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Filing the complaint is likely to have a very negative effect from a political standpoint. Even if you are 100 percent correct and things go in your favor. You are basically marked from that point forward. Everyone will know about it for many years. You will be known as the person that filed the complaint, always said with a whisper behind your back. This will become your reputation, and no good work performance will overshadow you being known as "the person that filed the complaint".
I feel like my supervisor's boss thought he was making both of us happy by changing me to a new supervisor, but letting the negative language remain so my supervisor could feel justified in her discriminatory treatment. I wish this hadn't happened and I feel that my relationship with them will be changed forever. Am I right?
Of course you are incorrect.
It will hurt your reputation for a while, but by 2030 or 2040, the whole situation will start to fade and management will forget how you snitched on them.
As far as your complaint, the EEOC will look for a way to sweep it under the table and dismiss it on a technicality. You might be right on the laws and the rules, but the technicals are where a lot of folks have problems. Losing the case, however, won't cause management to forget this.
These are all really great questions and I do agree with the poster that I need to be discrete about posting too many details at this point. I did go through the union and the "loose lips" comment was made during a union meeting with higher management to dispute the performance review. The comment was made in front of three people, including the boss, myself, and the union president. I was shocked, as was the union president. The union is supportive of the action because in their experience, if you don't stand up for yourself, it will continue to happen. The boss also said that "some grievances need to be filed." I think he knows the manager is a vindictive person and I otherwise have always had good performance reviews and received several performance awards during my career, including just six months before from a different manager before we had an office realignment.
These are all really great questions and I do agree with the poster that I need to be discrete about posting too many details at this point. I did go through the union and the "loose lips" comment was made during a union meeting with higher management to dispute the performance review. The comment was made in front of three people, including the boss, myself, and the union president. I was shocked, as was the union president. The union is supportive of the action because in their experience, if you don't stand up for yourself, it will continue to happen. The boss also said that "some grievances need to be filed." I think he knows the manager is a vindictive person and I otherwise have always had good performance reviews and received several performance awards during my career, including just six months before from a different manager before we had an office realignment.
The problem beyond your current manager is that other managers will be terrified that if you made a complaint about a previous manager you are much more likely to make one about them (than someone else would be) - which would make them look bad in a severe enough way to potentially do long term harm to their career. On the flip side, legal/HR will be terrified that if they or anyone else takes any steps against you it will result in a lawsuit - which would make them look bad in a severe enough way to potentially do long term harm to their career. No one cares about the context, and no one cares about you really - just covering their own ***.
So basically you are frozen -- you won't be fired and probably won't be retaliated against, but you also won't be promoted and managers will fight like hell to avoid you being transferred under them. Wages stagnating would be an additional potential issue in the private sector but seeing as you're both in a union shop and "fed4life" you'll probably get the same increases the unions negotiate for everyone else at your current level.
edit: this is just abstractly for people who don't know you -- if you can manage to get transferred under someone who you are friendly with and likes/trusts you you'll land on your feet just fine; and of course like other people said a decade or two down the line if you have a couple layers of new people above you who aren't aware of the incident.
Last edited by ALackOfCreativity; 01-01-2014 at 06:57 PM..
These are all really great questions and I do agree with the poster that I need to be discrete about posting too many details at this point. I did go through the union and the "loose lips" comment was made during a union meeting with higher management to dispute the performance review. The comment was made in front of three people, including the boss, myself, and the union president. I was shocked, as was the union president. The union is supportive of the action because in their experience, if you don't stand up for yourself, it will continue to happen. The boss also said that "some grievances need to be filed." I think he knows the manager is a vindictive person and I otherwise have always had good performance reviews and received several performance awards during my career, including just six months before from a different manager before we had an office realignment.
Most unions are worried about collecting union dues and putting on a show, so I wouldn't read to much of anything into what a union rep says. I understand you not wanting to go into details but, again, you are not trying to prove the boss is a bigot (or whatever), you are trying to prove that your poor evaluation was based solely on your religion, race, etc., which is an entirely different thing and very difficult to prove.
I am confused over the discrimination versus the employee review. Was the language in the review a violation of Title VII or are you saying the Title VII discrimination was based on your review? Also, has EEOC actually made notification of an actual violation or did they just do the intake but have not issued a ruling that a Title VII violation did occur?
^^ The last two posts. Exactly. One issue is the merit or lack thereof of your allegations. The other is the reputation you could have and heat you could attract for the the next decade of your career. Who wants that? But it's too late. You're in it now. The damage can't be undone.
Was the review so damaging it was worth all this? Not that it would have been fair but you may have been able to transfer, or be reassigned with probably nary an issue. Now no one will want you. The bosses you have aren't pleased by the suit. And potential managers won't be thrilled to have you.
Unless a manager is making you live a living hell, and you can't just transfer away.....a filing is the absolute LAST resort.
Also you mentioned a "loose lips" comment. Where'd that come from I don't see it referred to anywhere. So what's that about?
No matter where you work, in union or private business, the EEOC flag will pop up when a background check is done on you for employment.
What do you do for the government requiring a union?
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