I am a CT technologist in a larger hospital. We have extreme unfairness/discrimination in our department based on whether or not the supervisor likes us or our personalities. I have always conducted myself professionally, yet I tend to speak up when I feel improvements should be made. I feel this has caused me to be "micromanaged". Suddenly minor errors that I have made have been blown out of proportion and I have received a written(verbal) warning and a written warning threatening my suspension. These warnings were for 2 seperate actions occurring in 10-07 and 1-08, yet they were recieved on the same day in mid-January via interdepartmental mail. Both warnings stated that I had been met with and discussed the issues with my supervisor(which was not done.) They did not give me time to correct or respond to the 1st warning before issuing the second. Nor did they follow the procedure written on the warnings(meeting/discussion). I have asked to see the policy regarding written warnings and they have responded that there is not a policy and that they are issued for whatever they feel necessary. The same error that I have made has been made by others and they have not been issued a warning or equivalent disipline. How can this be? Should there be double standards? There has also been 2 very severe errors made in the past year. In one incident a patients lung biopsy specimen was thrown in the trash by a technologist and in another incident a patient's dialysis catheter was accidentally pulled out of his abdomen eventually resulting in his death!! Neither of these technologists recieved any type of warning. Instead PI projects were initiated to ensure that these errors do not re-occur. The technologists were simply told they felt "bad enough". I have also been micromanaged on my punch in and out times. The facility policy states that we have 7 minutes either way on the time clock to allow for differences in clocks/watches. I have never exceeded this time frame, however my supervisor has audited me as far back as a year taking the minutes out of my PTO bank. How can she do this if I am within the 7 minutes stated in the policy. I was also 1/2 hour early once for a mandatory education day and she thought I was a 1/2 hour late(not looking at my schedule) and took this out of my PTO bank as well. When I wrote her about the error she ignored it and did not correct her error. There are several people that are chronically late violating the 7 minute policy, yet none of these people have been approached. We also have 1 gentleman in our department that is disliked by our supervisor as she has stated her grievances to me. He recently injured his ankle in which he has a orthopedic walking boot. His doctor has issued him an o.k. to resume full work duties, but our supervisor will not allow him to return to work. He has depleated all of his leave and is seriously worried about his and his family's financial well-being. The unfair part of the situation is that we have another well-liked employee who has recently tore a tendon in her shoulder and had reconstructive surgery causing her to have very limited/no movement of her arm and hand. She is not able to complete nearly 3/4 of the required job duties. However, my supervisor and her superior have re-written her job description to exclude all of these duties so that she can remain working and we have had to pick up her slack. We have also had another return to full duties only 4 weeks after a c-section instead of the recommended 6 weeks. Is this right. How can special exceptions be made for some and not others? Please help!
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unfair treatment within our department
- Thread Starter aschuster
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cbg
Super Moderator
Special exceptions can be made for some and not others because no law says they can't be. Additionally, if FMLA or the ADA applies, the employer may be REQUIRED to make accomodations for the injured employee.
Unless you have a valid and supportable reason to believe that you are being treated differently BECAUSE OF your race, religion, national origin or other characteristic protected by law, this falls into the possibly unfair but not illegal category.
Unless you have a valid and supportable reason to believe that you are being treated differently BECAUSE OF your race, religion, national origin or other characteristic protected by law, this falls into the possibly unfair but not illegal category.
cbg
Super Moderator
Your mistake is in assuming that all discrimination is illegal. It is not. In fact, most discrimination is quite legal.
Unless the difference is based on race, religion, national origin, gender, disability, pregnancy, age (over 40 only), or a characteristic protected under your state law, it may be discrimination but it is not illegal discrimination.
Unless the difference is based on race, religion, national origin, gender, disability, pregnancy, age (over 40 only), or a characteristic protected under your state law, it may be discrimination but it is not illegal discrimination.
cbg
Super Moderator
Yes, you can.
cbg
Super Moderator
In your very first sentence, you indicate that there are inequities based on whether or not the supervisor likes you, and you speak in pluralities. This indicates that there is more than one employee who has problems with this supervisor. If your friend is the only man in the department, and women are also having difficulties, he will have an uphill battle proving that his gender is the basis for the problem.
seniorjudge
New Member
What cbg (who is much too nice) is trying to tell you is that sorry, you have not won the lawsuit lottery.
seniorjudge
New Member
Because that is what the boss wants to do.
cbg
Super Moderator
Because even what occurs outside of work can affect what occurs at work.
Example; if Employee A sexually harasses Employee B outside of work, that's still going to affect how they work together while they are at work. Why should A get a pass on illegal behavior just because he wasn't at work?
Example; if Employee A sexually harasses Employee B outside of work, that's still going to affect how they work together while they are at work. Why should A get a pass on illegal behavior just because he wasn't at work?
Green_Hornet
New Member
Yes it can be if your in a protected group. Also were you handed an employee handbook that discussed discipline procedure at time of hire?
cbg
Super Moderator
It takes more than being in a protected group to make the treatment illegal, since every human being on the planet is in at least three protected groups; we all have a race, a gender and a national origin.
The treatment must be BASED on the protected group to make it illegal.
No law requires that disciplinary procedures must be explained ahead of time.
The treatment must be BASED on the protected group to make it illegal.
No law requires that disciplinary procedures must be explained ahead of time.
This is what happened outside work.
I think I should be more specific on what happened outside of work. Another couple and myself and my husband were thought(by other guests) to be talking too much during a comedy act at a holiday party put on by a private group associated by work(not put on by my place of employment.) The party took place in a bar with a hired comedian. I misinterpreted the situation to be fun and light. We visited during the skit and the comedian heckled us. This was not well taken by my supervisor(also a guest.) When our party was over the other couple and my husband and I entered the party next door after being invited by some guests. After 15 minutes we were asked to leave due to the fact that it was a private party and we did (not because of anything we did there). Staff at the venue called the administrative secretary of the group that put on our party to complain of us entering the other private party. This got back to my supervisor and I was called into her office for "investigation". Can anything come of this? I feel we did nothing wrong.
I think I should be more specific on what happened outside of work. Another couple and myself and my husband were thought(by other guests) to be talking too much during a comedy act at a holiday party put on by a private group associated by work(not put on by my place of employment.) The party took place in a bar with a hired comedian. I misinterpreted the situation to be fun and light. We visited during the skit and the comedian heckled us. This was not well taken by my supervisor(also a guest.) When our party was over the other couple and my husband and I entered the party next door after being invited by some guests. After 15 minutes we were asked to leave due to the fact that it was a private party and we did (not because of anything we did there). Staff at the venue called the administrative secretary of the group that put on our party to complain of us entering the other private party. This got back to my supervisor and I was called into her office for "investigation". Can anything come of this? I feel we did nothing wrong.
cbg
Super Moderator
Yes, you can legally be disciplined and/or fired because of this. This is true because no law says that you cannot.
cbg
Super Moderator
You're missing the point. It's not because there is a law that says you can be termed for this reason. It's because there is no law that says you can't be termed for this reason. In the absence of a law prohibiting an action, that action is considered legal. There does not have to be a law giving the employer permission; as long as there is no law forbidding him, he can.
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