What the hell? How are multiple managers just going to let that fly?
Say what?
You don’t think a huge, nationwide restaurant chain like Red Lobster, Chili’s or Applebee’s, each with probably at least 10,000 employees company-wide, has an HR department to deal with this kind of thing?
I thought maybe you worked at Stuffed Shirt Accounting on 111 Pine Street, Suite 750, or something.
But at a chain restaurant? That’s just part of the environment. I’ve worked at many. No one is going to take you seriously for being called an open-legged whore, if you work at Applebee’s or Ponderoser, unfortunately. Just let the drama fizzle or look for a new job.
But as Saint Cad’s cite says: “Although the law doesn’t prohibit simple teasing, offhand comments, or isolated incidents that are not very serious, harassment is illegal when it is so frequent or severe that it creates a hostile or offensive work environment or when it results in an adverse employment decision (such as the victim being fired or demoted).”
This isn’t to say this isn’t crass behavior, but I think there has to be a pattern of on-going harassment for it to be a “hostile work environment”.
This is the worst advice you can give to the OP.
What is on the agenda for meeting with the GM? If you company doesn’t have an HR department (and it doesn’t sound like it does), it sounds like the GM is going to act in lieu of that. Work out what sort of action you’d like them to take. Resolutions to what happened have to be prompted, not just talked about.
No one in a workplace should be saying anyone’s a slut. It is not appropriate. Write down everything you remember of the meeting, down the words and send a copy to HR and everyone who was in the meeting. Add a second page that’s either a copy of the relevant part of your employee handbook or the federal code defining sexual harassment; a copy should, by law, be posted somewhere in your workplace.
Do NOT work w/ that person any differently; do NOT engage them in a conversation about what they said and if possible, don’t have a private conversation w/ them at all. It’s clear to you they’re willing to say anything regardless of its veracity and that they have no impulse control in the workplace, so act accordingly and she’ll be gone sooner than later.
I don’t think so. Frequent OR severe. We weren’t there, so we can’t be sure, but as described in the OP, it sounds severe enough that, were I the manager (and I used to be, in retail), I’d be pretty nervous if the OP started speaking the magic words.
No that is not what my quote said. It said frequent or severe so one incident (if severe enough) is sexual harrassment and I would say in this case it qualifies..
You don’t have to be an office worker to have the right to not experience sexual harassment at the workplace. It doesn’t matter if you are a ditch digger or the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, you have a legal and moral right to earn your living without unwanted sexualized acts from your coworkers, and your employers have a legal and moral obligation to take action against those who infringe it. Frankly, this situation does sound over the line to me. It’s persistent, it’s sexual, and it is entirely inappropriate.
A major chain restaurant will have some sort of helpline for these situation, though you may have to call around to find it. Check around all of the OSHA posters in the break room. You absolutely should report this, as well as any inaction from your managers. Their ass is on the line here, and if they do not take the appropriate action (or even worse, if they try to fire you) they could find themselves on the end of a major lawsuit.
Fair enough.
I’m not weighing in on the legal issues but since this in IMHO I will give you mine.
If a meeting like that took place and I was the boss, the person making those accusations would be gone in a minute. You may have heard the term of a player being “a cancer in the locker room.” Well, that person is a cancer in the workplace.
Really, I would fire the person on the spot for cause whether she was right or wrong in the original altercation. There is no place for a verbal assault and unsubstantiated character denigration in that circumstance.
Yeah, the whole scenario is pretty hard to believe, isn’t it? And welcome to the board, isurun18.
People always giving sluts are hard time pisses me off.
ETA: some of my best friends are sluts. Bitch.
If it had been at my place of employment, and she said that in front of management…
She would be escorted out of the building holding a box of her personal belongings.
She shouldn’t have been allowed to say those things without consequences from your managers, but she did, and that’s that (unless your GM is going to have a meeting with you and tell you that they’re going to fire her, but I wouldn’t count on that). The working world is not a perfect one. My best advice to you at this point is be a perfect worker and let her continue to show management that she’s the psychobitch, not you. Unfortunately the fight between the two of you probably has them thinking that you’re both trouble - that’s why it’s important for you to be above reproach now.
If we’re talking about a franchise restaurant; no. At least not for the waitstaff at some random store.
They do have an HR, but that’s for the Admin employees.
The OP’s situation would have to be delt with by the owner or GM of that particular restaurant.
Wich sucks for the OP, because the easiest thing for them to do is just fire them and hire two new and even experienced employees the very next day.
This is one of those classic examples of: Life isn’t fair.
Employment lawyer checking in. This one isolated incident is pretty unlikely to be severe enough to constitute actionable sexual harassment. However, even if there were liability, you don’t have any damages. You haven’t lost your job and would be hard-pressed to show you have emotional distress damages (do you now need therapy? can you still work? etc.) People have sued for less, though, and gotten settlement money, just so the company can get rid of the lawsuit (but that would be way more trouble for you than it’s worth I think…and no guarantee of anything but a lot of headache).
However, management’s lack of response was very unwise and the wrong way to approach this. After the very first comment they should have reprimanded her; after that she should have been written up/disciplined. They should now do a mini “investigation” - even thought it sounds like no disputed facts - and get in writing what occurred. They should write her up, re-train her on sexual harassment, and advise you that she has been disciplined and re-trained. Sounds like they themselves need re-training and perhaps the whole place does. It is better to go to management first and give them a chance to right the mistake(s). There is way too much litigation these days over incidents that can much more quickly and easily be dealt with by education/training/adjusting of policies and practices. But still, it was inexcusable and very unwise that they did not do anything at the time.
By the way, “hostile environment” is very specific and is limited to protected classes - it most definitely is NOT a hostile environment just because someone yells at you or acts like a complete jerk. It must be tied to your membership in a protected class (sex, race, disability, etc.). This was tied to a protected class - your sex - but on its own, likely not severe enough to constitute a hostile environment. Severe OR pervasive, but one incident needs to be more severe than this generally.
But wouldn’t the fact that two managers did not shut her down and let her continue with her rants contribute to being a hostile environment? For me that would be the key that the management let the abuse continue.
That would be my complaint, as well. The original tussle wasn’t anything to write home about, but the fact that management apparently is okay with this being a part of the environment would bother me. Managers need to take some kind of action against employees who are spouting sexualized insults- and I think training could be an excellent solution. It would probably be a favor to the employee who is being disciplined, as they obviously have a thing or two to learn about professionalism.
If management has no process in place, that is the sort of thing that needs to be brought to the attention of the corporate headquarters, because something is out of whack there. No chain wants their local managers letting their local crew get off balanced like that. Restaurants, in particular, are rift for abuse- you usually have a lot of young women who really need the money. Local managers need to fully understand why the atmosphere must be kept professional.