Workplace Harassment forced me to resign

Nurses General Nursing

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Hello,

I just don't know what to do, I'm hoping someone out there has been in a similar situation and can lend me advice.

I have just resigned from my job. I lost a pension, matched 401K, my health benefits, top pay hands down and a job I love, well used to love anyway.

I was experiencing blatant harassment and witness to favoritism in 2016. All began when there was a overhaul in Management and our director of the Home Health Agency "resigned' and there was a shift with the new Clinical Director who came in from another field office.

Everything went down from there. It got so bad that I went out on Stress Leave to avoid a complete mental breakdown. Yes we were unionized and yes I worked with my union rep.

But in the end, the intimidation by Management and a couple coworkers got the better of me and I took the easy way out.

Now my old coworker is experiencing the very same treatment I did and I feel that I need to do something.

I'm no longer an employee, just resigned on Monday of this week. I have written proof of some of the harassment as well as detailed descriptions of what occurred and when. Most of which was never formally revealed to Management or upper management

Does anyone know if I have a leg to stand on at this juncture if for nothing else but to support my coworker and keep her from having the same fate?

FYI- I worked for a very large Corp, with a lot of money and known to not support their nurses.

thank you in advance,

Rnpeds13

resentment is drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.

I've never come across this saying before and think it bears repeating.

Again, I apologize for the misinterpretation of the my reference to the poem.

Of course my situation is nothing like Holocaust survivors, that's simply ridiculous not to mention deplorable.

Please understand that I was referring to the general/broader message as I read it-

that if you wait for wrong doing to become personal before you speak up then you will find yourself all alone with no one to stand up or speak up for you.

That's all I meant by posting the poem.

Your right, you do not know me and your assumptions about my motives as well as my character couldn't be further from the truth.

I don't seek revenge, that's not in my nature just as neither is seeking or creating Drama.

I experienced a wrong doing, I stood up and fought. I lost. Instead of getting back up again for round 3, I opted to step down for personal reasons including self care.

In hindsight now that I see the same wrong doing happening to another, I feel terrible that I didn't fight harder and stay, but I can't do anything About that except try to see if I can be of support from where I am now.

I mistakenly thought I could come here to the nurses forum and get some advice from fellow nurses.

Thank you for your thoughts

On a certain level, to a certain degree, you have been going through your own holocaust. Any time one's livelihood is threatened, any time one is disrespected, mistreated, misunderstood (perhaps intentionally), maligned, or otherwise dealt an unfair hand, any time someone with more power acts threateningly, that is a dangerous, frightening situation. No, you weren't starved, beaten or raped in the street, tattooed, put in a gas chamber or oven, or shot naked into a mass grave. But you did suffer to the extent that you had to quit due to the stress of it all. There are degrees of "holocausting" and, as I said in a previous post, the Nazi's did not corner the market on sadism, barbarism, or evil.

Did you do something to deserve the boss' wrath? I don't know, I wasn't there. Please do not share specifics on the board here.

I do hope you'll take the time necessary to grieve, to be angry, to let the horror wear off.

I do wish you well.

Never mind how some here don't want to or can't understand your comparison of the evil you have experienced and that which the Nazis inflicted on about at least 12 million people, not to mention military personnel. Just carry on and God bless.

Again, I apologize for the misinterpretation of the my reference to the poem.

Of course my situation is nothing like Holocaust survivors, that's simply ridiculous not to mention deplorable.

Please understand that I was referring to the general/broader message as I read it-

that if you wait for wrong doing to become personal before you speak up then you will find yourself all alone with no one to stand up or speak up for you.

That's all I meant by posting the poem.

Your right, you do not know me and your assumptions about my motives as well as my character couldn't be further from the truth.

I don't seek revenge, that's not in my nature just as neither is seeking or creating Drama.

I experienced a wrong doing, I stood up and fought. I lost. Instead of getting back up again for round 3, I opted to step down for personal reasons including self care.

In hindsight now that I see the same wrong doing happening to another, I feel terrible that I didn't fight harder and stay, but I can't do anything About that except try to see if I can be of support from where I am now.

I mistakenly thought I could come here to the nurses forum and get some advice from fellow nurses.

Thank you for your thoughts

Sometimes you can get advice without judgment here. Don't throw in the towel.

Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.
It not my friends "problems", its harassment and intimidation by Management.

Famous Holocaust Poem:

First They Came for the Jews

by Martin Niemöller

First they came for the Jews

and I did not speak out

because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the Communists

and I did not speak out

because I was not a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists

and I did not speak out

because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me

and there was no one left

to speak out for me.

Being Jewish myself your choice of this poem puts a bad taste in my mouth.

You have a choice of where to work, the Jews didn't have a choice at all. Using this poem is extremely bad taste.

When you still worked there why didn't you all van together with all your reports of harassment? Why wait until now? But if management & the owners/operations don't care, nothing will change.

Specializes in ICU, LTACH, Internal Medicine.
Yes if the behavior met the legal definition of defamation of course you would have a case, but you cannot sue someone for playing favorites or being mean because it becomes a she said/she said situation. It's extremely difficult and expensive to prove. We have no details as to what exactly constituted the harassment the OP complained about but I don't believe defamation was mentioned. I was in a horrible employment situation once but there was nothing I could legally do because I am not in a protected class and it was not sexual. Trust me I investigated this subject thoroughly.

"Legally speaking, harassment is a form of discrimination. It is illegal only if it is based on one of the characteristics protected by federal or state antidiscrimination laws. Under federal law, these characteristics include race, color, national origin, gender, pregnancy, religion, disability, age (over 40), and genetic information. State law often protects additional traits, such as gender identity, marital status, and sexual orientation.

If your boss was singling out only women or Latinos for the screaming treatment, that might constitute harassment. However, a boss who yells at everyone -- what you might call an "equal opportunity harasser" -- is not discriminating against a particular group. Being a jerk isn't against the law. Inappropriate workplace behavior crosses the line into harassment only if it is based on a protected trait."

We both have no idea what actually happened with the OP. I had experienced harrassment with my nursing jobs too, and what I learned was a bit different. Yes, it is not illegal to be a jerk, but when a jerk inflicts harm by his or her actions AND these harms are documented AND (most importantly) connection between the jerk's actions and harms can be proved beyond reasonable doubts, then (and only then!) the jerk's actions cross the border between "legal" and "illegal". The problem is that proving it all is very difficult and takes a whole lot of time, patientce and money. But till someone actually does it, abuse will continue.

Specializes in Hospice, corrections, psychiatry, rehab, LTC.

I see all kinds of advice being given here about hiring attorneys, going after the employer and so forth, however I have yet to see a description of exactly what happened. IMO this advice is premature without more information on the actual situation. Was there really harassment, or was this just one person's interpretation of events?

Sorry you're going through this. Been there and done that at a extremely large home health care agency in a very large city in the US. I left voluntarily as a regional clinical director, but was threatened with firing if i didn't do what they wanted me to do. (which was unfair to my staff, and would have cost them their job and I refused to assist in that) Go through HR, make it known and or public. If there is nothing fishy on your part, they don't have a leg to stand on!

Work place harassment is a huge issue and you have more than a leg to stand on. Please Inform the HR and then go up from there. Even though you resigned, you were, essentially FORCED to do so as the harassment didn't stop. I am appalled the the other nurses in this forum do not realize how serious this is. I am in management. You DO have a leg to stand on and need to get a lawyer. Many of them will take the case under the conditions that your former employer will be paying the bill. As managers we are REQUIRED to take 2 hours of workplace harassment class.

I can sympathize with you as I also was harassed on the job. My Team Lead constantly complained about me to the higher ups until they decided to let me go. My company did no investigation to find out if the accusations against me were true and the team lead denied having anything to do with it. Lucky for me that they appealed my unemployment and I was sent all the "evidence" against me. One email from the Team Lead to my employer, that was it and the comments in the email she said I did were not true. I have heard that she is doing the same thing to another member of the team. You should have worked with your Union to get this all straightened out. I have no recourse due to the state I live in has crap for employment laws to prevent this kind of thing. When people like these are allowed to think they have power to get people fired or force them out of work, they become worse.

Unless you have concrete evidence, not witness statements, but concrete evidence like videos, recorded phone calls, or emails from said harassers, you have little leg to stand on; honestly, you would be fighting a losing battle while rubbing your rep further in ground.

Ultimately, the decision in yours but ask yourself this - "Would I rather enjoy life, or be a martyr?"

Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).

Just an FYI, I recently read "Before you can bring a... harassment lawsuit under federal law, you must file an administrative charge with the federal Equal Opportunity Commission (EEOC) or similar state agency. This is a legal requirement. If you file a lawsuit without...exhausting your administrative remedies, ...your lawsuit will be thrown out. ...Once you file the charge, the EEOC will notify your employer. The agency may dismiss, investigate, request mediation, or take other action. ...your ability to hold the company liable... hinges on whether the company knew about, and had opportunity to remedy the harassment..."

Just an FYI, I recently read "Before you can bring a... harassment lawsuit under federal law, you must file an administrative charge with the federal Equal Opportunity Commission (EEOC) or similar state agency. This is a legal requirement. If you file a lawsuit without...exhausting your administrative remedies, ...your lawsuit will be thrown out. ...Once you file the charge, the EEOC will notify your employer. The agency may dismiss, investigate, request mediation, or take other action. ...your ability to hold the company liable... hinges on whether the company knew about, and had opportunity to remedy the harassment..."

Once more you are a font of great information. And here's the kicker, the EEOC does not give a flying fig about the situation unless the complainant is part of a protected class and the offender is treating every person in that protected class the same way. Lacking any details from the OP (and it looks like we aren't going to get any) we have no idea what the "harassment" entailed but nothing in her first post indicates she is "protected". Those people crying out for her to get a lawyer and avowing that she has a "leg to stand on" really aren't providing sound advice and may, in fact, be encouraging her to walk down the path of financial and professional suicide. Lawyers are an expensive gamble in a game she is unlikely to win and the world of nursing is much smaller than many want to believe. What we do know is since she has quit, HR is no longer an option (just to be clear for newer folks HR is not there to protect you it only cares about the best interests of the employer). I don't doubt for a minute that the OP was treated badly as I've seen it and experienced it myself. Sadly, this kind of managerial misbehavior is rampant because there truly is very little recourse against it and the cost to fight it is too high on many levels.

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