I was threatend by a supvisor and had my hours cut.Do I have a case?

In Feburary2003 A shift supervisor were I worked had been treating me very badly at the start of my shift; she was insulting my intelligence, insinuating that I was a thief, all in front of the customers. . She wasn't answering calls for help, I tried calling the store manager for help, and She was not home at that time. Things kept escalating until the storeowner, walked in. I was in tears due to her treatment of me. I talked to the storeowner, in the office, and then the owner pulled the supervisor in and spoke to her, telling her to lay off of me and leave me alone. He then left. The supervisor then became more aggressive towards me after that. Again, I tried calling the store manager. I told her what was going on and asked her if I could leave, but she said no. She just told me to deal with it, and then hung up. The shift supervisor told me to leave, and I told her that the store manager told me I couldn't. That's when she threatened to "beat me down." I asked her if it was a threat, and she said yes. When my replacement arrived he asked my why I was crying. I told him what had happened and that I was going to file a police report when I got home. The supervisor heard this and she started yelling more obscenities at me, and told me that this wasn't the first time that she would be going to jail for this type of thing. She said this in front of another employee. I then went home and immediately filed a police report with the Sheriff's Department. The next day I walked into work and asked the store manager what was going to be done. She said they were cutting my hours and I was not going to be working a split shift any more. That meant I lost ten to fifteen hours of work a week. Nothing was going to happen to the shift supervisor. I was upset and said they were punishing the victim. Later that day, The storeowner asked me to provide a written statement about what happened, which I did. Then the store manager and owner pulled me into the office and asked me again what happened. I explained. I also told them what the shift supervisor had said she'd been arrested for this type of behavior before. They said they were unaware of this, and that there was nothing about it on her application. Their solution to the problem was to cut my hours. They then said to stay away from the shift supervisor, as well as to stay away from the store when she was there. I took that to mean company parties, as well. He then said that I was the most honest, trustworthy, hard-working individual that they had. My suggestions had really helped the store and stopped a lot of employee theft, and despite my health problems/disability, my attendance was very good. The owner said it was my word against hers Basically he didn't believe me. I said it wasn't right or fair for the victim to be punished by having my hours cut. They said if that's what was bothering me, they had a solution to that. I could work one extra hour in the morning doing heavy cleaning, knowing full well the more physical my work is, and the more my health problems/disability's are aggravated. However, I was stuck and had no choice, so I did the cleaning for as long as I was able to do so. The storeowner was not happy that I called the police. I got the feeling they wanted me to drop all my complaints. Then the owner told me, time will heal all wounds, and we'll forgive each other. I told him that this was bull and I didn't feel that for a second. What he did (and didn't do) was highly unfair and unappreciated on my part. With that they sent me on my way. I felt my only choice was to begin looking for other employment. With all of my health problems/disability's it is extremely difficult for me to find a job. So I continued working at convenience store I felt trapped. I worked with out a problem until late Oct. When my health problem starting acting up from stress I had to cut my hours down to three days a week. I was really hoping that management would right the situation they never did. On November 17, 2003, the convenience store terminated my employment because I was not working enough hours, At that time I was only able to work a few hours a week by then. Even though there were people in the store working fewer hours than I was. I was not granted an exit interview as stated in the handbook. They are even withholding my unemployment. I realize most of these events took place over a year ago, My question is do I have a case for discrimination? Can anything still be done?Thank you for your time and thank you for any help you may give me in regards to this matter.

1 answer  |  asked Mar 2, 2004 2:12 PM [EST]  |  applies to Indiana

Answers (1)

Brenda Franklin Rodeheffer
Discrimination?

Although you have given a lengthy set of facts, the key facts to give any analysis are missing (gender, race, nationality of persons, your disability, dates). Unless you have witnesses who will support you, you will have a difficult case. Since your facts are lengthy, if you do not want to call an attorney and get a consultation, I would recommend that you call the Equal Employment Opportunity Comm'n to file a charge: 800-669-4000. If you do not file a charge within 180 days of your termination, you will probably lose all rights. Also, you should be successful if you appeal the unemployment denial.

posted by Brenda Franklin Rodeheffer  |  Mar 4, 2004 09:16 AM [EST]

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