Sexual Harassment Stories and Experiences

 Joanie, Midwestern U.S.

     I’ve been an electrician for 23 years, and employed by a large Midwestern municipality for 17 years.  I was hired in an “A” classification, so I was suppose to be either on a day shift, or in charge of a shift.  The good old boys put me in charge of a night shift, thus maintaining the status quo. (Later, they hired a “B” classification electrician and attempted to keep him on the day shift.)

     Midnights were dreaded. I had drunk engineers coming into my kiosk. I had an Assistant Chief, my boss on duty, trying to lure me out into a van repeatedly for sex. A subordinate exposed himself to me as well. My General Foreman had pictures of women above his toilet with golf balls adorning their particulars. Materials that I needed for my job were kept in there. Another shop was plastered with hard core pornography. The Personnel office had a sign that read “sexual harassment won’t be tolerated but graded.” My GF’s idea of a holiday party was taking the guys to a strip joint. His specialty was the stare down, put downs and intimidation.

     I finally got the courage to file with the EEOC.   The discovery was particularly harrowing as they asked some horrifically personal questions such as when did I lose my virginity, all of this over an Electric Mechanics job.  I ended up suffering a major depressive episode and sought ADA protection to keep from being discharged for absenteeism.

     They finally gave me the transfer that I wanted to another department. I never wanted another female to experience what I’d went through. I followed through, went to Federal Court, and survived summary judgment.

     My “reputation” followed me to my second department. I was threatened by the superintendent with a drug test my second day. (Tests can only be “for cause,” usually a fight or an accident.)  I was in the most isolated assignment as well.  I asked to work out of the main shop after a period of time. My general foreman said okay, my foreman went over his head to the superintendent who then proceeded to bully and scream at me. I started crying and they sent me for a drug/alcohol test. It was degrading and humiliating to be escorted out by security. The test was negative, but I never forgave the general foreman or foreman for signing off on the test. I was on administrative leave until the test results came back. Both supervisors claimed that I seemed imbalanced. I was perfectly coherent until being screamed at by the abusive bully.

     I was soundly ostracized and shunned by some co-workers. I feared being blackballed at my union hall after the lawsuit, so I stuck it out. I didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of running me out of my municipal job.

     I was assigned to a foreman and had a new partner. Things settled down for a couple of years. Then the unexpected happened. My co-worker decided to wipe my breast off one day. After two months I decided to report the incident. There was another tradeswoman being harassed at the same time by her supervisors who even went to the local newspapers claiming that the managers had a “barbaric mentality against women.” Later, I found several pornographic magazines in my building. Another woman was hired in my trade. The managers fawned over her in front of me to send me a message. She got into an argument with them a few days before her probationary period was over. They fired her. I went to Human Resources and the EEOC.

     Then I received my first suspension for insubordination. My other supervisor lowered my scores on “interpersonal skills” to an unacceptable level. I was also frozen out of working overtime on an assignment in the building. I thought I had a fairly solid case.

     The other two women went to court with me, but I didn’t survive summary judgment. It was financially and emotionally devastating. They did offer to put me back on day shift finally, in the heaviest and dirtiest assignment. I eventually took the job. I went back to the EEOC as well.

     Things got more serious as I received a 5 day suspension for a safety infraction–men who were involved in far more serious incidents were not punished. The general foreman enforced written rules regarding vacation time that he ignored for the men. He wouldn’t let me go off premises to grab a sandwich while the men could. He had me do more reports and pestered me with all kinds of petty annoyances. He dropped all of my evaluation scores to an “unacceptable” level, even though he had never worked on one shift with me during the period in question. Human Resources gave him a written reprimand for that.

     After nearly 12 years, I got a promotion to Electrical Inspector. I was to be on a task force dealing with “known and identified havens of crime and gang activity,” but the higher ups and my union assured me that I’d be with law enforcement on this assignment. Instead, my first day I was sent on a subunit in high crime areas with no police. I had to go into alleys to conduct inspections on electrical services, and was afraid of getting raped or killed. My co-workers threatened to leave me alone in dangerous situations. I asked to leave immediately and return to my former job. The administrator informed me that my superintendent didn’t want me back. I cried nearly every day and every night in that department. Eventually, they dismissed me for cause and I went back to my former job.

     I was terrified, demoralized, and nearing another depressive episode.

     The stare down I received from several foremen my first day back was unbelievable. I could almost see the disgust on their faces that their “problem” was back. Instead of afternoons this time, they put me on midnights for 3 months of “training,” alluding to another promotion. The training was non-existent.  Later, I was put back on days, but the foreman that I was placed with made belittling remarks, and told me that the idea of my becoming a supervisor was “ridiculous.” He’s a 3-time divorcee who has nothing good to say about women. He asked me personal questions about my finances and started pressuring me to meet him off work. I rebuffed the offers. He clasped my hand and wouldn’t let go in front of another foreman that I used to work for on afternoons. He seemed jealous when he seen me talking to other men on the job. I found the attention unnerving. One day he hit me on the behind with a newspaper. A few days later he put his hand on my leg and I screamed at him to get his hands off of me. This happened when others were around to see, including my general foreman.

     I went to my union steward and asked him to talk to him. Two days later we were loading lights on a truck for a project. The union steward bent over on the pickup truck and the foreman proceeded to whack him on the behind with the cardboard box insert. Both were laughing hysterically. The foreman remarked that he didn’t give a F*** how she feels. Later, he continued to ask me out socially. One day he came up to me and belligerently stated that “you have to learn to trust me and that we aren’t going to let you brown-nose us.” I was backed up against the shop workbench when this happened. (Since he never bothered me on the midnight shift, I think he is trying to drive me off of day shift.)

     I called off the following day and called Human Resources, signing off on yet another Sexual Harassment claim. The investigation is imminent. It’s going to be brutal. I recall the havoc from the other investigation a few years ago when my co-workers got called in.

     Another female was hired two years ago and she has bonded well with the men over my sexual harassment claims. She told me that no one wants to work with someone who has an “agenda” and who is a snitch bitch. Her only asset is that she isn’t me.

     With every passing day I’m getting closer to retirement and I’m determined to hang in there for the duration. Retaliation can take many forms and it reveals itself in vicious ways. It has been an arduous experience and I hope that I’ve helped break ground for other women coming into my trade.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 22nd, 2006 at 1:13 pm and is filed under Sexual Harassment in the Workplace, Retaliation, Backlash, and Victim-blaming, Formal Investigations and Litigation. 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.