First off, apologies for a reasonably long post - I don't make many serious threads or posts so I think I'm allowed this one 
There is a lot of information I needed to get down to provide context so if long posts aren't your thing, please click back now!
Ok, so someone I know works for a reasonably large, well known company. It has a lot of branches nationwide. She has been working there for just over a month and in that time she has been suffering varying degrees of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior from a number of members of staff.
At one point she couldn't face going into work for a couple of days for fear and being entirely on her own with everything.
Examples include:
You get the idea.
Now the worst bit is still to come: The person who is guilty of most of this stuff (though it is not him alone) is her manager.
In addition to the above:
etc. Again, you get the idea.
Also, every time she tells him to leave her alone, he appears to do something to **** her over from a work point of view. Things like decline holiday requests that had previously been agreed verbally, change shifts at the last minute so as to make her turn up to work for no reason etc. It's blatant intimidation and abuse of power for personal gain. All she wants to do is go to work, do her job and go home.
I feel this is relevant to give some context: All the people involved are Muslim and Pakistani and as such appear to stick together. She is neither. They all reinforce the stereotype of poor personal hygiene, poor treatment of women, barely able to string together a sentence in spoken English (manager is slightly more literate), are extremely sly and manipulative and having unfortunately met a couple of them (not her manager) I don't trust them at all. I don't mean this to come across as a way to incite racial hatred (I have enough trouble with narrow minded individuals given the colour of my own skin) but I think it gives a better idea of the environment she is in.
When this first started happening I suggested she keep a log of events and write down everything that happened. She had a lot of the texts that had been sent but her phone had issues and she lost a fair few - still has some backed up but not all unfortunately. I also suggested she maintain a strictly professional attitude towards everyone and not to respond to general conversation with any personal information or details that give them more information about her as a person, not to interact outside of work - just do her job and leave (I say this because anything she says is used against her by her manager - even if it is not said to him directly, he gets wind of it from others).
She is looking for another job constantly but has so far been unsuccessful. She is reluctant to leave for financial reasons and a dislike for being out of work, not wanting to give up/show that they have won etc. What else can be done in the mean time? I know of various grievance procedures in place through the company HR dept. which she is aware and are an option; but her opinion of the company procedure (and company in general tbh) and chances of it not being manipulated is low. Having never had experience with this sort of thing, is this likely to be a long winded process via investigation? So is it the best route to go down given that she does not have any intention of staying in the company due to the way she has been made to feel?
As things stand, I did think her best course of action may be to confront her manager 'informally' at work (with a colleague present) with the basic details (ie. saying she has informed her parents, boyfriend etc) and say she has a fair amount in logs along with supporting evidence and is not happy with the conditions she is being forced to work under. If it continues she will go down the official route of action. Though obviously this may also serve to make things worse depending on how her manager reacts to the news that she has a potentially valid case and other people know about his actions. He is very manipulative - the sort of person who could quite easily make you believe 9/11 was your fault.
I appreciate that this is one of those threads where the content is largely one sided but having seen things like messages, overheard phone calls and having met a few of these people, I absolutely do not doubt what she is saying about them and her situation at work. It makes me sick.
Can anyone provide another insight or similar experiences they have had or know people who have gone through something similar? What was the course of action? What options are available given the circumstances?
Any advice whatsoever really would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
There is a lot of information I needed to get down to provide context so if long posts aren't your thing, please click back now!Ok, so someone I know works for a reasonably large, well known company. It has a lot of branches nationwide. She has been working there for just over a month and in that time she has been suffering varying degrees of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior from a number of members of staff.
At one point she couldn't face going into work for a couple of days for fear and being entirely on her own with everything.
Examples include:
- Inappropriate touching (hands around waist under the guise of leaning over a desk next to her when demonstrating something on a computer and breasts under the excuse of pulling her top up)
- Being followed around and asked for kisses
- A married member of staff told her he had feelings for her and didn't know what to do (entirely unprompted and of no relevance to anything)
- Taking her number out of the emergency contacts book and sending pestering texts/calls asking her to meet up outside of work all the time. Also, messages of a sexual nature, although not explicit in content. I have seen a number of the messages and she does not reciprocate.
You get the idea.
Now the worst bit is still to come: The person who is guilty of most of this stuff (though it is not him alone) is her manager.
In addition to the above:
- He uses his position to control shift patterns. He has said to her that she can have extra days off if she spends them with him at his house (she obviously told him she wasn't interested).
- He continues to arrange her days off to coincide with his regardless and then tries to arrange (unpaid) work meetings on these days off so they will have to meet at work.
- He continually asks personal questions about her sex life
etc. Again, you get the idea.
Also, every time she tells him to leave her alone, he appears to do something to **** her over from a work point of view. Things like decline holiday requests that had previously been agreed verbally, change shifts at the last minute so as to make her turn up to work for no reason etc. It's blatant intimidation and abuse of power for personal gain. All she wants to do is go to work, do her job and go home.
I feel this is relevant to give some context: All the people involved are Muslim and Pakistani and as such appear to stick together. She is neither. They all reinforce the stereotype of poor personal hygiene, poor treatment of women, barely able to string together a sentence in spoken English (manager is slightly more literate), are extremely sly and manipulative and having unfortunately met a couple of them (not her manager) I don't trust them at all. I don't mean this to come across as a way to incite racial hatred (I have enough trouble with narrow minded individuals given the colour of my own skin) but I think it gives a better idea of the environment she is in.
When this first started happening I suggested she keep a log of events and write down everything that happened. She had a lot of the texts that had been sent but her phone had issues and she lost a fair few - still has some backed up but not all unfortunately. I also suggested she maintain a strictly professional attitude towards everyone and not to respond to general conversation with any personal information or details that give them more information about her as a person, not to interact outside of work - just do her job and leave (I say this because anything she says is used against her by her manager - even if it is not said to him directly, he gets wind of it from others).
She is looking for another job constantly but has so far been unsuccessful. She is reluctant to leave for financial reasons and a dislike for being out of work, not wanting to give up/show that they have won etc. What else can be done in the mean time? I know of various grievance procedures in place through the company HR dept. which she is aware and are an option; but her opinion of the company procedure (and company in general tbh) and chances of it not being manipulated is low. Having never had experience with this sort of thing, is this likely to be a long winded process via investigation? So is it the best route to go down given that she does not have any intention of staying in the company due to the way she has been made to feel?
As things stand, I did think her best course of action may be to confront her manager 'informally' at work (with a colleague present) with the basic details (ie. saying she has informed her parents, boyfriend etc) and say she has a fair amount in logs along with supporting evidence and is not happy with the conditions she is being forced to work under. If it continues she will go down the official route of action. Though obviously this may also serve to make things worse depending on how her manager reacts to the news that she has a potentially valid case and other people know about his actions. He is very manipulative - the sort of person who could quite easily make you believe 9/11 was your fault.
I appreciate that this is one of those threads where the content is largely one sided but having seen things like messages, overheard phone calls and having met a few of these people, I absolutely do not doubt what she is saying about them and her situation at work. It makes me sick.
Can anyone provide another insight or similar experiences they have had or know people who have gone through something similar? What was the course of action? What options are available given the circumstances?
Any advice whatsoever really would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
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