CAAdmission Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 Hate to tell you this, but it isn't against federal law to harass or bully employees, or to treat them unfairly, unless the harassment is on the basis of age, sex, race, religion, or other prohibited basis, like sexual harassment. A few states may have enacted antibullying legislation; however that is different than federal regulation. There are a lot of companies that have lost a lot of money due to "hostile workplace" lawsuits. In most of these cases, the burden of proof is on the defendant to prove their innocence. I have seen some people made miserable by a malignant employee where there was no cause. There is cause here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boatswain2PA Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 Sorry CJ, to bring a "hostile workplace" suit you must have a "protected status":From https://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/crc/2011-workplace-harassment.htm"When harassing conduct violates the law* First, unlawful harassing conduct must be unwelcome and based on the victim's protected status." If you're a white Christian male....you can't file a hostile workplace suit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reality Check 2 Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 The bottom line is that it is not illegal to be a giant D Bag jerk. Unethical, mean, not right, but not illegal. UNLESS an organization has a morals clause which states the person has signed on to abide by their character and morals clause and they have behavior unbecoming of a member of ________________________ (insert hospital or organization name) but most of these places don't have those clauses. The NFL has one of these clauses and we see how much good that does......................... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poetsiren Posted September 15, 2016 Share Posted September 15, 2016 I would love an update from the OP on this matter..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAAdmission Posted September 16, 2016 Share Posted September 16, 2016 Sorry CJ, to bring a "hostile workplace" suit you must have a "protected status": C'mon, you just have to be a little creative. I am sure just about anyone can find an indian chief in their lineage. For a million dollar lawsuit I could easily develop gender identity confusion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boatswain2PA Posted September 18, 2016 Share Posted September 18, 2016 C'mon, you just have to be a little creative. I am sure just about anyone can find an indian chief in their lineage. For a million dollar lawsuit I could easily develop gender identity confusion. If the junior senator from Massachusetts can do it, I'm sure I could to! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sk732 Posted September 18, 2016 Share Posted September 18, 2016 23 and Me told me no...all my non-Irish/Brit stuff was Viking, and that was like 5%. So much for trying for my Status Card... SK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runforhotdogs Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 Thanks all for the replies. Today was very off after he sent the really demeaning text. I kept distance and silence, scrubbed with another surgeon, and unfortunately did all of his rounds and notes as usual. There's one PA in our group that is always the optimist and very level headed, has done this for 16 years plus. The other, shes about as pompous as her attending she works with, I don't want to leave them out to dry so to speak and make them pick up the slack, but at the same time I do not want to keep doing favors or work for this excuse for a surgeon. I went ahead and filed a formal complaint with HR. It is submitted through email first, then face to face with an HR rep at a later date. The sad part is, I have this undying loyalty to this place and somewhat to him as this was my first job out of training. It is sad, yes I know. As far as getting out of my contract, the hospital is on a budget cut and I have about 6 weeks of vacation that have not been used, and I can either take them, or leave without the payout (they are not paying out vacation if you resign your position). I spoke with management on about a severance package, but the likelihood of that is about the same as winning the lottery, but I never know. I have taken the high road and kept my head down and scrubbed with other people lately and covered one of our sister facilities...which he hates because I am not there to do all of his work so he can sit in his office and plan vacations and so forth. I have cases lined up at this facility for the next weeks. The other attendings are begging me to come there FT. I ran into him, didn't say a word, just a smile on my face. As bad as I want to be an ass, and pop-off to him, I haven't. My evidence against him is enough, but it's up to the hospital to do something about it when the time comes. 59 days and counting.... Thanks all for the replies. Today was very off after he sent the really demeaning text. I kept distance and silence, scrubbed with another surgeon, and unfortunately did all of his rounds and notes as usual. There's one PA in our group that is always the optimist and very level headed, has done this for 16 years plus. The other, shes about as pompous as her attending she works with, I don't want to leave them out to dry so to speak and make them pick up the slack, but at the same time I do not want to keep doing favors or work for this excuse for a surgeon. I went ahead and filed a formal complaint with HR. It is submitted through email first, then face to face with an HR rep at a later date. The sad part is, I have this undying loyalty to this place and somewhat to him as this was my first job out of training. It is sad, yes I know. As far as getting out of my contract, the hospital is on a budget cut and I have about 6 weeks of vacation that have not been used, and I can either take them, or leave without the payout (they are not paying out vacation if you resign your position). I spoke with management on about a severance package, but the likelihood of that is about the same as winning the lottery, but I never know. I have taken the high road and kept my head down and scrubbed with other people lately and covered one of our sister facilities...which he hates because I am not there to do all of his work so he can sit in his office and plan vacations and so forth. I have cases lined up at this facility for the next weeks. The other attendings are begging me to come there FT. I ran into him, didn't say a word, just a smile on my face. As bad as I want to be an ass, and pop-off to him, I haven't. My evidence against him is enough, but it's up to the hospital to do something about it when the time comes. 59 days and counting.... Unfortunately, this kind of shows the kind of person you are and they are. Why smile to him? People smell fear. Taking the high road means weakness to many people. This is comical but recently I called out this huge guy out at a buffet line. He cut in front of this lady with a kid. No one said anything. I wasn't sure if he was there or not earlier so I asked the lady. He quietly said no and shrugged. I called him out. He made a stink and asked the lady if he cut and that he would never do that to a kid. The lady did not back me up so I had no case. The lady behind me said the guy was there earlier. Then the big guy got his food and continued to curse me and said this is why people get shot. So, I loudly asked him, so are you threatening me now? After he left, the mother thanked me. Point is, you should not let bullies bully you or other people around. I am a smaller guy and would get stomped no doubt, but hey, what's right is right. Every office is mandated to post EOE signs about harassment in the workplace in easily identifiable locations, usually the break room. Being quiet and deferential to bullies just emboldens them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwells78 Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 Sorry to hear you deal with such Bullsh** from your Attending, but you are not alone. Youre doing the right thing-- dont pop off and give him an excuse to do anything else to you. It's not worth it, and besides- that's what he wants. Every dog has their day and he will certainly have his. You have your light at the end of the tunnel. Leave that crap behind you and move on to greener pastures. Good luck to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
south Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 Sorry CJ, to bring a "hostile workplace" suit you must have a "protected status": From https://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/crc/2011-workplace-harassment.htm "When harassing conduct violates the law* First, unlawful harassing conduct must be unwelcome and based on the victim's protected status." That's true, but that is the definition of bringing a complaint under the rules of the DOL, as in official EEO type stuff. Harassment in general and in some cases "hostile work environment" is defined in broader terms and it is much easier to get someone in trouble for. It may or may not be, you know, illegal under DOL, but it might be an item for HR or the locals to deal with. For instance, If someone asks you to stop some sort of behavior and you don't, that can often be some form of harassment. Using profanity, telling dirty jokes not directed anywhere near the victim is the usual thing. Ridiculous? Yes. Hostile work environment? In some cases, yes. Those of us who survived military or federal government service in the early 90's at the start of the "politically correct" movement can tell you that in some (at the time, most) environments absolutely anything that the victim determines is harassment - is harassment and constitutes a hostile work environment. After a ridiculous incident, we had to have a lawyer come in and explain that more fully. He said - verbatim - if you say you like yellow pencils, prefer the Raiders over the Chiefs or Pepsi over Coke, and someone overhears this and says it's harassment, then it is, full stop. Just some thoughts I guess. "Hostile environment" is the original trigger word. TRIGGERED Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDude Posted January 29, 2017 Author Share Posted January 29, 2017 Update from the previous sh*t show. After I went to HR and made my formal complaint, I worked for about another 2 weeks. I requested to take 2 weeks of vacation (you don't need any prior authorization or timeline to do this). I was denied and asked our office manager why it was denied. She directed me to the upper management office. I went up and visited with our upper manager who informed me that my contract was up at that moment and I was to pack my things and go. I asked if I was being terminated and he stated no, but that my contract was being voided. The true contract was up in December of 2016, this was late August when this all happened. I asked about my vacation being paid out as well as the rest of my contract. As a typical upper manager, he told me no to both. I then presented him a copy of my contract that I always carried, and I found where it stated that if the contract was nullified or voided, that it was to be paid out till the term of the contract. He laughed and I stood up and said this exactly, "any further communication from you or this group will need to be through my attorney, who will also be contacting you for breach of contract." His smile went from 100 to 0 in a second. I walked off, finished the rest of my charts, and talked to the other PA who was my friend, and turned my badge and parking pass in, and drove off into the sunset so to speak. About an hour after I left and notified my friend who is an attorney and told him of what was going on, I received a call from the legal department from my former group. I was told that my contract would be honored till the end term date, but the vacation would not be paid out. I fought for about 3 months to get my vacation paid out, and this is still an ongoing battle. The best part, my previous attending does not have a PA to this date, and he has requested one per some of my friends who still work there. He did hire a nurse to do all his notes and errands, but I think that lasted 2 months before the nurse left. I have had a few prospective PA's ask to speak with me about working for him, but I haven't spoken with any of them as they withdrew their applications before I could contact them. Long story short, I took the professional high road and it has paid off. I am with a private CVT Surgery group that some of the anesthesia folks set me up with, and now cover 2 facilities for EVH and surgical coverage and have yet to feel a bit abused or anything negative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EMSGuy1982 Posted January 29, 2017 Share Posted January 29, 2017 Could this be seen as retaliation for your report to HR? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
south Posted January 29, 2017 Share Posted January 29, 2017 Woohoo, that's good times right there. Classic retaliation. Interesting and I"m glad it worked out. Screw that guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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