Can anyone answer this?

kiwideus

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I have a friend who works at a chain store (won't say which one) and her supervisor threw a bottle of water in her face - two witnesses were there.

My friend kept her cool and did not say anything to him, just walked away.

Now she would like to know what she can do - she has no idea who to report this to. I think it is assault.

Who should she report this to? The HR dept there does nothing about complaints.
 

hell603

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I am so sorry your friend has to deal with people like this - never quite understand how the make it up the latter.

I would report this to the Store Manager if she feel she trust that person. If not she should get advise from an EMPLOYMENT LAW ATTORNEY!
He/she could write a complaint on her behalf to the HR dept - bet they would react to a letter ending in Esq.
 

yoviher

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First of all I must ask a question: What does HR stand for?

Anyway, here are my suggestions: There may be a way of putting an official complaint on that particular chain. Specially if it has to do with some kind of discrimination. (against women, for race, secual preference, etc).

Regardless, she can try mounting a complaint in the police. Where is she, is she in New Zealand, or right there in North Carolina? There are a lot of laws about employee abuse. However, they depend from state to state. Here in PR it is a constutitonal right to hold a strike. In some states it's "employment at will", such as TX and PA, meaning that they can kick you out at will. If you tell me where in the world is this, then I can search employment rights there. And regardless, she ought to search about it, for she would have the resources of asking in person about them, I do not.

Does she know of a friend/family who is lawyer or can she afford one? Are there any employment attorneys there?

I don't know what is the situation regarding her employment, but the other possibility is to simply start searching for a new job, and when she's got a new one simply quit.
 
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kiwideus

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It is here in NC, Victor.
 

sweets

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If your friend works for a national chain, chances are she is unionized. In that case, tell her to find the union rep. I've worked for unions and they REALLY don't like people abusing their people.

Tell her to also make a formal complaint with HR (Human Resources, Victor) If she makes a formal complaint, they legally cannot ignore it. Tell her to ask about the Dispute Resolution Process. There is usually a chain to follow.
 

hissy

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Also report the action to whoever is above this supervisor, and there is always someone. Make a formal complaint in writing to HR and CC the president of the company or someone of equal power to get HR's attention.
 

mzjazz2u

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I agree with what HIssy said. And if they don't do anything about it, then she needs to report it to the labor board and/or get an attorney. There are attorney's out there that will take cases like that pro-bono. Which means free, or they'll wait and take a percentage if there are winnings. That is totally intolerable and illegal! Pisses me off!
 

pollyanna

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I am sorry your friend has to deal with this. You have had some good advise, I just wanted to wish her luck
 

deb25

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She might also contact corporate headquarters, report the incident, and say that she is seeking legal council in the matter.
 

persia

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Originally posted by Deb25
She might also contact corporate headquarters, report the incident, and say that she is seeking legal council in the matter.
This is exactly what I would have suggested. No one, but noone should be subjected to this form of inconsideration!





 

gothic_amethyst

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First off, make time to talk privately with the witnesses and see if they'd be willing to cooperate if you take legal action. Otherwise if you do something and they dont, you'll have no witnesses and most likely lose your case and your job. Then see if theyd be willing to write down and sign what they remember and tell them it's in case they forget(actually its incase they change their mind about testifying so you can have something for proof). Then it'll be up to you what to do. I'm sorry that happened cause I cant stand rudeness and that was beyond rude! Grrrrrr. I hope you get things all worked out! Oh and you dont have forever. Ask a lawyer, but I think you only have a year to take action, but if your dead serious I wouldnt even risk it and take that long! Good luck! I would try to contact the boss's superiors first though cause if you can avoid court it's better and cheaper!
 

ttmom

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She needs to work her way up the chain of command. Start with that person's supervisor and HR and just keep going up. That is assault and battery and can be formally charged through the police if she so desires and can even be done so by the company. I would recommend going through the company and any unions first, though. Unions can sometimes get better reactions out of people that anyone else.
 

jugen

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There is a law against that, it's called harassment! She needs to talk to the person above her supervisor and get this rolling or soon it might be too late.
 

thy451

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Just one point of caution, unless you find a sympathetic ear in the people above your supervisor or that the work place is unionized, there might be a danger that your friend may in the future either be treated badly by the supervisor or be fired.

No question what he did is illegal, battery to be exact. But unless you are sure the system is working well there might be retaliation if she choose to pursue this course of action. So your friend had better look at the situation to determine what the possible outcome might be and see if it is worth it to pursue this.

Unless of course you play the name and shame game and get all the people here at the catsite start a campaign against the company if your friend does get treated badly as a result.
 

willowsmom

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Shoryly after I started working for my current company I was harassed by a so called supervisor threated bodliy harm actually. I brought it to my managers attention she ignored it so I brought it to the Labor boards attention. it's called a hostile work environment, Your Friend should take the smae route. if the findings are found true which with 2 witnesses I am sure it will be found true. The employeecausing the hostil work place will then be asked to resign. And criminal charges of Harassment will be filed against that person. When ever the Labor board is brought in it never a little matter. It turns it from just being a small complaint to being a legal problem not for the person turning them in but for the Compnay it's self. The company then does what it is supose to do to "protect" it's Employees.
 
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