Hostile Work Environment

lmccoy

I could use your help on a touchy situation. We have an upper management member who has taken a dislike to a manger under her direct control. This upper management employee does everything she can to prevent the other manager from doing her job; i.e. refusing to approve budgets; refusing to fix her computer for over a year now (purple screen on computer; bad for the eyes) stopping employee from sending info to corporate until after the deadline; insulting way the other employee dress (which is very professional) and general ostricizing. Subordinate manager has requested help from H.R. but upper manager says she isn't breaking any law because the dislike is not based on a protected class, so she is not interested in discussing this matter. The other employee went to corporate management, who declined to discuss the matter as insignificant. Any suggestions on what H.R. can do and are you aware of any regulations regarding hostile work environment not based on a protected class?

Gillian3

If you can't convince the manager that it costs money in terms of lost productivity when she is conducting a vendetta and if top management can't or won't support you, I don't think there is much that you can do. There isn't any regulation which prohibits non-protected class harassment so you are stuck. Maybe you have to explain the facts of life to the victim, including advice pertaining to job search techniques.

HR in CA

If this were my manager I would file a claim of hostile work environment!

Does the affected employee receive any sort of discpline for not turning in the budget on time or providing information to the corporate office late?

While you can't make employees like each other the actions of this manager go beyond just dislike to preventing the employee from doing their job properly.

The one concern I have is that the mean manager seems to have approval from those above her to act in this manner.

Not only could you expect a hostile work environment claim, be prepared for a Worker's Compensation claim based on stress! At least in California!

Gillian3

It is fortunate or unfortunate, depending on one's point of view, but a "hostile work environment claim" does not exist without a tie-in to one of the discrimination laws.

Don D

If I read the original post correctly, the harassed employee is a female. Last time I looked, females were a protected class under Title VII. Perhaps this female can claim that her female supervisor is treating her less favorably than a man somewhere in the department. Is the harassed female 40 or older? If nothing else pans out for her, she should be keeping careful notes in case she wants to claim constructive discharge when she quits.

lmccoy

The complaining employee is female and over 40. However, there is another manager under this upper manager's direction also who is female and over 40, who is treated almost like a daughter of the upper manager. There are no men in this deparment, nor does this upper manager have any control over males in other departments. The notes this complaining employee has are very detailed. Could she file construtive discharge even though she cannot prove discrimination?

mbeam

Who does the upper manager report to? If it was a manager that reported to me, it would be something I would want to know as one of our performance criteria on evaluations is teamwork and the ability to develop/mentor those on their team.

Sounds like a lack of maturity as the upper manager appears to be going out of her way to not just ignore but make it harder for the individual working for them - is there something that we're missing like a personal grudge or bone to pick?

It seems that the manager has nothing to fear for treating someone working for her in such a manner which is why this should be brought to her manager's attention. She must have also forgetten how quickly negative news about people spreads limiting her own upward mobility if she's reputed to be "difficult" and that to recruit anyone to work in her area.

Don D

Although we aren't real comfortable advising employees to take action against their employers, sometimes it happens anyway. I'm certainly no lawyer, but constructive discharge doesn't necessarily link with discrimination in a title VII sense. I could be constructively discharged if I were a white male 23 years old. The problem will be in her finding a venue where constructive discharge will be meaningful monetarily. The Unemployment Insurance venue certainly is a minimal monetary goal.

If I were claiming mental anguish, had records of psychiatric assessment and visits over time and could convince a jury that my marriage had gone South and I had suffered in a variety of ways and could convince that same jury that it was due to the way I was mistreated at work, had been kept from performing my job, had been berated constantly by my boss, had my character and credibility impugned and had tried to have it corrected, but it was condoned by the CEO, so I quit my job......who knows, that same jury might see that I got a fat reward. But, you won't be serving your employer well if you get sideways with this thing by advising the employee to take action against the company.

She needs an attorney, not the HR department at this point.

Gillian3

Unless there is something here that we have not been told, there is nothing that the employee can go to court over. It is nothing more than a manager who does not understand that personal vendettas have no place at work and who proceeds to exercise her vendetta at work. Courts don't spend a lot of time deliberating over "people being treated badly" unless there is a legal tie-in.

Don D

It's not uncommon for a personal vendetta, carried out to the extreme by a principal of a company, a VP for example, that results in proven (mental anquish, health issues, loss of consort, depression, inability to perform job - take your pick), to result in a lawsuit alleging constructive discharge. It's the degree to which the witch takes it and the outcome it ultimately has on the recipient that tips the scale, not the label of the bad behavior. And you can certainly go to court on those issues - even in Calimexifornia.

Gillian3

True, but as described this particular set of circumstances doesn't rise to this level.

lmccoy

Thanks for all the input. It looks like a no win situation. I don't want to suggest anything to the employee that would hurt the company but I don't want the employee being harassed. The harassed employee complains frequently of stress from the situation and physiological problems from the stress. I guess I'll receive a worker's comp claim soom. The CEO doesn't want to address the upper manager about the behavior. It's probably time I look for a more proactive company myself.

Cinderella

Lmccoy - you hit the nail on the head. You need to find another place to work (and take the other poor gal with you!). The CEO and meany-manager sound like unbelievable jack@sses.

Don D

G3: It's quite possible that sometime, just sometime, there is a non-california answer to the question. I'll just leave it by saying I'm not quite clairvoyant enough to know what level this situation rises to since I have little knowledge about it and haven't investigated it. The questioner asked about possibilities, not conclusions. I've tried to state possibilities based on potential and facts, not conclusions based on speculation about things that are not posted. Cheers.

Gillian3

Cheers!