Sexual Harassment or Hostile Work Environment?

**AmyZ** · 05-30-2006, 03:59 PM

I am in Pennsylvania

This is cut and paste from another forum I asked in, please excuse the lack of continuity.

Alright, here's my story, I want opinions here please.

*Warning: offensive words quoted in this*

I work in child care with about 25 other women. It's a small business owned by one male. He sits at his desk all day and does nothing but shout at people when they walk by. It's not always harsh, usually it's because he's bored and needs someone to talk to. Anyway, when he's talking to you, person to person, he'll use phrases like (warning, not so nice words here) "that c***" or "that t***" to refer to parents of the children or even other employees. He'll even use it in reference to the person he's talking to "c***" and think nothing of it. When he feels you're becoming uptight he'll tell you to "go f*** a dead n*****" and I've had enough. Not only does he use this language around adults, he also says things loud enough so that children could possibly hear him, he's inside the daycare. He also walks around grabbing himself when you say things he doesn't agree to. It's disgusting. There are at least 10 other employees, past and present, that I can think of that would stand behind me if I went forward with this law suit, but is it worth it? He's the only owner and I'm afraid that they won't take the business away from him. If that happens we'll all be out of jobs and he'll have won anyway. Also, during the whole process I don't know if he'll be allowed on the premises. We all want to keep our jobs, we love it there, we just can't stand his words and actions toward people. If anyone can give me any advice please do so! You can email me at amy18020@yahoo.com with any answers/questions/advise.

He's been asked multiple times by myself and other employees to please watch his language because of the children. Anytime he calls people nasty things we correct him by saying things like "you mean that woman right?" It's like we're dealing with a toddler that doesn't understand the meaning of the word no. I think we're just the first group of workers that have gotten fed up with it. Oh, and I forgot to mention this in my first post- he's violent. Now, he's smart enough to never have witnesses, but I've seen proof of his violence. His ex-girlfriend, one of our best employees who has since quit, came in with bruises all around her arm where he grabbed her and on her chin where he bit her. A grown man, in his 60's, bit someone. I just want to make sure that we have a solid case against him, we want the business taken away from him, I really don't care who ends up with it, anything is better than this.

If I report this to the state Department of Public Welfare I really don't know what they're going to do. He's got no record of violence. No one who has been physically hurt by him has ever reported him. I also know for a fact that he would never not come in. He's divorced twice, for obvious reasons, and his kids live on the other side of the country, again, for obvious reasons. He's got nothing to do all day but sit around and do this. I know that we need to put the children first, if it came down to keeping my job here and putting the children at risk or looking elsewhere and shutting him down I'd shut him down in a heartbeat. I just know that as a staff we're one of the most caring groups around and I'd hate to see that group broken up. I know that one of our teachers offered to buy the business from him a while back. I'll talk to her to see if she's still interested and then go from there. If she takes over the business after we take him down I'll be much happier. The kids can stay where they're comfortable and the teachers can too. I just don't know how long the whole process would take, that's one of my concerns. I don't want to work around him during the whole ordeal. I can't stand him as is and barely give him the time of day, I don't know how I would do it with this going on. I'll keep everyone updated, thanks for the opinions and advice.

Thanks in advance

**Mr. Knowitall** · 05-30-2006, 05:21 PM

A hostile work environment is "harassment at work that unreasonably interferes with or alters the employee's work performance, or creates a hostile, abusive or offensive work environment." It isn't clear, though, if you view this conduct as truly being of a sexual nature, as opposed to his acting like a toddler. Also it isn't clear what steps you really want to take - you could complain to your state's department of labor. You can try the federal EEOC, but I am not sure that your employer has enough employees to fall under their juridiction.

**AmyZ** · 05-30-2006, 07:28 PM

To answer your questions "Mr. Knowitall", yes I see this as sexual behavior and also dangerous in the case of the abuse. We have about 30 employees or so.