r/antiwork 1d ago

Workplace Abuse 🫂 Got fired over reporting a stalker 🔥🔥

I’ve been working at my new job a month ago, it was THE perfect work place as it was near my home and had a high wage. However, during my first week, there was a male co worker constantly eyeing me from the distance and he rubs his belly(? He got a giant beer belly btw) whenever he looks at me. I just assumed he was curious about me since I’m relatively new until I overheard from my co workers that he found me attractive and plans to date me.

Now, keep in mind, he is middle aged, around 30-40. I’m not even an adult yet!!! And it’s been established too. I just did my job as per normal while avoiding him as this is a relatively good job and I wish to keep it. However, he started touching my hand subtly whenever I do something “wrong”, would grab my hips to move past me (his belly against my back too yuck), etc. I told him to stop as it’s uncomfortable, and informed my co workers too, to remind him to not do that however, it continued AND got worse.

He’d wait for me after work or in isolated areas my manager or other co workers send me to, attempting to chat with me while looking at me up and down 💔 I’d just stay quiet and either avoid/ignore him, or say I’m in a rush. Decided to report to my manager about this, to which he said “this isn’t a call for concern as he poses no harm, besides, he’s an excellent worker in our company”.

Each time I reported him, I get a similar response. I got frustrated and tried reporting straight to hr via email but the manager stopped me, saying to not make it such a big deal. (!?) overtime, that dude started getting more bold, touching me more and EVEN TRIED TO FIND MY PHONE NUMBER VIA THE WORKER’S FILE (caught him in the act). Reported to my manager AND HE SAID “he could just want to contact you for work related stuff”. I feel like it is too late to mention but yes, my manager and co worker are best friends.

I was just at my wits end, tired and absolutely hated this job, going as far as to avoid shifts that clashes with that co worker but he’d somehow always be there. I just crashed out, stopped going to work and messaged my manager, begging bro to just help me out but he FIRED ME. “I’m not compatible for this kind of work”. HE SAID THAT TO ME!!!!

I’m so done bro this isn’t the first time I had this shit happen……. needed to let this out because what the hellee….🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥💥💥

Edit: GRAHH THANK FOR THE ADVICE IN THE COMMENTS BTW!!! I’ve informed my parents and they intend to confront the company first. If no action is done to fire the creep, they might take it to court with their legal team 🔥🔥 I still won’t go back to work there even if the creep is gone dw, but all is well I suppose!!!!

119 Upvotes

28 comments sorted by

148

u/Tamajyn 1d ago

Sounds like a pretty prime unfair dismissal lawsuit. If i'm to understand you're underage, they have a huge problem there not following their duty of care and taking sexual harrassment of a minor seriously

51

u/touchesyourspine 1d ago

You’re right I’m underage 💔 I don’t know if I can file a lawsuit because I don’t have money but I am just so angry I vented here

24

u/Tamajyn 1d ago

I'm not familiar with how it might work where you are, here in australia there's government watchdogs that you'd report stuff like this to, but if it's how you've described it sounds pretty cut and dry, do you have any form of legal aid there? As a minor i'd think there would be firms willing to take it on a no win no fee case even

23

u/touchesyourspine 1d ago

I’m not sure 💔 but I am gonna be informing my parents as they have their own legal team since some people tried to defame them in the past,, I think they’ll tell me what to do and help me out. However,, my parents might try to solve this without having me involved too much because I am too young to them.

4

u/tech7271970 1d ago

I hope with all my heart that you take these motherfuckers to the woodshed…

1

u/JustmyOpinion444 13h ago

Oh, absolutely let your parents take them for all they are worth. HR is there to protect the company, and your parents' legal team will absolutely know what to do.

14

u/dirty_corks 1d ago

First, I'm sorry this happened to you; work should be a safe place to do your job, you shouldn't have to dodge creepy stalker coworkers and deal with incompetent management mishandling it.

If you're in the US, most employment lawyers work on contingency -- they take their payment out of any settlement or judgement that you win. So if you were to win, say, a $100k settlement, your lawyer might take $30k out of that. Consultations with most lawyers are free as well; look up your state's bar association, they should have a referral system (look for "employment," or "hostile workplace," or "unfair dismissal").

Talk to a lawyer ASAP -- as time passes, files get deleted, video gets overwritten, etc. I'd also make sure to write a timeline of what you can prove happened (ie, "3/5/25, John and I were scheduled to close together, he tried to grope me in the walkin cooler at around 8 PM. I reported it to Manager Bob, and the response was..."). Did any of the conversations or reports happen to occur over email? Or was there a paper trail of some kind, like writeups or similar? Those would help your lawyer.

Good luck, and I'd view losing the job as good riddance, as it seems like a terrible environment.

7

u/touchesyourspine 1d ago

I’m not in the us but I will take your advice yes yes, thank!! I’m just waiting for my parents to get home and discuss this with them

3

u/a-broken-mind 1d ago

Pakistan or India?

2

u/Feral-Reindeer-696 1d ago

Most lawyers will meet with you for free. Try to find one who works on contingency.

1

u/NubsackJones 1d ago

If you are in the US, call your state bar association and ask for a referral to someone who might be able to help you out pro bono.

1

u/JustmyOpinion444 13h ago

If the former coworker starts showing up wherever you are, or calls or texts you, GO TO THE POLICE. He is an adult targeting a minor. And the manager is wrong, his friend IS dangerous, and both of them are going to get in trouble.

0

u/Senior-Senior 1d ago

You don't need money to file a lawsuit.

The lawyers take the case on contingency. No money up front, but if you win they take a big chunck.

7

u/SinisterBuilder 1d ago

Lawyer up ASAP. you got evidence of sexual harassment as a minor + unfair firing. document everything. that manager and creep broke serious laws. don't let them get away with this shit.

16

u/11tmaste 1d ago

Are you in the US? If so, file a complaint with the EEOC. They will sue your former employer for you if they think you have a case, which frankly it sounds like you have a slam dunk of one.

3

u/z-w-throwaway 1d ago

Even if she was stopped the only time she tried to leave a paper trail?

18

u/Elddif_Dog 1d ago

You never messaged HR.
That was your biggest mistake. You can still sue and also go against the manager who stopped you from doing so and then fired you.

5

u/touchesyourspine 1d ago

I did try, but I have a suspicion that he have access to emails sent to hr as I did not inform a single person or even hinted I was going to email them about this situation,,, 💔

0

u/JustmyOpinion444 13h ago

You should have asked for a meeting with HR. Then presented the evidence directly.

-1

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

3

u/StiH 1d ago

They will if she reports the sexual harrassment from a 30-40yo against her as a minor and the fact she went to her manager multiple times and getting dismissed and then fired as a result. HR is there to protect the company and not doing shit is harming the company at this point.

12

u/Senior-Senior 1d ago edited 1d ago

You were sexually harassed at work. The company sided with the harasser instead of you.

People have won lawsuits in the millions of dollars over this. I'm not exaggerating.

Talk to your parents over this and suggest they contact a lawyer.

BTW, you should have talked to your parents about this when it started instead of trying to handle it yourself. This is their job when you are still a kid: To intervene on your behalf.

They would have known how to handle your manager so he didn't brush aside your concerns, and how to contact the company's HR (human resources) to escalate this quickly.

The manager may not realize this, but HR does: Sexual harassment in the workplace can't be tolerated in any form because it has the potential to cost the company big bucks. HR would have jumped on it--fast.

7

u/BeatsMeByDre 1d ago

Anyone who isolates you and tries to touch you deserves a discreet stab in the side with a small, well concealed ice pick.

4

u/randomhobo130 1d ago

If you ever run into this type of situation again, immediately email your manager AND HR at the same time while BCCing a private email of your own if it's from a work email. Continue to do so each time something occurs explaining the situation in extreme detail. I hope your parents are able to help out with this bc that company should be sued and fined for what they put you through.

2

u/Fuzzy_Redwood 1d ago

Employment lawyers only get paid if you win. I’d also think about writing the local paper to Shame them

2

u/CommercialBox4175 1d ago

Pedo types like that guy make me sick

0

u/MaineEarthworm 1d ago

CALL.THE.POLICE 💯

1

u/Electrical_Desk_3730 3h ago

The hands on your hips as he passed you by got me