Sexual Harassment Stories and Experiences

Angel, New York

     Well, just this past June 30th was my one-year anniversary from being fired from my high salary position as a Nurse Administrator after reporting that I was being sexually harassed by my boss.

     I was out on medical leave for high blood pressure and anxiety after dealing with chronic harassment. To make a long story short, the Medical Director (my boss) was the harasser. He did everything from verbal and physical abuse. Constantly propositioning me, grabbing me, trying to force himself on me, closing doors, calling me, driving by my house, drawings hearts on my dirty car, dirty jokes, telling me he loved me, blah blah blah. He was also the owner and a physician so he I am sure felt he could get away with whatever he wanted.

     During that time I knew I couldn’t continue to be in the situation and that I needed help. I called a lawyer and filed charges with the EEOC and Division of Human Rights. I decided to let HR know that they would be receiving notification of this upon my return. Several days later I received a written letter from HR that my position was terminated. There was no reason given. Of course I filed a law suit and I settled my case but the pain and scars will remain forever.

     I lost my job and have been out of work for one year. My therapist says I have severe post traumatic stress disorder. I am getting better but boy was I also glad to have found this site. I recently had a slight relapse when June 30th rolled around and I was faced with seeing some people from that job. So many different emotions. I really wish it would all go away!.

     The only thing I can honestly say at this point is that even though I settled for a monetary compensation…it really doesn’t give me any closure. To be honest with you…I wish I endured the amount of time it would havetaken to go all the way to court and never accept any settlement. I would be willing to take my chances and just make him go through the agony, humiliation and public scrutiny. I still have a lot of anger towards him and seriously wish that I took him to a courtroom. My lawyer and many others urged me to “get this over with”, “move on”, “you might get nothing”, “he’s going to deny it”, “other people that knew will not support you”.Well, here I am now…writing to you all “my story”. It still hurts! Best wishes to anyone else that goes through this and stay strong!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 5th, 2006 at 3:26 pm and is filed under Sexual Harassment in the Workplace, Retaliation, Backlash, and Victim-blaming, Effects of Sexual Harassment, Health Effects. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.