My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: North Carolina
I work at a large home improvement store and was hired as a cabinet specialist (I have 15 years in cabinets and related fields) in May. My coworker was hired three weeks before me and has no design experience at all. A is a black man, I am a white woman.
A. has a problem with women. He's said "Here, let a man do that" when I was helping a customer with something heavy. I drew in my breath but didn't say anything. He's had problems completing a design. I looked over his shoulder and saw he'd used the wrong components for a certain application. When I pointed out what he should do, he ignored me. I mentioned it again and he said he knew what he was doing. I called up the design later when he wasn't there and the same problems were still in the design. I told management and because of this and the fact that he seemed to be unable to close the sale, my manager gave me the design and told me to close it. When A asked why I had it I told him to talk to D (asst store mgr) He did and D said "I don't care who does it as long as it's done." A took it back.
In prep for a district mgmt visit we were supposed to clean and stock the department. We both got lists of tasks by email. I did mine, he always said he was too busy. A mgr told me that if it wasn't done he (the mgr) would get written up. I did as much as I could, spending more time on cleaning than on customers or designs. A has always had excuses for why he couldn't clean, put cabinets on the shelves or do any department task. Our department manager asked him to do things and he always had excuses for her, too, and filed a complaint against her because she was always hassling him. My department manager, zone manager and the HR manager agreed that he had a problem with women.
We have certain times in which an employee is supposed to stand out at the main aisle, welcome customers and make sure they have what they need. I've been asked many times to do impact, I have never seen A do this. The only way to get out of it is to be helping a customer. He is most often seen at his desk, reading. A sold a kitchen in July, the cabinets arrived in August and the installation started. I found out that the customers kitchen has been torn up for six weeks because he had to order parts that weren't on the original order but needed to be.
My sales suffered as a result and on Sept 23 I was told they were too low and would be transferred to "fashion plumbing" meaning bathroom counters and cabinets. Only problem is that most of my job is helping customers find parts for toilet repairs, different pvc joints and parts, selling toilets, explaining how plumbing stuff works. In order to justify the transfer, the store manager said my sales were lower than his and that another employee who'd sold cabinets before would be put in my place. When I mentioned that I was the one who did all the non-selling tasks and he always had an excuse not to I was told that this isn't about Greg, it's about you. They were comparing our sales but not our performance.
The earning potential for someone in the cabinet department is much greater than the earning potential for someone in plumbing, so the move has hurt me financially. We get incentive for everything we order special like cabinets. The higher price items the more incentive we make. When I was transferred I asked the store manager what my new goals were and he said all he wanted to see is progress. That nebulous standard scares me because he gets to decide what "progress" is. My hours got worse because cabinet associates start at 8 am, plumbing starts at 6 am.
There was no effort to address my sales before my transfer. My sales mgr never approached me and asked me how he could help improve my numbers. I didn't get written up for low sales as other employees have. No one in mgmt did or said anything before I got moved.
My opinion that this is a "man culture" and men are going to be given the plums before the women are. My field is populated predominantly by women but in talking to other stores and going to seminars I notice that other stores' kitchen departments are staffed largely by men.
Questions:
*Should I go talk to my HR manager about my concerns and raise these issues (he was in on the meeting when I was transferred.)
*Should I just shut up and take as many notes as I can? I'm afraid this is the beginning of trying to fire me. My dept manager lobbied the store manager to fire Greg before his three months were up but he didn't. She thinks this was in part because he'd filed a complaint against her. Mgmt was afraid of how far he'd take his complaint. I wonder if I complain would I get the same special treatment A got?
*Should I push them to reveal his sales numbers as well as mine? Dept mgr thinks they are mostly from selling appliances, not cabinets, and that my cabinet numbers are higher. Special order sales (SOS) are the numbers we're usually judged on.
*How do I act at work? Should I be docile and do as I've been told or should I push back at mgt?
Sorry this is so long. It's so depressing going from designing and selling kitchens to selling replacement toilet flappers.

