How do you document incidents of Harassment/Discrimination?

[Girlnterrupted]

What is the name of your state? New York

I was wondering if anyone could advice me on the correct way to document incidents of discrimination or harassment when they occur?

I have a (gay) friend who is currently being harassed by the same manager who fired me based on sexual orientation.

The hard part of this is that the manager is not very obvious in the way he gives unequal treatment. It is very hard to point it out. For example, when my friend printed an error in his computer, the manager went crazy and reprimanded him loudly and severely, asked him how long he had been working there for him to be making such errors, and told him "he was not well prepared." Later that evening another employee made the exact same error, and the manager overlooked it as if it was a normal thing that could happen to anyone. My friend pointed it out to the manager's superior, who then told the manager that he had to be as tough with everyone. The manager denied having noticed the second mistake, but then he got caught when he mentioned that it had happened "too early in the day."

This is a small incident, and there are many other very small incidents. There was a point where my friend was so frustrated that he started arguing with him, and this manager told him he was being too argumentative and threatened to write him up for insubordination.

This is the exact same way in which I was fired. Minor errors I made were blown out of proportion by this manager, and when I complained, he suspended me based on nothing. While I was suspended, he referred to the bunch of "tiny little errors," exaggerated them, listed them altogether, and persuaded for my termination. I'm afraid that the same thing is happening to my friend. These little error might look like nothing right now, but after a confrontation or a big argument, the manager could suspend him and list all those minor things against him, and he would be inevitably terminated.

What would be the right thing to do at this point? How does he document these complaints? Should he document every minor incident? They look very insignificant right now, but we know already that they could pretty much be used as grounds for termination. What is the right format to do this? Does he need exact dates?

Another question: My friend has a part-time job at a bar two blocks from his job. Very coincidentally this manager happened to go there late one night and got very drunk and began sexually harassing my friend, it got to a very extreme point. I mean, very extreme. I know this didn't happen in job premises; but I'm wondering whether he could document this as well? Even though it didn't happen at work, it COULD lead to problems at work.

If anyone has any advice on this, I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[OHIOGUY44095]

It sounds like your boss is just an outright jerk. It sounds like there nothing you can really do about it. Bosses can be like that.

If you're friend, by documenting his/her bosses every little incident (or responding to it), it will just fuel the fire and get this person nowhere. If the boss is that much of a jerk and making the place that unbearble, then look for another job and resign.

Now, as far as the bar incident., & I don't know "how extreme" it got, but it didn't happen on work grounds, BUT, if he was to bring that behavior into the workplace in some way, then it would be very important to note the incident(s), in detail in writing, that took place in the workplace. The employee might want to look at the employee handbook to see what their policy is on sexual harrassment and relationships between supervisors and employees and see what language is contained within those policies. MAYBE the actions of the supervisor at the bar violated a company policy. LIke I said, "MAYBE".

If it happens at work and is properly documented, most companies nowadays don't want to deal with the legalities of a possible sexual harrassment suit, let alone the embarrassment of it.

Maybe someone with more experience in these cases can fill you in.