Harassment at work... What to do/Who to contact?

G35stilez

G35stilez

Ari Gold
So my 15 year old sister quit her job today...

She has been working at this Pizzeria for a while now. She was a counter girl ringing up orders, slices, cleaning, etc. This place goes through counter people on a monthly basis due to their actions, but my sister is a tough cookie and doesn't take anything from them.

Well, I find out today more has happened with the place. They hire ONLY girls for counter work and request they dress "revealing" to draw customers in. Now, every girl who has worked there was between 14-18, most being under 18, so in other words, ILLEGAL.

Next, they are employing an illegal alien. Not that I have a huge problem with that because I understand they are looking for an opportunity in this country, but this 26 year old is WAYYY out of line. He has made passes at my sister, grabbed her in places that don't need mentioning, and makes many comments frequently. The most frequent being in Spanish translating to "I want to eat your ..."

Finally, the owner...He's in his early 40's and is a real "tough guy". I always thought he was halfway decent since he gives our family a discount, but to find out today that he kicked my sister on the a$$ and made a comment "I had to do it, it looked too good not to". On top of this, he is married with a 6 year old daughter. And I "KNOW" he conceals a handgun almost 24-7, which is illegal in NY.



Do we get the point yet ?



Well, if I was still in High School, I'd be down there with a baseball bat and a group of friends, but thank god I have a smart head on my shoulders now and have learned a thing or two since then. Best thing to do is to get legal with them. Police was the first thing coming to mind, but my sister did not want to testify or press charges. In my eyes, the owner could lose his business and do jail time/fines and the other guy could be deported with his family.

Well, my father and I want to put some "pressure" on them and their business. By this I mean, dropping an email/letter/phone call to the right places letting them know of these actions anonymously hoping the authorities will catch on and take proper actions.

Any suggestions who I should contact or how to go about this would be very helpful. Both my family and I appreciate it. Thanks.



-Sean
 
Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. If your sister doesn't want to press charges then I think criminally he is in the clear.

I would go see a lawyer and deal with it that way. The guy will probably end up settling out of court, but at least he wil think twice about it next time.

I hate pervs!!!
 
Sean,
Sorry to hear that your sister had to go through that.
If you want to make this guys life a little tougher, instead of the police go to the imigration dept. and leave an annonymous (sp?) tip. :D

It may not be a bad idea if your sister made mention to her guidance counsler and see what he thinks would be the correct course of action. You don't know who many girls have already went to see them already

I think MSN had an article on just this topic only a few weeks ago, and sorry to say the harassment has been towards younger girls because they don't what what to do and the employer seems to get away with it.

Good luck with whatever you do.

Happy Holidays
"J"
 
jaybs95 said:
Sean,
Sorry to hear that your sister had to go through that.
If you want to make this guys life a little tougher, instead of the police go to the imigration dept. and leave an annonymous (sp?) tip. :D

It may not be a bad idea if your sister made mention to her guidance counsler and see what he thinks would be the correct course of action. You don't know who many girls have already went to see them already

I think MSN had an article on just this topic only a few weeks ago, and sorry to say the harassment has been towards younger girls because they don't what what to do and the employer seems to get away with it.

Good luck with whatever you do.

Happy Holidays
"J"
Click to expand...

Hello sean

Very sorry to hear about your sister. That is very horrible that she had to go through with that. I would agree with jaybs95 about going to a guidance counciler. I am too in high school, and instead of going down with the bat and busting him like he deserves talk to the counciler who knows how to deal with these issues. I hope this helps and again very sorry to hear about this.

Greg
 
Sorry to hear about the predicament that arose involving your sister, it is uncalled for and unacceptable by any standards. However, if she does not wish to persue any legal action against the owner/worker I would honor that request. On the other hand I feel that some action must be taken against the owner and worker without her knowing, and it would physical in nature not because I think I am tough but because it is called for. People are truly sick and the lack of morals in this country is unaccepable, an example needs to be made for what comes from their actions.
 
Maybe one of your local news stations would be interested in following up on something like this. Our local stations absolutely love to get something going like this. If they find out what you are saying is correct, he will get so much bad publicity it will be unbelieveable.

Charles
 
Sean, I can't advise you what to do, but if I had a sister and this same guy **kicked** her, he would be on a liquid diet right now. I am 41 years young. :mad:
 
:yeah

He needs to be seriously confronted on his business and practices...I have a few large friends out your way;)
 
Thanks for the responses thus far :) ...My family greatly appreciates them.


I will be discussing to my sister about talking with the guidance counselor. Thank god they're close so it's not like pulling teeth.

As far as the others, I will be contacting the EEOC, Department of Labor, INS, Department of Health (found out they drink and smoke in the kitchen), and anyone else I can dig up :)

Tom: As far as my brother is concerned, you're not too far off! Thank god he's 3 states away right now.

Steve: I'm missing something...please clarify :)
 
From the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission......

Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII applies to employers with 15 or more employees, including state and local governments. It also applies to employment agencies and to labor organizations, as well as to the federal government.

Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual's employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual's work performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.

Sexual harassment can occur in a variety of circumstances, including but not limited to the following:

The victim as well as the harasser may be a woman or a man. The victim does not have to be of the opposite sex.
The harasser can be the victim's supervisor, an agent of the employer, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or a non-employee.
The victim does not have to be the person harassed but could be anyone affected by the offensive conduct.
Unlawful sexual harassment may occur without economic injury to or discharge of the victim.
The harasser's conduct must be unwelcome.
It is helpful for the victim to inform the harasser directly that the conduct is unwelcome and must stop. The victim should use any employer complaint mechanism or grievance system available.

When investigating allegations of sexual harassment, EEOC looks at the whole record: the circumstances, such as the nature of the sexual advances, and the context in which the alleged incidents occurred. A determination on the allegations is made from the facts on a case-by-case basis.

Prevention is the best tool to eliminate sexual harassment in the workplace. Employers are encouraged to take steps necessary to prevent sexual harassment from occurring. They should clearly communicate to employees that sexual harassment will not be tolerated. They can do so by providing sexual harassment training to their employees and by establishing an effective complaint or grievance process and taking immediate and appropriate action when an employee complains.

It is also unlawful to retaliate against an individual for opposing employment practices that discriminate based on sex or for filing a discrimination charge, testifying, or participating in any way in an investigation, proceeding, or litigation under Title VII.

Statistics
In Fiscal Year 2003, EEOC received 13,566 charges of sexual harassment. Almost 15% of those charges were filed by males. EEOC resolved 14,534 sexual harassment charges in FY 2003 and recovered $50 million in monetary benefits for charging parties and other aggrieved individuals (not including monetary benefits obtained through litigation).
 
Re: From the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission......

Sean,

Just as a suggestion .... You might want to give the local Police Dept.... when you know this guy is driving on the road... and tell them that you just passed a (whatever he drives licence plate #) Traveling on whatever road heading whatever direction.... He cut me off while waving a hand gun at me!
 
As others have suggested, the place to start is the EEOC. It sounds like sexual harrassment and a Hostile workplace. The EEOC is obligated to investigate all complaints. This takes time and resources on the business owners part. What happened to your sister is plain wrong. Good luck.
 
One other consideration is that for you and/or your sister to do something about this is helping to protect others.
 
If you really want to make the guy miserable, and he is not already being agood boy, I will bet that there is money being hidden or laundered. There is a certain agency with the initials IRS that might want to know about it.
Some other concerns, Has the health department been contacted? How about OSHA?
Why is your sister timid about turning this jerk and company in? Has he made threats? Did she flirt with him in any way? Just some ideas that might help you to get to the root cause of his behavior, and her retinence to turning them in.
 
If you could explain to her that by pressing charges, she is preventing it from happening to anyone else.

It's odvious that the jerk has no morales. What scares me is if he can get away with a kick in the a$$ now--how much more aggressive will he get with the next young girl. Am I impling that rape is possible--yeah. Where is his mind set? I know it would be tough for your sister, but in the end it is the right thing to do. Besides if she doesn't stand tall now, how will she deal with it in the future if it happens again?

P.S. I am truely sorry for her situation. As a male and a dad it makes me really angry. My brother in law is a LT. with the sheriff's dept. If anyone messes with my daughter--god help them.
 
I have contacted a few of the agencies today and will be filing full reports from them.

My sister in no way accepted these actions or flirted back. Each time she either ignored them or screamed at them.

I will speak further with my sister about taking more serious actions, but as of now the agencies contacted will be the EEOC, IRS, OSHA, Dept of Health, Dept of Labor, INS, Police, and possibly a news crew. I want this guy to suffer for what he has done to my sister. Hopefully there won't be any lasting impact on her.
 
Sean,

I'm really sorry to hear that this jerk has mistreated your sister. You have recieved a lot of good advice so far. I think that I would contact a lawyer as to what legal ways you can really put the heat on this guy. A lawyer may know ways to expedite certain government actions such as Immigration, OSHA, and the health department.

I hope it all works out for you. I hate to see a hard working high school student being taken advantage. She is lucky to have a big brother that cares to get involved.

Matt
 
Sorry to hear that, but if it was my younger sister (especially 15) or older sister. I would have to go down there with a bat and beat them both for doing that. I know its not the right way to handle things but sometimes things have to be that way. But thats just me.
 
hey sean,

If i had a sister and was treated like that, i would of ended up in jail for atleast 1 night. In this case you have a smarter head on your shoulder, i would atleast confront them with an Attorney. I wouldn't make it public, just let the owner know that he is in deep doodoo. In case of the illegal immigrant, i would turn him in just because of his comments to your sister. He's lucky that your sister has not called the police yet.

It really makes me angry how people act at workplace :ticked

good luck and keep us updated
-hass
 
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