Speak Up!

Justme, California

     Well it all started back in November of 2008 when this new employee was training at my job. He would make comments at me, such as “Sexy mama,” and kept asking me out for drinks.  On several occasions we went out as a group after work and he would sit next to me and grab my leg.  I would excuse myself to go the the ladies room many times though the dinner to get away from him.  When he found out I had a boyfriend, he started saying things such as “Let me help you out,” or “I will take care of you, how could you last so long?”  He would grab my breast, laugh and say “I’m Bad!”

     I told my direct supervisor two different times about this.  She didn’t do anything about it.  She didn’t like confrontations with her peers and this individual didn’t report to her directly.

     Instead they fired me.  The excuse they gave was that  I was not following the “Code of conduct,” though this is not true and they had no proof of these allegations.  Its hurts to  know that when you speak up you get retaliated against.

     But once I left the front door of the company, I felt something lifting off my shoulders.  I felt FREEDOM.  I was no longer going to be sexually harassed nor feel afraid or intimidated.

     At this time I have gotten help from doctors and filled a lawsuit against my old employer. I was so afraid to loose my job due to the market conditions. But after all this time, it’s not worth my heart stopping every time I see this individual or just thinking of my old boss and getting mad because she didn’t pay attention to what I had to say.  No ones deserves this treatment or should have to work in a hostile place.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 at 4:06 pm and is filed under Retaliation, Backlash, and Victim-blaming, 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.