When I worked in the convention industry, my boss quit a few weeks before an event and I had to absorb his workload. I worked 6am-11pm 3 days in a row and on the 4th morning I passed out on the floor and was taken to the hospital.
HR accused me of being hungover despite not even having time to get drunk the night before. They banned alcohol at work events.
I’m not a big drinker so…whatever. But of course the rumor spread and everyone silently blamed me.
Then a year later a new coworker forcibly kissed me several times at an event. I was planning on quitting anyway so I didn’t report it but a different coworker did on my behalf after I asked her not to. HR told me it was my fault (“If you knew she was a messy drunk, why were you with her?”) and signed me up for a sexual harassment seminar because “clearly [you] don’t know what sexual assault is.”
I regret not suing for the second one but I just wanted to put that job behind me.
HR is clearly bad at their job, and honestly, if it hasn’t been too long, you should gather sworn statements from people who were there and take it to a lawyer.
I’m not going to tell you that the case is a good one to pursue; obligatory: I’m not a lawyer, but to my understanding sexual harassment has a very long statute of limitations… bonus if you can get any paperwork from that HR meeting to corroborate what they said to you, or any evidence you were told to, or did, attend any seminars about it…
IMO: talk to someone about it, maybe you’ll get a payday. If the lawyer doesn’t think the case will stand up, then you will only waste a few hours talking to coworkers and the lawyer… if they do think it will stand up in court, then you could be looking at many thousands of (insert currency here). I mean, for a few hours of work to find out… why not? They sound terrible and I can’t imagine suing anyone nicer.
When I worked in the convention industry, my boss quit a few weeks before an event and I had to absorb his workload. I worked 6am-11pm 3 days in a row and on the 4th morning I passed out on the floor and was taken to the hospital.
HR accused me of being hungover despite not even having time to get drunk the night before. They banned alcohol at work events.
I’m not a big drinker so…whatever. But of course the rumor spread and everyone silently blamed me.
Then a year later a new coworker forcibly kissed me several times at an event. I was planning on quitting anyway so I didn’t report it but a different coworker did on my behalf after I asked her not to. HR told me it was my fault (“If you knew she was a messy drunk, why were you with her?”) and signed me up for a sexual harassment seminar because “clearly [you] don’t know what sexual assault is.”
I regret not suing for the second one but I just wanted to put that job behind me.
Yeah… umm… that lady sexually assaulted you.
HR is clearly bad at their job, and honestly, if it hasn’t been too long, you should gather sworn statements from people who were there and take it to a lawyer.
I’m not going to tell you that the case is a good one to pursue; obligatory: I’m not a lawyer, but to my understanding sexual harassment has a very long statute of limitations… bonus if you can get any paperwork from that HR meeting to corroborate what they said to you, or any evidence you were told to, or did, attend any seminars about it…
IMO: talk to someone about it, maybe you’ll get a payday. If the lawyer doesn’t think the case will stand up, then you will only waste a few hours talking to coworkers and the lawyer… if they do think it will stand up in court, then you could be looking at many thousands of (insert currency here). I mean, for a few hours of work to find out… why not? They sound terrible and I can’t imagine suing anyone nicer.