Speak Up!

Roger, Wisconsin      
     In 2002, I was working as a consultant for a Chicago based mid-tier IT Consulting and Business Solutions firm. 
     In response to my expressed dislike of a business decision, my manager, knowing I am gay, offered to pull down his pants and let me use his male endowment as a pacifier.   
     Aided by an attorney, I filed a complaint.  The follow-up investigation resulted in the supervisor admitting to the allegation. 
     The agreement and settlement reached was simple and more than fair.  Rather than fire the chap, as was their intent,  they put a “Permanent” letter in his personnel file.  That was until the fall of 2006.
     Much later, the company entered into a 5-year buyout agreement with a foreign company.  Once it was underway,  I received a request from Human Resources that I authorize that the  letter be removed from my old manager’s file.
     I rejected the request given the “Permanent” status of the letter and its intent. AND that I found their actions to be a breach of that original agreement.  
     Two weeks later, the same HR manager advised me that the letter would remain a “Permanent” fixture in the manager’s file.  However, in a follow-up to the issue, I was told that my objection to the matter may have been my dislike of managements ’style’ of doing things.
     I documented this and a few other issues and presented them to the COO. He really wasn’t interested to considering my issues, so I took the only logical step–the EEOC.
     The EEOC returned / released my complaint back to me with the right to take legal action.
     Now, they were really ticked. They were concerned about whether or not I would be pursuing a “legal remedy.” (read: lawsuit)
     My new manager offered to take me out back and shoot me, and he enjoyed sharing this with clients as a way of promoting team building.
     Having enough, I filed an additional complaint of harrassment and retaliation, which is still pending. Enough already, it was time to put an attorney to work.
     On the 26th of August, the Attorney sent the company’s HR manager a letter asking them to come to the table to discuss and negotiate the issues or face legal action.
     Today is my official last day with the company. The old manager and I both were released from the company at the same time.  He had been there 12 years, and I have been there 11.
     The guy that wants to shoot me out back, well, let’s say that his time is probably limited as well. How could you want and afford to keep someone like that on your staff?
     As for legal, the only remedies that remain now are financial. I do not want to go back and work for this firm, regardless of changes they would swear they would offer. Nor would I be asked to return.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 16th, 2008 at 11:46 am and is filed under Formal Investigations and Litigation, Harassment of Men, Retaliation, Backlash, and Victim-blaming, Same-sex harassment, Sexual Harassment in the Workplace. 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.