From: cfaks@ux1.cts.eiu.edu (Alice Sanders)
Subject: Need Info on Getting Fired for Making Sexual Harrassment Complaint
Date: Sat, 07 Nov 1992 06:54:14 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Eastern Illinois University

I'm not sure if I am posting this is the right newsgroup.  If I am not,
please let me know, and I will post correctly.

My sister was fired this week following two months of harrassment by her
boss (a woman) and her company, a large national firm.  The problems
really began when my sister made a complaint to her boss about some less
severe and severe sexual harrassment by a coworker.  At first, her boss was
understanding and appeared ready to take the proper steps to get the
problem clarified and cleared up.  But by the next day she was treating my
sister like a trouble maker.  She had her supervised all day every day by
a relatively new employee who literally went with my sister everywhere she
went for the next two months.  (My sister is in sales and drives around a
lot to visit customers; she always did this alone, except for maybe a
couple days per month when the male coworker went with her.)     She has worked there
for three years and has been their top sales rep all that time.  

When the harrassment by her boss started, it was much worse than the
sexual harrassment had been.  She got so tense, she started getting severe
headaches and even nosebleeds.  She had a car accident and several close
calls.  She couldn't sleep, yet was constantly tired.  She had always been
energetic, used to ride her bike about 30 miles at a time.  Now she was
afraid she would get in an accident because she couldn't concentrate.
 She started taking some of her sick leave.
She was sick ten days.  They fired her for being absent too much.  But
her supervisor told her in person that she was fired for not 'presenting
the right image for the company', 'not fitting the image of the company',
something like that.  This is not true, or they would not have kept her
around for three years and given her bonuses.  THey refused to geive her copies of any of her
production records and gave her an altered copy of her most recent
employee review, at which the new employee who went everywhere with her
was allowed to be present.

My sister feels they decided to weed her out for making the complaint.
The next day after the complaint, her boss had talked about what serious
charges these were and immediately began to treat my sister with
suspicion.  No investigation of the charges was made.  EEOC guidelines,
which I just read today, do not appear to have been followed.
Other women in the company had refused to come forward (women who had also
been harrassed by the coworker) because they were afraid they would lose
their jobs.  They had warned my sister what would happen, and it did happen.

My sister is devastated.  Does anyone know just what steps she should
follow, who she should call, etc.?  I would appreciate any suggestions and
advice about this possible case.  She did not lose her job due to sexual
harrassment, but she did lose it for making a sexual harrassment
complaint.  Is there any law against this, harrassing and firing someone
 indirectly
because they made a complaint of this type?

Thank you.

Alice

Newsgroups: alt.society.civil-liberty,alt.privacy,alt.politics.usa.misc