Sexual Harrassment

[VSPeck1]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Indiana
A young man (age 22) was working for a company and one of the owners, a woman in her mid-thirties, started coming on to him sexually. He ended up having an affair with her that of course, did not turn out well. The affair ended about 1 month ago. He had never missed a day of work and worked long hours and extra days. In November his boss gave him an excellent review and sent him to school in Nashville to get certified in fire and water restoration. After the affair ended the woman began giving him a hard time at work and talked disrespectful to him. He told her that she should not treat him differently just because they were no longer sleeping together. That also made her mad and she told him that he had a bad attitude. She then refused to give him his Christmas bonus. Today he went into work and she called him a slut. he told her that she should not talk to him that way and call him names. A few minutes later she called him into her office and fired him. Does he have any recourse?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Indiana

 

[Beth3]

I tend to doubt you have a valid complaint but I do suggest that you file a complaint for SH with your State's equal rights division or the federal EEOC.

The reason I suspect you don't have a claim is that the affair was consensual. The fact that she is a nasty person, the situation got ugly after the affair ended, and you lost your job does not make it sexual harassment. On the other hand, if you felt you had to have sex with her because she was the boss and there would have been repercussions if you rejected her advances, that changes things.

 

[commentator]

He needs to file for unemployment insurance. That's about his only recourse here, from the sound of it. If she cannot show that she had a valid misconduct reason to terminate him (breaking off their affair probably wouldn't be considered work related misconduct) he can be approved for benefits even though he was terminated. He needs to be careful and specific about what was said when she called him names and they had any verbal altercations, as he does not want sound like he could be accused of gross misconduct in terms of insubordination.

If, when she said mean things to him, he told her in a reasonable tone not to speak to him that way, that's probably going to be all right. If there was a screaming match and vicious things were said by both parties, she may say she terminated him for insubordination and inappropriate behavior, and a decision about this may keep him from receiving unemployment benefits.

Even if she called him names or cursed him, it isn't ever appropriate to curse or scream at your boss. Which is a darn good reason not to begin an affair with your supervisor, even if it was tempting and consentual. They are still your boss, still have the power in the situation, even if you're sleeping with them. I suppose it is a life lesson he has now received. She never had to give him the Christmas bonus. It's just that, a bonus, given at the supervisor's discretion.

When filing the unemployment claim, giving the reason he is no longer working there, he should be perfectly frank about the affair, should specify that he was receiving good performance reviews and that his work was appropriate and his attitude unquestioned until the affair ended.

Hopefully for him she was not slick enough to document the verbal warning about attitude, to write him up and use progressive discipline or she may have enough justification for the termination to win the decision.

 

[VSPeck1]

She prides herself on keeping people from getting unemployment. She had him sign some papers she had hand written up this morning before she fired him and he did not think clearly enough to get copies or refuse to sign. She did not find fault with his work until the affair ended but as soon as it did she began giving him problems. He said this morning was the only time they had any words at all and that he did not yell or scream at her or anything like that. He said she gave him some papers for their 2011 goals and said "here you go Slut." and he just said "don't talk to me like that." and went on about his business, getting the truck ready to go out. In about 5 minutes she came back and fired him for insubordination and claiming that his work has been problemmatic. Thanks for the help. I had told him before you should never mess around at work, especially if it is the boss, as they hold all the cards. Life lesson learned but an expensive one.

 

[Banned_Princess]

She prides herself on keeping people from getting unemployment. She had him sign some papers she had hand written up this morning before she fired him and he did not think clearly enough to get copies or refuse to sign. She did not find fault with his work until the affair ended but as soon as it did she began giving him problems. He said this morning was the only time they had any words at all and that he did not yell or scream at her or anything like that. He said she gave him some papers for their 2011 goals and said "here you go Slut." and he just said "don't talk to me like that." and went on about his business, getting the truck ready to go out. In about 5 minutes she came back and fired him for insubordination and claiming that his work has been problemmatic. Thanks for the help. I had told him before you should never mess around at work, especially if it is the boss, as they hold all the cards. Life lesson learned but an expensive one.

Your "friend" should file for unemployment anyway... then at least it will be reviewed with some juditial outlook, plus a reason will have to be told to the state unemployment about why he shouldnt be approved, and he can fight it from there, I mean what kind of proof does she have that would show wilful misconduct? (well I think sleeping with the boss is a Big wilful misconduct.. but its not if they dont have clear and percise rules against it.)



As far as I understand, name calling (except for a list of exceptions) is not against the employment law so... I mean what are you going to say... I was fired because I wouldnt sleep with my boss anymore? I dont think that falls under any protected charicteristic to be an actionable harassment. A boss doesnt have to respect, like, or pretend to like you after you had an affair with her, and then broke it off...

Well, if I'm wrong about that, I will be corrected.

 

[commentator]

Sleeping with the boss and then ending a relationship with the boss probably isn't going to be considered work related misconduct on his part. If they have a no fraternization rule of some sort, even so, that she was his superior is going to have some bearing. She should be in more trouble than he if this is the case.

And yes, when he files for unemployment insurance, he should say exactly that, that he was terminated/fired, because he refused to continue to sleep with the boss. As I said, he should be really frank with them about the relationship, because yeah, this is pretty much the reason his work performance supposedly deteriorated so quickly.

He would specify that he had excellent performance reviews, that he always did his work to the best of his ability, and until the end of the relationship, he was doing fine. He may throw in that he was told that she prides herself in never "allowing" people to receive unemployment benefits. That the write up he was given was done immediately before he was terminated, that he was given no opportunity after the write up to change any inappropriate or unsatisfactory work behavior that he was supposedly being written up for.

Incidentally, as we've said, the employer is not the one who decides whether you receive benefits or not. She has just learned the general operating procedures for proving documented employee misconduct by giving write ups and the appearance of progressive discipline. This will tend to keep the person from saying they were fired without good misconduct cause and winning their appeal. But it's certainly not set in stone that just because there was a write up scribbled out at some point that there was a good misconduct reason to fire.

It certainly doesn't help that he signed the warning, but that does not mean, and he needs to stress that he was not admitting to any misconduct or wrongdoing, that he always did his job to the best of his ability and that he did not wish to lose his job, and was willing to do his best to make sure it did not happen.

 

[Banned_Princess]

Bravo :standing ovation roaring clapping:

lol

 

[commentator]

I think he can say this with complete sincerity!

You would not buh-leeeve some of the stories of workplace romance and misconduct you'll hear in doing unemployment hearings sometime!

Fortunately, they're pretty confidential. But in any case, no matter what this guy's story is, it's a good bet its not going to be something that's never been heard of before by people in the unemployment system. He should tell the truth.

 

[VSPeck1]

More info on the firing/sexual misconduct?

When he was fired, it was the first time he had been written up. He was not alone on the job for which she said he was being fired for making mistakes on, but had a female partner with him. The female partner was on probation after being written up before. The female partner was not fired even though she had had previous warnings. Because he signed a no-compete agreement when he went to work for the company he is now having trouble finding another job in the field. Is this a situation where he has any recourse?

 

[mlane58]

You were given an excellent answer and advice in post #2.

 

[Betty]

Re the noncompete agreement, he might want to take it to an employment or contract attorney in the area to get the attorney's opinion as to whether it is enforceable.

He needs to file for UI benefits & keep looking for other employment.