Is it legal for 3 male supervisors to take a female in a room behind close doors to present her with write-ups and termination?

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Is it legal for 3 male supervisors to take a female in a room behind close doors to present her with write-ups and termination?

I had no write-ups in my file. Went into work and was met by 1 supervisor. He told me to punch in and then needed to come down to the office. There 3 managers brothers and a kitchen manager sat me down after closing the door and proceeded to give me 4 write-ups, 2 of which was a conversation I had with my general manager 2 months prior and was resolved. I was told that we were all set and that was the end of it now he is giving me a write-up? Then told me I had a chose to either get done or be fired. The owner at the time was out of town. I am a previous dining room

manager but I asked to step down as I had too much going on in my life for that kind of commitment. I have a great work ethic history and the owners have a lot of respect for me.

Asked on December 9, 2017 under Employment Labor Law, Maine

Answers:

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 6 years ago | Contributor

1) There is nothing illegal about a female employee being behind closed doors with male supervisors, managers or coworkers. Clearly, they may not sexually harass, etc., the woman, but this is not the case of going to a doctor's office, where a female has the right to have a female nurse or other office staff member present for examinations; in the employment context, there is no law against men and women being behind closed doors together.
2) A supervisor may write up a staff member and terminate her regardless of her work history or how good an employee she is. If she had a written employment contract preventing this, that would be different--the employer (i.e. the supervisor) must honor the terms of the contract, and if there did not, the employee could sue for "breach of contract." However, without a contract, employment is employment at will, and a supervisor may discipline or terminate an employee at any time, for any reason.
3) The owner could overrule the supervisor and take other action if he chose--for example, he could fire this supervisor and give you the job. But that is voluntary on the owner's part; if he lets the supervisor get away with this, there is nothing you can do.


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