Harassment by Women—A California Labor Law Violation
By Jane Mundy
San Diego, CA: Camden claims he has " an obvious case of white male harassment" by two female managers. No matter if you're male or female, white or black, harassment is a violation of the California Labor Law.
Camden worked the evening shift for a telemarketing company. He believes he was harassed by the two women and used as a scapegoat by one of the managers so they would "save face". If that is the case, a California state labor law has been violated. It all started when the night manager, Wendy, blamed him for the entire group of telemarketers not reading their script properly--the group was supposed to read the disclaimer: "This call may be recorded for quality control," after every call.
"One night, because Wendy [the manager] was not there, everyone took a recess from the disclaimer due to so many people not speaking English over the phone," says Camden. "Eileen [2nd in command] was the manager that night, and if we were at fault then no doubt it would be her duty to accept blame for the occasion and fix the situation immediately, but she didn't do anything.
Wendy was at home monitoring us--we weren't supposed to know. She was doing this because she did not want to be there in the evenings, and was basically abandoning her position as manager of the new campaign. Towards the end of that evening, Eileen was getting yelled at over the phone by Wendy and then she came over to my desk and told me to punch out because I was in trouble.
Because Wendy needed to rely on Eileen, I was the fall guy, I was blamed because Wendy didn't want to blame the manager. But why me? Perhaps because she felt that I had a strong character that was influencing the rest of the group; meaning that I am a 42-year- old white male who should be held responsible for others. I was accused of being the ringleader in the vice.
The next day Eileen wagged a pink slip in front of me saying I was that close to being fired. Then she started freaking out on me; she went on a rampage and started yelling at all of us. I told her that we needed someone else here in the evening.
She called the owner to get permission to fire me. I tried to reconcile??"I know she was about to pull the trigger. That evening I was trying my best, but I was working on a slow computer with cheap headphones. I was being monitored by Wendy the entire time; I got one call after another that started with, ' I don't speak English,' so I said, 'Thank you and have a good evening'. Wendy lost it. She dragged me into the conference room. 'Why aren't you probing the customers?', she screamed over and over again.
She backed me into a corner and sent me home. I knew I was fired. They confuse at-will employment with at-will harassment. They can do anything they want to get you fired. The end justifies the means. They can set you up and there is no legislation in the California labor law that says you cannot do that.
I talked to someone at the Department of Fair Housing and Employment. He couldn't do anything but send me a letter with alternatives. Then I went to the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEOC). They just listen to your complaint and do nothing. So now I have to wait three months to make an appeal to the California Employment Development Department. In other words I have no income right now. I would have dropped the entire issue but for the fact that I am broke, so now I am going to seek legal help."
Camden worked the evening shift for a telemarketing company. He believes he was harassed by the two women and used as a scapegoat by one of the managers so they would "save face". If that is the case, a California state labor law has been violated. It all started when the night manager, Wendy, blamed him for the entire group of telemarketers not reading their script properly--the group was supposed to read the disclaimer: "This call may be recorded for quality control," after every call."One night, because Wendy [the manager] was not there, everyone took a recess from the disclaimer due to so many people not speaking English over the phone," says Camden. "Eileen [2nd in command] was the manager that night, and if we were at fault then no doubt it would be her duty to accept blame for the occasion and fix the situation immediately, but she didn't do anything.
Wendy was at home monitoring us--we weren't supposed to know. She was doing this because she did not want to be there in the evenings, and was basically abandoning her position as manager of the new campaign. Towards the end of that evening, Eileen was getting yelled at over the phone by Wendy and then she came over to my desk and told me to punch out because I was in trouble.
Because Wendy needed to rely on Eileen, I was the fall guy, I was blamed because Wendy didn't want to blame the manager. But why me? Perhaps because she felt that I had a strong character that was influencing the rest of the group; meaning that I am a 42-year- old white male who should be held responsible for others. I was accused of being the ringleader in the vice.
The next day Eileen wagged a pink slip in front of me saying I was that close to being fired. Then she started freaking out on me; she went on a rampage and started yelling at all of us. I told her that we needed someone else here in the evening.
She called the owner to get permission to fire me. I tried to reconcile??"I know she was about to pull the trigger. That evening I was trying my best, but I was working on a slow computer with cheap headphones. I was being monitored by Wendy the entire time; I got one call after another that started with, ' I don't speak English,' so I said, 'Thank you and have a good evening'. Wendy lost it. She dragged me into the conference room. 'Why aren't you probing the customers?', she screamed over and over again.
She backed me into a corner and sent me home. I knew I was fired. They confuse at-will employment with at-will harassment. They can do anything they want to get you fired. The end justifies the means. They can set you up and there is no legislation in the California labor law that says you cannot do that.
I talked to someone at the Department of Fair Housing and Employment. He couldn't do anything but send me a letter with alternatives. Then I went to the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEOC). They just listen to your complaint and do nothing. So now I have to wait three months to make an appeal to the California Employment Development Department. In other words I have no income right now. I would have dropped the entire issue but for the fact that I am broke, so now I am going to seek legal help."
No Comments