Sexual Harassment Stories and Experiences

Laura, Ohio 

     I was a manager of a payday  loan service.    I am not a 22 year old “hottie”.  I am in fact a 43 year old mother of three who happens to have an Associates degree in Human Resources and a Bachelor’s in Organizational Management. 

     My harassment began in the second week of January a new manager was brought in where I work.

     The first day this individual came to our site he amazed all of us women there with his blatant sexual harassment.  He never missed an opportunity to grope, fondle or manhandle the three of us.   Every word out of his mouth was dripping with sexual innuendo.  If we bent down for any reason, his standard response was “hey, while your down there” with a sneer on his face and his hand in his pocket simulating masturbation. 

     It was disgusting. 

     Being an HR person, I immediately let him know this behavior was unwanted. 

     The last straw came after working in this environment for weeks was when this manager walked in on one of my female coworkers and myself discussing my dread of my upcoming mammogram.  We were not aware of his presence for several minutes.   

     That afternoon, with no other employees in our vicinity, he grabs me, fondles my breasts and tells me he had to just “feel my boobies” because he heard they were “fake.”

     I was devastated and felt as if I had been raped. 

     After a long night reliving this horrible experience in my head and knowing how this individual was also making my female coworkers feel, I decided to come forward.  I made a written complaint to Coworker Relations and was contacted by them  to get further details of the incident.  In the process, they spoke to the coworkers that had also been harassed. 

     I waited a week, dealing with a madman as he had been told of my formal complaint. 

     Finally, I was called by my district manager who stated that this was his second offense, and on Monday we would be having a formal meeting about proper behavior in the workplace!  This was not an acceptable resolution for me and I promptly gave my notice.

     Now my unemployment compensation is being denied as I did not give the “company long enough of a duration to address the issue”.  I am at my wits end. 

     I am so thankful that I found this website because I am struggling with the aftermath of workplace sexual harassment, and it helps to know that I am not alone.  I hope that my story will help someone survive the stigma of workplace harassment. 

This entry was posted on Monday, April 14th, 2008 at 12:50 pm and is filed under Sexual Harassment in the Workplace, 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.