Quote:
Originally Posted by fulham
I have a close personal friend who moved from Halifax to EDM with her family in November incurring great expense specifically for new role.
From day 1 she was subjected to a toxic work environment, and continuous harassment. This finally broke her, as she had no support network in EDM.
She had a talk with her supervisor who is remote with the intention to quit. The supervisor convinced her to talk to HR as they don’t want to lose her. She did and HR substantiated the harassment complaint and sent her a letter outlining the investigation. They said they would “address it appropriately” but he’s instrumental to the business.
She can work 100% remotely. Her supervisor already does. She has permission from her supervisor to do so. She has no issue staying in the role remotely however HR has informed her she is expected back in the office. Where she will be alienated as the one who went to HR(they interviewed 10 people about it).
Should she get a lawyer? Or is she best to just give her 2 weeks and quit? She’s willing to eat the $10,000 left on her lease just to go home however I feel she must have some leverage with a signed substantiated complaint.
Long winded I apologize
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How do you know she will be alienated as the one who went to HR? Perhaps the other people agree that this indivuaal is toxic? Do the other people even know she was the one that complained?
Sure they might be able to deduce it but typically HR would keep your friend's identity confidential and just say that "There has been a complaint" and interview everyone, so while they might suspect, or she might think they know they probably actually don't. Questions are usually going to be along the lines of "Have you ever observed Jim doing x y z" rather than "have you ever observed Jim doing x y z to Jill" to protect her identity.
Obviously the ideal outcome of an investigation (from her perspective) is termination, but I think the company can defend themselves pretty well if they did *something*. For instance, if they gave the individual a final written warning and said further behaviour like this won't be tolerated HR wouldn't tell her that.
That said, if she was working remote, can continue to work remote that seems like a reasonable accommodation but then, some companies are dumb about remote work and employers can make coming to the office can be a condition of employment. What does her supervisor think? If her supervisor can push "she doesn't need to be in the office and I am ok with her working remote" that might wind up with better results.
Without knowing details and what HR actually did about the complaint it's hard to say. If she was recruited from EDM --> Halifax and can prove that it was a toxic work environment and she was forced to quit because of harassment or that she was retaliated against because of her complaint there could be a healthy package to recoup costs and damages, but IAMNAL.
HR Complaint Question
