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You don't have a case. Maybe aspects of your separation would be grounds in another country, but not in the U.S. It's not illegal here for a new manager to dislike you and make your life miserable, in hopes you'll decide to leave; and then let you go when you don't. At will employment works both ways.
Unfair treatment isn't the same as discrimination. If unfair treatment was a cause of action, we'd need a courthouse on every street corner.
Even if this was a case of discrimination, what are your damages? You kept your sign-on bonus and got an extra month of severance pay. You were laid off, not fired, so there's no damage to your reputation. Not liking your coworkers or your job doesn't count.
Mobbing--the emotional abuse--is a form of violence. In fact, in the book Violence at Work, published by the International Labor Office (ILO) in 1998, mobbing and bullying are mentioned in the same list as homicide, rape, or robbery. Even though bullying and mobbing behaviors may seem "harmless," in contrast to rape or other manifestations of physical violence, the effects on the victim--especially if the mobbing is happening over an extended period of time--have been so devastating for individuals that some have contemplated suicide. And, we cannot exclude that some cases of the "going postal syndrome" may not also have been a consequence of what those individuals perceived as emotional abuse on the job.
Mobbing and bullying affect primarily a person's emotional well-being and physical health. Depending on the severity, frequency, and duration of the occurrences and how resilient an individual may be, persons may suffer from a whole range of psychological and physical symptoms: from occasional sleep difficulties to nervous breakdowns, from irritability to depression, from difficulties to concentrate, to panic- or even to heart attacks. What were occasional absences may become frequent and extended sick leaves.
Many persons who have become a target of a mobbing are damaged to such an extent that they can no longer accomplish their tasks. At the end, they resign--voluntarily or involuntaril--,are terminated, or forced into early retirement. Ironically, the victims are portrayed as the ones at fault, as the ones who brought about their own downfalls. And in numerous instances, the symptoms after a person has been terminated or resigned, can continue and intensify and have led to the diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD.
And it is not only a person's health and sense of well-being that is seriously affected. Their families and their organizations are gravely impacted as well. Relationships suffer, and company productivity is impacted as energies revolve around the mobbing and divert attention from important and significant tasks at hand.
Did they do something wrong. Probably. Should you sue? No. You and your whole family btw, don't have enough money. They have a whole staff of lawyers and their job would be to keep your lawyer busy 24X7 until you run out of money. It's not nice and it's not fair but that's the strategy that will win the case for them. It doesn't matter 1 whit if they are innocent or guilty. All they have to is play the game till the only place you can go is bankruptcy court.
Did they do something wrong. Probably. Should you sue? No. You and your whole family btw, don't have enough money. They have a whole staff of lawyers and their job would be to keep your lawyer busy 24X7 until you run out of money. It's not nice and it's not fair but that's the strategy that will win the case for them. It doesn't matter 1 whit if they are innocent or guilty. All they have to is play the game till the only place you can go is bankruptcy court.
That’s sad but a valid point. There really isn’t justice for common folks.
Mobbing--the emotional abuse--is a form of violence. In fact, in the book Violence at Work, published by the International Labor Office (ILO) in 1998, mobbing and bullying are mentioned in the same list as homicide, rape, or robbery. Even though bullying and mobbing behaviors may seem "harmless," in contrast to rape or other manifestations of physical violence, the effects on the victim--especially if the mobbing is happening over an extended period of time--have been so devastating for individuals that some have contemplated suicide. And, we cannot exclude that some cases of the "going postal syndrome" may not also have been a consequence of what those individuals perceived as emotional abuse on the job.<snip>
In the US, there's a thing called mitigating your damages. It means "...to take advantage of any reasonable opportunity [you] may have had under the circumstances to reduce or minimize the loss or damage." I'm not a lawyer, but I think one would wonder why, if you were so horribly miserable at this job where there was no work to do, you didn't seek other employment.
I've been through what you're describing and I'm sympathetic to it. It wasn't discrimination, it was just a bat**** crazy borderline b**** that management was too gutless to fire. I quit--without a three-month severance package. I temped for a while and got a job with a competitor a few months later.
But if you think you have a case and want to pursue it, see an attorney. AFAIK, nobody on here is a lawyer.
it is so sad when the children cannot play nice in the sandbox..... i'm not trying to make light of what you were to subject to, not at all, i'm saying this childish behavior by much younger people is probably linked to their own immaturity. Whenever you, as an adult, find yourself in environments being controlled by a "clique" of the IN-crowd, I doubt there is anything you can do about it..... except be a whistle-blower within that industry..... which historically often proves more harmful to the whistle-blower.....
you have to move on, let the past go. you seem to be a person with a stellar work history before you had to move. Most likely there are wonderful opportunities still out there for someone of your caliber..... filing any kind of lawsuit will only make you seem like you are obsessed with sour grapes......
i never worked in corporate america, but when you reach a certain status or pinnacle within that sphere of influence, can you not ask that certain protections be included in your next contract. At the very least, be well educated before you go into your next interview, thoroughly vet the company, see if there are any outstanding complaints against them, try to gauge their integrity by the practices they have implemented within their own human resources department..... go into the interview with your own set of questions that will further hopefully give you a more comprehensive picture of their business practices.....aren't there social media groups that everyone kinda uses now? I am an old geezer so i don't really know what is out there, except back in the early 2000's when i was still working, there was that Linked In thingy. yeah, i know, i know, not such a wunderkid when it comes to tech vocabulary .... sorry..... I think using that as a means of strategy to garner the reputation of a company when it comes to how they treat their employees will be far more productive than to keep looking back in anger. I wish you the very very best of luck, i truly do... what happened ssuckked the big wazzoo, it really did.... move forward i always say, looking backward only keeps you from the destiny you will achieve.
You need to talk to your local EEOC office and see if they will take your case. They don't take many cases. They usually like to see some kind of proof - emails, letters, etc. that would help your claims.
Way back when I thought I wanted to go into law, I worked for an employment firm. Your story is very common and no, you don't have a case. I have heard of people literally having nervous breakdowns from work and they still didn't have a case. Also, attorneys cost money, a TON of money. With no guarantee you will win. My best advice is to to negotiate your severance to a few more months.
So if you used many words to infer indirectly that a person didn’t show as much commitment to the job without calling them out loud “lazy”, and at the end of your rant you added “You know...Blacks!”. It wouldn’t be discrimination, correct?
We cannot know what Y actually said, but we can get a good idea how you take what others say and change them into something easier to argue against. As you have done here. The penchant for creative interpretation of others' words and actions was even apparent in the OP. Keep in mind that all we have to go on is what you post, so the only window into the other half of the story, that you didn't share with us, is how you relate your half of the story to us.
Regardless, you've coincidentally hit on the correct answer by using the wrong word. "Infer" is what you do when you take in sounds other people make and decide how to tell yourself (and others) what those words meant. (The word you probably meant to use is "imply".)
Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeReds22
Europeans may enjoy more days of vacations, but in Western Europe nobody leaves the office at 5 pm like is common in USA...
So you discriminate against Americas? Nice.
(It is called "mirroring". Look it up.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by MLSFan
He was hired already... how was his national origin discriminated against?
Anti-discrimination applies to "employment" not just being "hired". If there was actually a hostile work environment directed toward those of certain nationalities then that would be illegal.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marie Joseph
National origin is a protected class under the EEOC but it is difficult to prove since the boss only made the one comment specifically related to your national origin and was not specific about country of origin but just used the general "European".
And there was no indication that any specific actions were taken against any other "Europeans" that had detrimental impact on their employment. Like others have said, not liking someone isn't illegal, even if that personal animosity has employment implications. Being someone's enemy, on a personal level, isn't a protected class.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sheerbliss
Unfair treatment isn't the same as discrimination.
That makes no sense. The definition of discrimination is, "the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex." And a synonym of unjust is, "unfair". 1 + 1 = 2. <shrug>
Not all discrimination is illegal, but unfair treatment is discrimination; and all unfair treatment directed at someone because they are a member of a protected class is illegal.
Last edited by bUU; 06-03-2018 at 03:43 AM..
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yeah, i know, i know, not such a wunderkid when it comes to tech vocabulary .... sorry..... I think using that as a means of strategy to garner the reputation of a company when it comes to how they treat their employees will be far more productive than to keep looking back in anger. I wish you the very very best of luck, i truly do... what happened ssuckked the big wazzoo, it really did.... move forward i always say, looking backward only keeps you from the destiny you will achieve.
