There’s a racist in my workplace.
First a little backstory.
Last November an individual whom I’ve never enjoyed working with was appropriately fired for making racist statements towards his supervisor and about his coworkers. This individual is a middle aged black male who holds some rather twisted views about the “superiority” of the black race and some deep seated victimhood/persecution complexes.
Many of us have been the focus of his tirades in the past, but the guy knew that as long as there was only one person to say he said it, he could plausibly deny saying it. Essentially, he’d stalk you until he could get you alone and then light off on whatever you did to piss him off that day/week/month, etc.
The event that got him fired was caused by an open door and his inability to watch the traffic coming through the area. He essentially went off on his white supervisor about an assignment given to him by a white dispatcher in front of what turned out to be over a half a dozen people.
For some reason, most likely some sort of twisted sensitivity training, the Teamsters Local he is a member of decided that a black man is incapable of uttering racist statements and has spent since Christmas getting him his job back. I don’t know what they threatened to do, a wildcat strike or whatnot, but my employer bought it and as of yesterday, the guy is now my co-worker again.
When I bought my objections to his supervisor, I was told that I shouldn’t be too concerned because he wasn’t getting any back pay for the time between his firing and yesterday and that he has to “keep his mouth shut” as part of his renewed employment.
As you can probably guess, that is not going to work for me.
I’ll be raising a formal complaint with my supervisor tomorrow AM during our department meeting and see what that gets me. If nothing, then I’ll explore my other options, of which there seem to be very few, from there.
In the mean time, I’m working on an appropriate “Fuck You” statement for him.
Actually, I think this is a very clear case of a hostile work environment; and you’ve got a very good shot with the EEOCB. If you were black and he white, and he was rehired in such a manner, you would have no problem with a lawsuit, and you can easily show that. If they don’t do the same for you, then it’s clearly unequal treatment under the law, and you could clearly show that as well.
That is of course, if you wanted to bother.
Maybe you should consider carrying a small portable recording device just in case he decides to make more comments. A voice recording should eliminate the he said/she said deflection.
Most MP3 players double as recorders.
get a Sansa 260 series, and keep it in your pocket without headphones. Leave it turned on. Hit the record button at start of tirade.
In some places, Kristopher, making such a surreptitious recording is not only inadmissible as evidence, it is a crime to do it. The individual being recorded has to know he is being recorded, at least.
That said, I would use a shirt-pocket camera. At the first sign of this asshole teeing off on me, I would tell him that the first one was free, but every time he was in range of the voice recorder, he would be recorded. I would say that in front of witnesses.
Then I would do it. The camera can also be used to record intimidating facial and/or body language.
The other thing you can do is make sure, when you see him coming, to move into the view area of a surveillance camera.
After a while, the guy will either get caught again or give up. I would encourage management to check into his background to see if he has been involved in violent acts (police record). If so, even though your employer might refuse to do it, you might be able to get a Peace Order signed on him that would effectively terminate his employment.
Plenty of ways to handle this. It will be helpful if you aren’t the point man, but one of many resisting his intimidation.
Chris has an excellent idea, and if you file, make sure you add the Teamsters to the list of defendants. Perhaps if you posited that to the shop steward, the union’s position on this chump might just take a reversal.
If you value your job, you probably shouldn’t complain. Doing so is likely to get YOU fired for being a racist. After all, the union decided that blacks can’t be racists and the company agreed by rehiring the guy…
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Rivrdog: Depends on the State. In Oregon, only one person involved in any recorded conversation has to know he is being recorded.
In WA, this is legal until an ignorant third party joins in and talks … then you are considered to be wiretapping the other two.
The other option is to just tell everyone that you always record conversations … not friendly, but it does prevent verbal harassment.