From: cfaks@ux1.cts.eiu.edu (Alice Sanders)
Newsgroups: soc.women
Subject: Re: getting fired after making sexual harrassment complaint - illegal?
Date: 12 Nov 92 04:50:25 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Eastern Illinois University

Michael: Thanks for your answer.  Here are some responses to your points.

>
>  Seems like the problem might not be the harasser but the supervisor
>who, after all, appears to have made the decision about probation, and later
>termination.
>
>  My first question is, since the supervisor was a woman, was there
>a relationship between this supervisor and the harasser that was

The supervisor had known the harrasser for a few years but no particular
close relationship.

>showed that women in the workplace tended to be more ruthless towards 
>other women than their male counterparts; partly because of a lack of
>early "team building" exposure (little league and so forth), and partly because
>other women were considered more of a "threat" in the newly emergant
>feminine arena. Certainly in areas where sexual politics are in play, women
>do NOT welcome other women into what is essentially a "seller's market".

Well, the supervisor had, indeed, fired three other women during her few
months in her position.  These women had never had any particular problem
doing their jobs, as far as anybody knew.  The supervisor's husband had
been the supervisor before he changed positions and she took over.  He had
gotten along very well with these women whom she later fired.  Go figure.

>
>  The cold reality is that if you make an enemy of a suprvisor, that person
>will usually find a way to terminate you, and due to the large number
>of recent lawsuits, will make sure that there is demonstrable cause
>for your leaving. You refer to your friend's having an excellent work record,
>but is this what's in her employee file? 
>
Yes, she had received a couple of 10% raises since workign there for three
years, with the new supervisor's husband as her boss.  She had great
productivity reports which should still be in the files.

>  Was the complaint internal, or civil? If your friend has enough
>hard evidence (and mind you, accusation alone does not carry the weight
>it did just 6 months ago) then press the case in civil court, and after
>winning a judgement there, then you have a case for wrongfull termination
>from the company. Otherwise, "accidentally" dropping a hot cup of coffee 
>in the guys lap while he was harassing her might have been a better approach 
>(from the pragmatic point of view). 
>
I don't know what you mean by 'internal or civil' for sure.  But I think
it was 'internal'; she complained only directly to her supervisor.  

>
>  Also, as bad as stress is, if it knocked your friend out for 10 days out
>of 60, then I suspect there is another medical problem; stress alone won't
>do that. She should see a doctor.
>
>
She did see a doctor since then.  The doctor told her he believed her
problem was due to stress.  Stress can really take a heavy toll.  This was
almost torture.  She was watched constantly, and weekly reports were made.
She barely slept, night after night.  One's health begins to go.  Heart
attacks, even, are common in very high stress situations.  Stress
intense enough and enduring enough can lead to enormous medical problems.
She feels somewhat better, actually, since she was fired.  There is an
aspect of relief, though her problems are different now, like no job at
all.  Ten days out of 60 is only one day every week and a
half.  She couldn't afford to quit because she would lose her unemployment
benefits and her legal claim; that's what she understood.

There is a more recent development; she called the supervisor's boss two
days ago.  He was unaware of any problem about her work performance and
did not know she was even on probation.  She had the feeling that the
supervisor could be in a lot of trouble.  ;-)