Direct Retaliation in Current Events

I just finished the chapter in Gretch Carlson’s Be Fierce that I was waiting for. I now have a term for what happened to me. After I reported sexual harassment, I experienced Direct Retaliation. Direct retaliation is illegal and now I’m going to have to try and prove it. I completely lost all respect and support from my employer. He went from telling me that I was doing such an amazing job to telling the staff that he is not happy with the way I am doing things. That I am making a manager’s salary but not running the store like a manager. I asked repeatedly for a review so that I could correct my performance but he never produced one. He also did not give me my annual targets for the year which I also asked for. Which is something the store is dependant on. I was flying blind with no recourse. My writeups were moved into a new folder labelled confidential which means that they were reviewed and that they were waiting for me to screw up. So I experienced high levels of stress, anxiety & worry about my status with the business and about my position being compromised. If my employee file were to be submitted and inspected they will see that the only document in there that I ever received from Brad is one review that he did three years ago. It was a good review. If my employers try and explain that I was performing horribly they will not have any legs to stand on. I was not given any targets so they can’t be upset about any of the results that I was producing. I was not given any feedback about my performance so they can’t be upset about that either. I went from hero to zero immediately after I reported that predator. Who just so happens to be their dearly beloved.

I do not have any documentation of Brad being egregious with the staff, actually, I only have witness testimonies in general but nobody will be able to produce times, dates and things like that so I am starting to have some doubts. Six months have also gone by and I don’t know what the statute of limitations are regarding that. Also, I might have to press charges before I have the right to sue. My lawsuit could be thrown out if my province requires that step. Do I actually have a case? I am still waiting for that lawyer to call me back.

Now for the harassment part of my lawsuit. It is the employer’s responsibility to make sure their employees know their policies. Letting the words speak for themselves is not enough. I wonder if my lawyer would be able to arrange a survey to see if the current employees even know what their policies are for sexual harassment & violence in the workplace. I always tried to hang them up but Brad always tore them down. I would always try and post things regarding their rights and he would tear them down and tell Jess that I shouldn’t have done that. I still have most of those posts as I wrote them at home. Employees were constantly asking me to talk to Brad about his misogyny and racism and violence. “Do you really think that I would do that Tom?!?! Like really??” Forgetting that I was beside him when he told Mandeep to open a brothel of hot East Indian women. That I sent him to the back when he decided to throw a tray across the counter in front of customers. He said it was clutter and when I told him that was not okay he said that he would aim for Erin next time. Harassment is about power and Brad was very violent around the staff. Employees could easily come forward and explain how he kicks things across the room and throws things around the store for hours while yelling at everybody. Absolutely intimidating.

I don’t even want to get into the sexual harassment regarding Karamjeet right now. For starters, it will be weird for everybody because she is a woman being sued for sexual harassment. She was absolutely inappropriate and all that I have to prove that with are a few witnesses. She is completely surrounded by enablers. She straight up told me that she only hires East Indians because they will lie for her and protect her to protect their jobs because it is hard for them to get jobs.

The lawyer I am waiting to hear from is a partner at the biggest law firm in my country. He leads the employment department. If I do get a consultation I need to ask him if he has ever represented a plaintiff in cases against companies like mine of similar size and industry. If he has handled cases similar to mine successfully. If he practices at a provincial and federal level. What his philosophy is about settling vs going to trial. If he does believe that I have a strong case. What the pay structure is and what the approximate cost is of all stages are. What remedies apart from financial is he prepared to seek, back pay, employee benefits & things like that. Will he be real and upfront with me about the facts here.

I need to ask myself if I will be whole after this by either winning or settling. In almost all cases the results are somewhat disappointing. I am too scared to look at my companies policies right now. What if there is mandatory arbitration? No judge, jury or appeal. No documents or witnesses need to be provided. The employers can say that customers constantly complained about me and then not have to prove that. The arbitrator would want to get hired again so they are more inclined to side with the company. I’ll be given a settlement and I will not be allowed to discuss this ever again and the company gets to keep their predatory managers. This is why we rarely hear about sexual harassment. I don’t even know how much my lawyer thinks I can get. $53 000 is the average for settlements and $200 000 is the average for winning a trial. I doubt I’ll see any figures like that in my case. I would be more inclined to take this to court with a jury of my peers. If the judge is a woman that would be even better.

A company is as good as its worse manager. This is an opportunity for Head Office to draw a line and create a zero-tolerance for harassment. What they decided to do instead was to protect the predators and silence me.

Anyways… I can’t even remember the last time that I actually had fun. I’ve not thoroughly enjoyed a single day this year. Work & unemployment completely poisoned me… not that I am one to blame my choices on anyone or anything but myself. I honestly can not remember when I was actually having a good time. I’m not exactly having the worse time nor do I feel like my life is hell. I just… I’m not living out loud.

I want to draft up my Boss Up mission and share it on here later. Then I want to apply it to my life and see if I can finally workaround that cacophony of voices in my head that is constantly telling me to quit before I even try.

I’m a stan for Vivaldi