we need to address this situation and it needs to get better or my next step will be to go to HR.
She is addressing it and we are meeting on Monday. Since I notified my manager, this ONE woman has made an "about face". She's been very respectful towards me - however - you know how gossip goes - and she is the team lead - and she has given this other woman trouble-maker the ammo to give me a hard time (the one that said, "You can't withdrawal in a WEEK?! Why do you need all of this time off?"). She's been evil to me since the day I returned as well.
To sum it up: I have 1 team member (now team lead) that embarrassed and harrassed me in front of about 20 people on a conference call telling me what a hardship I was creating for the group by leaving again to address my medical issues. And she also screamed at me on the phone in Feb/Mar and continued to be mean/disrespectful until I notified my manager that we either deal with it or I go to HR. We're meeting on Monday. And I still have this other employee that felt the need to voice her opinion on my doctors orders to stay away from work for another couple of month and continues to be extremely rude but in a passive agressive type of way that it would be difficult to call her on her behavior.
Does this sound like a case that would qualify as harrassment in the workplace?
I'm glad to have found this group and will poke around in the threads to see if I can learn a bit in this area....
Thanks in advance for any advice!
Tracy
I am writing after giving this much thought and having to practice a lot of patience in recent months hoping this issue will resolve itself and it has not. I would like to get some advice from the experts on whether or not I should proceed with legal action based on my situation.
I had major back surgery in August 2005. I was out of work until November at which time I tried to return part-time. I returned part-time, but was given a full-time schedule. I quickly realized it was too much too soon AND I was trying to withdrawal from pain medication - so I was forced to leave again - under the care of a pain management doctor. It was all justified, legal, done the right away, covered under FMLA, etc.
Well, when I announced to my group that I had to leave again - I was on a conference call with my peers and a very aggressive team member confronted me in front of the entire group. She inappropriately lashed out at me in a very unprofessional manner telling me what a hardship I was creating for the group and I shouldn't have come back in the 1st place if I couldn't handle it. I obviously was very taken back by this and upset but had to do what was right and continue on getting better. Well, the day prior to my departure - another team member (who happens to be a buddy of this other) called me to get info prior to my leaving. And at the beginning of the conversation she said to me, "WHY do you have to leave again for that long?! Why can't you do this in a week?! (pertaining to pain med withdrawal). Well, again I was taken back by this confrontation and just tripped over my words and we ended our conversation.
I came back in January. My relationship with my peers has not been the same since. Everyone on my team is against me (with the exception of one person). These 2 particular employees continue to be rude in a passive agressive type of way so that they can't really be held accountable for it - their comments/actions could be taken either as legit or just downright hateful.
But, I did have ANOTHER confrontation with the employee that embarrassed me on the call. I called her in Feb/Mar to have an offline discussion that wasn't even intended to be an argument. It was really an attempt on my part to generate discussion and hopefully ease the waters a bit. Well, this turned into one big heated discussion and she started SCREAMING on the phone at me. SCREAMING! It was HORRIBLE! And this person had just been put into a team lead position. I had called to give her ideas on how we might be able to offset some of the frustration in our group with regards to having to work long hours and she screamed the comment, "DO YOU THINK I WANT TO BE WORKING THESE KIND OF HOURS AT MY *AGE*?". Let me add that these 2 particular employees are both in their mid-50's and I am 37. I know what that must feel like to have someone younger than you on the team and I do come with a great deal of experience/education, etc. I often wonder how I might feel and if I might feel threatened when the grade school kid down the street might become my boss some day!
But, this comment just reassured me that she feels threatened by my age and this other woman does too because she is constantly reassuring me how many years of experience she has as a Project Manager (we're all PMs).So, I digress. After stewing on the 2nd SCREAMING confrontation for about a month and not seeing the relationship improving, I went to my manager and said we need to address this situation and it needs to get better or my next step will be to go to HR.
She is addressing it and we are meeting on Monday. Since I notified my manager, this ONE woman has made an "about face". She's been very respectful towards me - however - you know how gossip goes - and she is the team lead - and she has given this other woman trouble-maker the ammo to give me a hard time (the one that said, "You can't withdrawal in a WEEK?! Why do you need all of this time off?"). She's been evil to me since the day I returned as well.
To sum it up: I have 1 team member (now team lead) that embarrassed and harrassed me in front of about 20 people on a conference call telling me what a hardship I was creating for the group by leaving again to address my medical issues. And she also screamed at me on the phone in Feb/Mar and continued to be mean/disrespectful until I notified my manager that we either deal with it or I go to HR. We're meeting on Monday. And I still have this other employee that felt the need to voice her opinion on my doctors orders to stay away from work for another couple of month and continues to be extremely rude but in a passive agressive type of way that it would be difficult to call her on her behavior.
Does this sound like a case that would qualify as harrassment in the workplace?
I'm glad to have found this group and will poke around in the threads to see if I can learn a bit in this area....
Thanks in advance for any advice!
Tracy
