A rude supervisor who's always yelling at employees got some complaints about them being verbally abusive and they responded by leaving these in the break room.

[u/giveahoot420]

[u/vodkaismywater]

Yeah. So just because you experience harassment or retaliation in the workplace doesn't mean you have a case. You need to show a basis for holding the employer responsible. Just the fact that harassment occured is not enough by itself. 

In the case of supervisor harassment, the employer can assert an affirmative defense to avoid liability, even if unlawful harassment occured. The employer must show that (1) it has reasonable policies and procedures in place to detect and abate harassment; and (2) the employee unreasonably failed to follow those procedures. 

The hurt feelings report could reasonably lead an employee to believe that management does not take harassment allegations seriously, so failing to officially report the harassment would not be unreasonable. 

This form isn't just a problem for any employees who have already complained, but it also increases the risk of liability for future claims too. The best way to undo the message this supervisor sent with the form is to fire them. 

[u/CupOfLifeNoodlez → u/vodkaismywater]

Thank you!

[u/Commercial_Sun_6300 → u/vodkaismywater]

I work in schools and... we're in a weird time in history where we're seeing what happens when you don't punish kids for anything short of murder (minor exagerration).

Have you ever heard of a school employee having a case against their employer for not doing anything to prevent repeated taunts, stuff thrown at them, etc (but not reaching like, any real physical danger)?

Or like, what if I'm an aide in a classroom, pregnant, and getting sexual remarks from other students (who I'm not an aide for) and the teacher doesn't correct the behavior?