How should I decide what violations I should report to HR?
A Reader Asks This Question:
I work in a very large call-center where almost all employees, including supervisors and managers, seem to flaunt most of the rules. Why do I care? Because my job is to talk to customers on the phone, and it is extremely distracting to the point of interfering with my job.
Between the horrific cussing, drug dealing, bootleg DVD and CD selling, and sexual harassment (fortunately not aimed at me), I’m fed up.
Personally, the drug dealing is the most alarming. I am the lowest level employee, in no management or supervisory position, so the ethical dilemma I face is should I report these offenders to higher level management? I’m afraid my personal feelings of dislike towards the offenders are effecting my objective decision making. Yes, this is a hostile work environment, but who am I to judge?
If anyone posed this scenario to me, I’d tell them to quit. For certain reasons, this is the position I’m in, so please focus on how I can decide what to do address these workplace challenges?
Thanks
p.s. The director of my department works within earshot of all these shenanigans. Surely he must see and hear the constant fireable offenses yet no discipline is ever handed out, much to my frustration. More importantly, this further makes me reluctant to speak up, because this leads me to believe my company’s corporate culture is tolerant of these “offenses” and would therefore be intolerant of my complaints.
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One Response to How should I decide what violations I should report to HR?
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Wow! Because there is flat out illegal activity going on, you can file a whistleblower claim with your state’s Department of Labor*. If you get fired or treated any differently because of it, then you can file a retaliation complaint.
Start documenting. In the upper right side of this page, download my free report to learn how to deal with crap like this at work.
*The Department of Labor (DOL) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) – The OSHA is a division of the DOL and can provide assistance for those who face retaliatory action in situations related employment. Standing of these protections is found under the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Specifically, the OSHA provides standing for protection against reporting unsafe working conditions, environmental violations, and various violations of federal laws.
It is important to note there is a 30 day window of opportunity to file retaliation protection claims with the DOL/OSHA. If this 30 day window expires, then the ability to seek protective remedies will be denied under statute. As such, it is critical to act as quickly as possible when filing such a claim.