What do you do when you're the victim of harassment on the job?

Question

What do you do with a boss who threatens wages, and inflicts emotional abuse to force you to agree with his opinions? What do you do with a boss who pushes a women too far with emotional abuse to force compliance to unreasonable demands when she is 8 months pregnant? What do I do to win in this situation by not quitting and being able to receive unemployment. I haven't been getting paid enough to afford a lawyer. I'm in IL - what should I do?

It gets worse. He runs a small business so he knows where he can be "above the law." He has hired my husband on a very low salary to work in the non-profit sector and threatened our jobs when I became pregnant. He will not let me cut back on my hours and expects that I my comply with every demand of time that he makes even if it means working 7 days a week. He has called me stupid, and I stood up for myself for the 1st time today and he said it was because I'm mean and cruel to others that I would even dream of accusing him of any wrong. But that is not true. I have a clear conscience.

He has assigned me 3 tasks to be totally in charge of and refuses to provide details on what his expectations are or to answer questions. No one else in the company dares to stand up to him at all. I started not answering his questions in meetings and now he is totally outraged. I have no answer for someone who is browbeating me, putting me in a state of confusion and then demanding that I say yes to all of his statements that are putting me down and totally wrong. He's like totally psycho.

The company is too small to have accountability for the CEO - he runs everything and tells everybody what to do - he has no one to hold him accountable and no one dares to ever say he's wrong.

Answer 1

A loopwhole in some government policies is that they do not apply to companies that employ 15 people or less. However, what you are describing is the definition of a hostile work environment and possibly a quid pro quo situation. If you have an hr person you should take it up with them. Your next step if you are not satisfied with the results is to go directly to the local EEOC office. (Equal Opportunity .....) in your area. You can find them in the phone book.

More importantly you shold ask yourself what you want to change and what you want to come out of reporting him? It takes time to resolve complaints such as these. If this person is abusive towards you then you should think of moving on, for your health and the health of your unborn child. Such stress is not good for babies I hear.

Answer 2

If you are facing this because of your gender or pregnancy,
you can file an EEO complaint. Call the local or state EEOC
(equal employment opportunity commission). You don't need an attorney. At least not right away. You can get some help to settle this. And he cannot retaliate (by firing you for filing a complaint).
Because retaliation is illegal.

If he is just an asshole and treats everyone this way, you have little recourse. Because that is not illegal.

You only have a legit complaint if he is treating you differently than others because of your gender or medical condition.

I work EEO complaints as a federal mediator.
Your goal, however, should not be getting unemployment.
That is a red flag to me that you don't want to keep your job.

Answer 3

The government where you live must have some type of policy on this type of behaviour from an employer to and employee. There must be certain employment standards that he is required to meet legally and if you feel he has surpassed this right then you have every right to sue him for harrassment, loss wages, unfair work conditions or whatever. Both you and your husband need to stand up for your rights. Good luck.

Answer 4

Go to your HR department and file a complaint