Work Difficulties

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gchinchilla22

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Hello again.
So this might be a long post.
So I started a job a year ago and almost immediately had problems with my manager. Throughout the year they kept scheduling me for times and days that I couldn’t work even though I told them I couldn’t work those days and had a coworker who said they’d work the days I couldn’t work-- we had an agreement, but the manager kept pushing for me to work those days and times anyways. I kept having another persons job put on me when they’d call out to where I was doing my job and this other persons job even though I wasn’t being payed to do their more complicated and higher payed task. One day I told him I could work Saturday but not Sunday even though I’d been scheduled for both, for religious reasons. Roughly a week later he told me we were going to go talk to HR to get the pay code for the higher paying job and possibly get reimbursement for all the times I’d done the job. When we went to HR we didn’t talk about the pay code at all. He’d lied to get me there and I was reprimanded for not coming in on Sunday. I left feeling utterly mortified. A month of two later one of the higher ups of my manager came in to talk to us about management or problems, concerns etc in work. Quite a few coworkers came to talk to her privately and talked her ear off. I talked to her and simply said that a job had been given to an elderly coworker that she was not physically capable to do and was frankly unsafe for her to do, and she’d asked our manager to help her and he said he wouldn’t, how I wanted to get the pay code and reimbursement for the job I’d been doing, and how I’d asked for weekends off for religious reasons (I really didn’t need Saturday though) and that a coworker had said they’d work it for me–and issues with the schedule. Anyways a ton of people complained about a ton of issues. Anyways, a coworker was fired a month or so later and I was asked if I’d be willing to cover her shift. I said sure but I’d be coming in a couple hours late. My manager said it was fine. A week or so later I was again told we would talk to HR about the pay code. We talked about the pay code and I was told that because I hadn’t had experience for the job my pay really wouldn’t be any different which made me angry because every time there was a call out for that job I had all this extra work placed on me. So I said I’d never do that job again. I was then reprimanded for coming in several hours late which made me more angry because my manager told me it was okay (which I said) after we’d gone back and forth a while the meeting concluded and I left. I talked about this to several other coworkers about how mad I was. Anyways several months passed since then. About two weeks ago he wrote me and said that I’d be working every third weekend starting October.
 
It was the last straw. Working days even though a coworker said they’d work it, having extra jobs I’m “not qualified for” but still not being paid for, toxic environment, coworkers being petty, coworkers not pulling their weight, and constantly being asked to come in on my days off etc. I gave my two weeks notice calmly and kindly. A few days later higher ups came into work and fired him. Anyways, as I said the majority of my coworkers, and the department lead, complained to HR and higher managers on multiple occasions sometimes talking for upwards of 10 minutes. Everyone had their qualms and after a year they failed to change almost anything that was a problem. I only talked to HR twice, but both times I was brought down their by my manager and were 2-6 months ago and the HR lady saw me as the one being in the wrong. I talked to my managers higher ups one time, for maybe 2 minutes about a few small things. Even still I feel immensely guilty. I was wondering if it’s wrong to talk to HR about work problems because talking to them jeopardizes the person’s job and if talking to coworkers about what happened and my troubles on many occasions is detraction. (They all had many problems with the manager also.) He was a nice guy but not a very good manager. However they also didn’t seem to get much help from their higher ups also. I also talked to my family about his poor management, and they worked in other departments but never said anything about it to HR, but may have mentioned it to their coworkers but IDK. I’m wondering how to make reparation for it, if that’s even possible, or if I’m being scrupulous about it. What are your thoughts. P.S. I’ve already confessed about it though.
 
First hr is to prevent company from lawsuit. If you have documentation pictures of schedule the better.
You go to EEOC.
 
Hello. I never went to HR of my own accord, but always with my manager under false pretenses on his part. I also no longer work there as of yesterday because I gave my two weeks and they were up yesterday.
 
I guess the gist of it is, is it sinful to complain to higher ups of work such as HR etc. if it could endanger someone’s job even though what you are telling them is true?
 
detraction implies talking about people for no valid reason. seems like you had plenty of reason to voice your concerns and you were trying to talk to the appropriate people to try and get things resolved
 
It is not sinful to speak to HR, or to your boss’ boss, or whoever, to give truthful and reasonable feedback about your manager and your job. It’s not detraction.

Whether a manager is a “nice guy” or not is only part of the picture. It sounds like this manager you had was incompetent in many ways, and many people complained, not just you. The work environment sounds toxic and disorganized. People aren’t required to put up with that and not say a word.You also have no way of knowing if something else was going on with this manager to get him fired. He could have told off his boss. He could have an addiction problem. He could have committed some kind of corporate fraud.

Stop feeling personally responsible and guilty.
 
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Hmmm. First you go to your boss then continue up. Stop when things get better. If not
Go to Eeoc for right to sue letter.

No one should work in a toxic environment. They can fiddle your schedule to make you quit.
 
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Then theres retaliation also reportable to eeoc. Depending how much you make determines this course of action. I would do it for a salary for 75k
But not 15.oo an hour.
 
Thank you. Yeah, I went to him first and tried to figure things out, but after a year of things not getting resolved, I gave my two weeks.
 
Thank you. I’ve been trying to walk myself through everything and ruminating because it makes me feel guilty even though everything you said is true.
 
I worked only weekends when dh was home.
I’m on furlough from my job.

They will call me Christmas…but no I’m going away. So when I get back they can answer to things.
Being Catholic means you stand up to what is right.
 
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Generally speaking, most places are not going to accommodate your list of stipulations. Perhaps in the old days, you could’ve gotten a job that checked those boxes. However, we’re in the middle of a severe economic decline and most employers are retaining a much smaller workforce. It’s simply not possible to make everyone happy.

That being said, it definitely sounds like there were communication issues and incompetence on the part of management. If you were in a Union job I would’ve suggested reading your contract and talking about this with your Shop Steward. Alas, not everyone has that option…

Having dealt with Human Resources several times, all I can say is Tell The Truth. It’s not wrong to bring up a legitimate issue that might get somebody fired. Especially, if you’re being abused or mistreated. I almost had one coworker dismissed for harassment and recently got another one fired for committing vandalism. My Union has also successfully had our Manager disciplined for unprofessional behavior.

Sometimes you just gotta blow the whistle and hold people accountable.
 
Maybe not a great analogy but Is it sinful to complain to the police about a person commiting a crime if it endangers their freedom and/or livelihood?

In other words, if people don’t have to take responsibly for their actions they will never have to improve themselves.

It’s natural to feel bad about your manager losing his job if he is a good person overall, but at the same time his employees shouldn’t be the victim either of his exploitation or unreasonableness etc.
 
It never hurts to keep a log of incidents so you can track trends in bad behavior.

Also, get everything in writing—your hours, your assignment, company policy for who is allowed to do which job, etc
 
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