Does misandry constitute a hostile workplace?
Question:
Not too long ago I got to hear a diatribe by my director superior — who’s female — during work hours, out loud, and in front of anyone, about how men are pigs and are only interested in one thing, as well as many other disparaging comments about the male gender.
Perhaps the greatest problem with this situation is 90% of her subordinates — including myself — are male. I’m sure chauvinism and misogyny constitute a hostile workplace, but I was wondering if the same goes for an outward hatred of men by a woman in a superior role.
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2 Responses to Does misandry constitute a hostile workplace?
@tonalc2 is not correct. You have to be a woman? Bull. Federal law makes no distinction to gender. tonalc2 doesn’t think her comments aren’t discriminatory towards men? Wow, tonalc2′s interpretation of the law is misguided.
Your supervisor IS creating a hostile work environment. Write it all down. You need to establish a pattern of abuse. You need to document EVERYTHING that comes out of that woman’s mouth, along with her actions. Date, time, place, who was there, etc. Do it every night when you get home from work.
Does she also show favoritism towards anyone, especially the women? Does she retaliate when someone says something about her comments? Is she creating stress on the job? Do you have a hard time sleeping or eating because of her? You DO have a right to file a workers comp claim for it because it’s a life altering event related to work. Tell the doctor you can no longer tolerate the stress. You do NOT have to be bleeding to file a wc claim. Also, they CANNOT prevent you from filing a claim. Once you file a claim your WILL be in a protected class. If they treat you differently because you filed a claim, that’s retailiation.
Flat out tell her that her comments are not welcome nor productive to the work environment. Document it. In fact, I would send that to her in an email and cc her boss and the HR department. Heads will roll and if it’s yours, you can sue for retaliation.
Do you have an employee manual? If so, read it. Is she in violation of any of the company rules? Managers and supervisors are NOT exempt from following company rules. Find anything you can to use against her. Is there a procedure for disciplining employees that she’s not following? Is there a section on fair treatment of everyone?
Get a copy of Work Laws Exposed (click on the banner in the right margin). It will explain everything you need to know to not only protect yourself BEFORE something happens, but how to handle it when it happens. There isn’t an employee in the US that should be without it.
Legally, no.
In general, a hostile work environment exists when there is "discriminatory conduct or behavior in the place of work that is unwelcome and offensive to an employee or group of employees based on a protected class status."
In litigation, the complainant must be a member of a protected class under that state’s law (women, disabled, and a specific race) and the complaint should pertain directly to perceived discrimination that specifically targets that class.