What can I do when I reported bullying behavior and in turn was blamed for it?
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What can I do when I reported bullying behavior and in turn was blamed for it?
I reported 2 instances of bullying behavior from a co-worker with a history of the behavior at previous employers. The first incident had multiple witnesses and the bully received a verbal warning. I received nothing at all. The second incident lasted more than 5 minutes and the 1 co-worker who would have witnessed it said that he had headphones on couldn’t serve as a witness as he didn’t hear anything. I legally captured just over 3 of it on an audio recording. The bully never denied it, only that he didn’t know why his anger was out of control. The company did a sham investigation in which the attorney they hired to investigate produced a report full of references to a conversation we didn’t have and said the bully did nothing wrong. I don’t think he ever reviewed the audio. The EAP counselor they had us both attend told me that our EAP Employee Assistance Program called him and directed him to investigate me for things that were not relevant to the situation. His words were, I believe someone at your company is protecting him. HR was not happy that I had reported their star performer and constantly tried to persuade me into agreeing that I overreacted, that this person was under a lot of stress, etc. Now, 3 months later, I’m receiving a write up for both instances. On top of the write-up, my boss is fabricating issues on my performance review and I know it’s for nothing more than to show a false paper trail to justify firing me for something other than the bullying instances. What should I be doing in order to protect myself? Can I bring legal action against them? I am very distraught over this matter and losing my job isn’t really an option?
Asked on September 5, 2019 under Employment Labor Law, Florida
Answers:
M.D., Member, California and New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 4 years ago | Contributor
Unless you treatment constitutes some form of legally actionable discrimination (i.e. is due to your race, religion, gender, disability, age (40+), or nationality, you have no recourse here. The fact is that absent an employment contract or union agreement to the contrary, a business can set the conditions of the workplace much as it sees fit. This means that a worker can be disciplined for any reason or no reason at all.
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