Quote:
Originally Posted by Rojola
In case anyone is thinking about going to HR with a grievance against your manager think twice.
HR is not your friend.
HR exists to protect the company and therefore are anti-employee by Nature. They pretend to be on both sides but are really only on the side that's paying them.
Most likely what you'll find if you go to HR is a person who will sit and listen to what you have to say as if they care.
You will most likely hear this statement: " thank you for coming to HR and informing us of this matter. HR will investigate this claim and get back to you shortly".
So you go back to you daily work thinking that you have an advocate on your side. Think again.
Sometime later you're called to HR to a meeting room. When you open the door there you find your HR Rep, your boss's boss and your boss with a slight smirk with the file folder.
At that point you realize you've been conned. Fear and depression overtake. You feel like your heart is in your throat beating a mile a minute. You're having a panic attack.
You sit down and HR begins to explain that they reviewed your case and what they really want to discuss is your performance at work.
Your boss begins to explain how you've missed the mark on several occasions and disappointed with your performance. Your manager openes up the file folder looks at his notes and begins to berate you with specific instances that are spinned and twisted and exaggerated to make you look incompetent.
At that point your manager with support of HR writes you up with a final warning. If your performance doesn't improve within 12 months you will be terminated. They hand you a pen to sign the corrective action form and your little meeting is adjourned.
You make your way back to your desk defeated, depressed, angry, afraid. You want to quit that day but your financial obligations prevent you from doing so. For the meantime you're stuck working in hell.
This is not uncommon example of what could happen if you go to HR with a grievance against your manager.
The only way you have any chance of winning is if you have clear proof via video or photos or audio recording that your boss made sexual advances or assaulted you physically or verbally. It has to be something discriminatory or egregious with proof.
Complaining that your boss is mean or unfair or yells or falls short of responsibilities or duties as a leader and coach will get you nowhere.
If your boss is a misanthropic, insufferable jackass it's best to just get a job elsewhere.
Remember ... HR is not your friend.
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However, if you have a sense you are on the way out the door REGARDLESS of if you went to HR or not (writing is on the wall that you are a target)...than GO TO HR.
I say this because it is important if down the line you want a future lawsuit for discrimination, abuse..whichever. I noticed some things about my situation like I was being singled out for errors that everyone was making.
I was approached and told to wear no makeup in an area where it was standard procedure to wear no makeup and I never did (obvious to me another individual in my dept was jealous of me and started to report little things..and must have said she thought I was wearing makeup). There was not a reason for my boss to make that comment to me.
Also, if you ever feel like your boss is having a conversation with you that you feel like is non professional...but not specific...like So and so said that you spend a lot of time on email during your shift. I would ask point blank at that time IS THIS some kind of repramand? Because I don't feel there is reason for it and if it is I would like in writting that my email use is in question!
All these things happened to me and had I reported them to HR...I would have had proof "documentation" that some harassment was going on because I did save specific emails where certain individuals could have been considered as harrassing me. If I brought all my concerns to HR and all my emails and HR knew I had proof? They would know I had a potential lawsuit.
I was not fired from my job but did get a 12 month warning. I like how you describe the feelings because I always felt so alone. I would be the first one to say I deserved the warning if I did deserve it.
I left due to the stress. Once you have a written warning...its time to move on regardless if they drop it or not..because it will always be on your mind..make you make more errors...etc.
It took me about 1.5 years to figure out I could have had a lawsuit against them and when I read about lawsuits..the most important thing someone like me SHOULD have done..was gone to HR to get my side documented!