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Ostracized & Belittled by Manager & Coworkers

	HR Management
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A new manager was hired a little over 2 months ago. Being that I had to handle some of her duties for the four months we didn’t have one (including working 6 days a week- coming in on my day off to attend the executive meeting) I was thrilled when she was hired as I have 3 small children and the 6 days a week were very tough. I was in excellent standing with all the upper manangers/executives when she started as I had helped out so much. The first week she was hired, she had the other employee (who works at the same level as me) fired and her best friend was hired. She also told me that my work ethic was questioned and I asked the upper manangement who told me that was not the case at all. She was very nice to me for the first week until I told the upper manager that I needed some help with the other employee that knew she was being fired and was very hostile and I was left alone with her (as the new manager left early every day). She has treated me horrendously ever since. She and her best friend (the other employee that she replaced the woman she had fired who is supposed to work at the same level as me) sit in their respective offices and close the door and whisper all day in Farsi, the new manager is constantly leaving early or not working (although i’m unaware of her work schedule agreement so this may be allowed) but she calls in and passes requests or duties as messages through her best friend who again is supposed to be on the same level as me and is constantly asking me if I’ve finished certain projects. I spoke to the upper manager about her behavior and we all had a “sit down’ where she blatantly lied and told our manager that I’d said things about other colleagues that in fact she’d said. I said that she was lying but my manager said she needed to be respected. She said we were having an event and that I was required to invite people to attend but that I couldn’t invite riff raff and repeated that word several times. Now when I walk in in the morning and say hello, neither of them speak to me at all and she has asked me several times not to copy our upper manager on work emails which I’ve continued to do to protect myself and show that I’m doing my work properly because of the lies she told saying that I wasn’t doing my work during our meeting. I am looking for another job but cannot leave because my husband is currently unemployed (and she’s made comments about this.) Is it legal for me to be subjected to this environment? What can I do?

It probably was a tactical error for you to go over the new boss’s head with your complaint about the former coworker, and the supervisor leaving early. The new supervisor probably feels threatened by you, since you took on some of her current duties before she was hired. Since you don’t know her exact work schedule, it’s safe to assume that she has permission to come in late and leave early.

 

 

It’s poor management for a supervisor to hire her friends and treat them better than other employees. It’s unprofessional for her and your coworker to belittle you, and exclude you. But it’s not necessarily illegal. If you felt that you were being treated this way because you are of a different race, color, national ancestry or religion than the supervisor, that would be a violation of federal anti-discrimination laws (specifically Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.) However, it’s possible that this supervisor would resent a person of any race who was in your position.

 

For your own protection, continue to copy the supervisor’s boss on relevant work emails and look for another job. It’s also wise to document as much of your own performance as you can, since it will probably continue to be an issue.