I need to get some advice and wise words from you all…
My hubsand was unemployed for long months and finally found a job 2 months ago. Great, right?! Well…
From day 1 it was clear that his boss just plainly did not like him…
First of all, now that he knows his co-workers and has had conversations with them, the fact is out, she is a royal bitch. She takes credit for what her employees do, and to the opposite if something isn’t done correctly, it’s not her fault.
But, she is clearly after my husband…
She never talks to my husband as far as guidance, what to do, what not to do… etc. She gave him some kind of report to do once and got it back from him and said “it looks good” then he heard from his other co-worker she didn’t like it, and took it away from him not telling him how to do it properly next time or even telling him anything.
Oh, did I mention she doesn’t say hello to him in the morning or good bye at night?
Now this has been going on for 2 months. My husband has tried to be “over-nice” to her, saying hello every morning, and gets barely a “hi…”.
So now here comes last Friday.
She calls him into a meeting and tells him she is not satisfied with his work and that he returned a lot of work late and is just not performing well enough. Then she gives him this big long letter : a written warning endind with “this could be ground for termination if your work doesn’t drastically improve” or something like that.
We really think she is just laying the ground to fire him whenever she pleases.
My husband has not signed this letter and is saying that half of what is in there is completly false… He has never been late to return any assigned work and has done pretty well in the job.
So now, he wants to write a letter back, disputing the warning. He needs to take it to HR first we think. So, should this letter by addressed to her, or HR “employee relations”?
If this makes a difference one of his co-worker called a meeting with employee relations just last week about this same manager… We don’t know what was said in this meeting, but we know it was to complain about her.
My husband is going to look for a new job now on the side, but when we see how long it took to find this one, we know he’s got to be employed in the mean time. We just can’t afford for him to get fired… and on her fake excuses on top of this.
He is deciding to quit being nice to her as he already has made all the efforts he could make. He is not about to lay down and take it…
Any advice? anybody has received a written warning before? How can you fight it?
I’m in HR and I reccomend that your husband go straight to the HR rep in the company. It should be done discretely, though. I wouldn’t tell anyone else that I was going to go to HR, but make an appointment at a time when it would not be obvious that I was missing. Most of the time, if a manager is a stone bitch, HR will know it and will take that into consideration.
It might be a good idea to say that he loves the company and really wants to stay there, and then ask what his options are. Maybe he can land an internal transfer, etc.
Signing or not signing the letter will not make much of a difference in their ability to fight an unemployment claim or wrongful discharge suit. All HR will want will be a witness statement doccumenting that the employee (your husband) was given the written warning and that he refused to sign it. This happens more often that not anymore. Sometimes even an “employee refused to sign” statement at the bottom of the disciplinary report will suffice.
What state are you in? What’s his job?
I would consult with an employment law attorney if this goes much further. Don’t play armchair attorney and try to come up with a legal argument on your own.
Check out this link for some info, it’s run by an employment law attorney in St. Louis. Understand, though, that a lot of it is specific to Missouri. http://www.timslaw.com/
I would try to find out if the supe is friendly with the HR rep. I know of one instance where this went down and the employee ended up getting fired. The employee then tried to find a lawyer but no one wanted the case. Especially if the employee is an “at will” employee. Just a couple of months on a job doesn’t look like a big damages award. Unless discrimination can be shown. Or major whistle blowing. ~FWIW
Even if the HR staff is friendly with the supervisor, the purpose of HR in situations like this is to offer guidance to the employee. If Zazie’s husband went to HR and said “I got this letter, but it’s not specific. If I’m going to improve in my performance, I need to know exactly what I’ve apparently done wrong, and I’m going to need some clear guidelines as to what’s expected of me in the future. I’ve not had a lot of clarity about expectations from Supervisor X and it seems important that there be clarity now.” then HR is obliged to assist. That’s their role.
If HR doesn’t want to help in this instance, then it’s a very big, flashing, neon, buzzing, floodlighted sign to Mr. Zazie to get his resume into circulation and start looking for employment elsewhere. But the attempt needs to be made. One bad supervisor or relationship with a supervisor should not cost someone their job in a well-organized company.
Guys thank you so much.
Mr Zazie and I just read that, and we appreciate the effort you put in replying.
I didn’t say what he was doing and it might make it a bit more difficult. He works himself in HR, in Recruiting. We know the bitch-from-hell (her new name per me) knows the HR Rep and is quite friendly with him. But I just also found out through my husband that 2 pervious people complained about her. The one I stated in the OP and another one a few months back. I hope this HR rep has a good head on his shoulder and is able to see what is going on with her.
My way of thinking on that one is that the HR rep has a job to do, however it ends at least it’s been made known (does that mean anything!?) that she has had problems with her employees. I just want people to know she is worthless.
Another anecdote worth sharing, is that one evening they were leaving and waiting for a bus, it was pouring rain and she opened her umbrella and stood there for more than 5 minutes, with my husband next to her being drenched in the rain… She didn’t once offer and extend her umbrella… It just shows me how stupid and ignorant this lady is.
She also made a comment to him the FIRST day he got hired that French people don’t shower and stink and also don’t change their cloths AFTER knowing that I, his wife, was French…
She is something else…
My husband has to do some research tomorrow on what the protocle is, as he never got a verbal warning, and we’d like to see if that can play in his favor. He also will work his ass off not to give them the excuse he is under-performing.
I’d definitely check the company handbook and see if they have a progressive discipline policy. It would give you a good idea of where he stands, and if they violate their written policy, it would help his case later on if he wanted to consult with an attorney.
I would also tell him to doccument how this supervisor treats male employees vs. female employees. Could there be a case of disparate treatment? Remember, the number one rule in HR is DOCCUMENT EVERYTHING, it would be a good idea for you to doccument your end, too.
Is your husband a minority? Over 40? Any disabilities?
Oh, if it gets bad enough, your husband can file a harassment complaint against the supervisor (provided he can prove it). It doesn’t have to be sexual in nature, it can be just plain old harassment.
HR would HAVE to investigate it, and the company would not be able to retaliate against him for his complaint.
Document, document document! Have him write down every vague “warning” that’s she’s given him. Every time she gave him an assignment and didn’t specify what she wanted, called it good and then went back on her word, etc.
I swear I worked for the same woman your husband does. Same thing happened to me. Is this in the Seattle area? Does she have the fakest looking cornrow extensions in the world? Tiny beady little eyes? Alien looking gray ashy bags under her eyes?
Anyway, same thing happened to me. It was obvious from the get-go that the woman didn’t like me. She tortured me for 7 months before they finally “eliminated” my job. But I’d kept a very detailed journal of all her vague complaints to me, and of all the weird ways in which she’d harrass me almost every day, and the company ended up settling out of court.
I didn’t even have to threaten them. My documentation, including sterling reviews from my three previous supervisors, support from my (at the time) current co-workers, and their lack of supporting write-ups detailing my supposed “ineptness” did the trick.
The funniest thing was my “review” from her, in which she said that I needed to, and I quote, “proofread my work laod”. We passed that around the office and everyone had a good laugh before I left.
I took the “position eliminated” rather than take them to court, took the settlement, a vacation, and had an excellent position doing what I really WANTED to do within a few days!
Hang in there, don’t let the b*tch get away with it!!
This is what happened in my case, both the supervisor’s supervisor, and the main HR woman were all buddybuddy. But once my paperwork and previous reviews, coworker comments etc were brought into play, they still didn’t have a leg to stand on.
Sorry I forgot to close by saying thank you to all!
Actually, amazingly my husband went to talk to the HR guy (who knows the boss) and she has completly changed her attitude… So the HR guy must have told her something (although he shouldn’t have…) but it worked.