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Unless you have some sort of hard proof that your firing was discriminatory, I agree that the lawyer is a waste of time. A person can be fired for any reason or no reason, as long as the reason is not an illegal reason or breaches a contract.
My guess is that you are a friendly, perhaps somewhat forward person and this rubbed someone the wrong way. I know several people like this, largely salespeople, pastors, and people who have public roles. They don't mean any harm, but sensitive people could perhaps take it the wrong way.
Who really knows - there may have been no accusation, and they just wanted you gone for whatever reason. All you can do is move on.
"And consider this: my former employer does a bi-weekly “Happy Hour” with alcohol on premises. I don’t drink but I thought the happy hours were cool. Then my wife brought up an interesting point: Could an employee who is a recovering alcoholic claim that on-premise alcohol creates a “hostile work environment?”
Time to let this go, visit the lawyer if you must but the only thing you'll get from it is a lighter bank account. As far as this statement goes, what does it matter to you? First, "hostile work environment" doesn't mean what you think it does, legally a HWE is when an employer retaliates to a legally protected discrimination, wage, or safety claim. In the "happy hour" situation an alcoholic could make an ADA claim and ask for a "reasonable accommodation" which could be as simple as allowing them to leave the building when alcohol is served.
You being terminated was unfortunate and I truly wish you the best in your next career opportunity. You may very well have been wronged, It happened to me 20 years ago and the only thing I could do was accept and move forward.
Thank you for your answer regarding happy hours. The happy hour thing matters little to me; it was something I threw out there. I guess ignorance of employment laws can be bliss until the effects of said laws catch up to you. That it happened to you 20 years ago now doesn't surprise me. And yes, I plan to move forward.
Unless you have some sort of hard proof that your firing was discriminatory, I agree that the lawyer is a waste of time. A person can be fired for any reason or no reason, as long as the reason is not an illegal reason or breaches a contract.
My guess is that you are a friendly, perhaps somewhat forward person and this rubbed someone the wrong way. I know several people like this, largely salespeople, pastors, and people who have public roles. They don't mean any harm, but sensitive people could perhaps take it the wrong way.
Who really knows - there may have been no accusation, and they just wanted you gone for whatever reason. All you can do is move on.
Who really knows - there may have been no accusation, and they just wanted you gone for whatever reason. All you can do is move on.
LOL, thanks. My mother said the exact same thing. You are right, I am also an ex-newspaper reporter so yeah, I had to be a certain way when interacting with the public. Which carried over into my current occupation.
I simply wish I had known harassment is in the eye the beholder and not just some widely-recognized objective standard. I intended this latest post to provide an update. Other than responding to new posts, this will be my last word here on C-D on the subject.
Hello, here’s an update on my firing for sexual harassment, on which I still don’t know the specifics:
After reflecting on the situation, I came up with a possible scenario: Once HR heard the accusation, they couldn’t tell me because I worked in the small home office (no more than 20 employees) of a DC-area government contractor. They probably figured that I would be able to put two and two together and figure out who my accuser was. HR probably feared I would confront that person (I’m not sure if I would have or not), and they didn’t want to take that chance. My ass had to go, regardless of whether I believed I did anything wrong. The word of the accuser is gold.
I filed a discrimination complaint with the EEOC, and it went nowhere as the EEOC found no evidence of employment discrimination based on my race (black) or my age (57). I knew such a filing would be a stretch but it was my way of letting my former employer know I wasn’t happy with how the whole thing went down. They would have been better off telling me some other reason.
I’m feeling much better now and looking toward the future.
Wow, first you make others feel uncomfortable with beeing too flirty and then you play the race card? Holy moly.
Wow, first you make others feel uncomfortable with beeing too flirty and then you play the race card? Holy moly.
Once again, I was fired for something I unknowingly did. Not once did I say being flirty is what got me fired. If you read my initial post, I said my personality is "borderline" flirty, but folks ran with that as if that was the cause of me being dismissed.
I don't know what happened or what I was accused of. And damn right I played the race card by going to EEOC, which I've never done in my life.
Once again, I was fired for something I unknowingly did. Not once did I say being flirty is what got me fired. If you read my initial post, I said my personality is "borderline" flirty, but folks ran with that as if that was the cause of me being dismissed.
I don't know what happened or what I was accused of. And damn right I played the race card by going to EEOC, which I've never done in my life.
Most people who think they are just borderline flirty - are way out of line.
I had a boss telling me repeatedly how hot I am and he likes looking at me when I walk. And then he told HR that he doesn't "need" the yearly online sexual harassment training because he is always so proper.
Not saying you are like him - but that often times is the case. The accused people are the last ones to realize their actions are wrong.
And playing the race card when it is not justified is dragging all those through the mutt who are actually discriminated by racism. It wasn't intended to be used as an excuse to get out of everything.
Like I said, my best guess is that he is a social person and said something, perhaps slightly over the line then someone ran a mile without it.
Without any idea of what the accusation was about, there's nothing he can really take away from this, except to be extra cautious and reserved.
oh yeah, he probably has been "flirty" for years and now at 57 it is not cute anymore to everybody. Somebody probably got creeped out and reported him. It was either a slightly stuck up person or a person who doesn't like him or a person who observed him being inappropriate to somebody else (maybe much younger). I wouldn't appreciate a married older man being all sleazy/flirty. I wouldn't report it but I would keep my distance.
Sexual harassment can be claimed super easy. Have you ever seen a sexual harassment trainings video nowadays? Basically you can't even tell your coworker anymore "hey, you look pretty today." Therefore, either keep it together at work or be really certain the object of your flirtiness is cool with it.
"And consider this: my former employer does a bi-weekly “Happy Hour” with alcohol on premises. I don’t drink but I thought the happy hours were cool. Then my wife brought up an interesting point: Could an employee who is a recovering alcoholic claim that on-premise alcohol creates a “hostile work environment?”
Time to let this go, visit the lawyer if you must but the only thing you'll get from it is a lighter bank account. As far as this statement goes, what does it matter to you? First, "hostile work environment" doesn't mean what you think it does, legally a HWE is when an employer retaliates to a legally protected discrimination, wage, or safety claim. In the "happy hour" situation an alcoholic could make an ADA claim and ask for a "reasonable accommodation" which could be as simple as allowing them to leave the building when alcohol is served.
You being terminated was unfortunate and I truly wish you the best in your next career opportunity. You may very well have been wronged, It happened to me 20 years ago and the only thing I could do was accept and move forward.
II think it's time to consider "work" over "work environment." Way too much focus on tangential matters.
oh yeah, he probably has been "flirty" for years and now at 57 it is not cute anymore to everybody. Somebody probably got creeped out and reported him. It was either a slightly stuck up person or a person who doesn't like him or a person who observed him being inappropriate to somebody else (maybe much younger). I wouldn't appreciate a married older man being all sleazy/flirty. I wouldn't report it but I would keep my distance.
Sexual harassment can be claimed super easy. Have you ever seen a sexual harassment trainings video nowadays? Basically you can't even tell your coworker anymore "hey, you look pretty today." Therefore, either keep it together at work or be really certain the object of your flirtiness is cool with it.
We are assuming he actually did anything. If people are so sensitive to your second paragraph that they are willing to put someone's livelihood at risk, they need a basic decency check. It does not sound like the OP did anything egregious. He doesn't even know what this was about.
I would not be surprised at all if he was fired for another reason, and his flirty/friendly personality was just something easy and vague to dismiss him over.
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