Dealing with work racism / discrimination *possible legal actions*

**Gokku** · 2013-10-28 21:16

So a few months ago i was hired as a contractor at a extremely large company, during the interview i was told the following :

hours - 3pm - 2am
Days - Mon-Thurs
amount of coworkers 3 *4 total*

First day of working ended up being a 21 hour shift 9am - 6am , but i shrugged it off since my coworkers told me it was a one time deal. The issues began about 2 days later , i found out we dont work with 4 people we have 6.2 of the 6 are not apart of my contract company nor are they apart of the large company im on contract with. One is buddy buddy with a director at large company and got him to pull strings to put him on this project as a "Team Lead" and the other is his butt buddy who got pulled from another company to this contract by the team lead.

Okay now to the racism/discrimination issues. I work with a large amount of Hispanic or Spanish speaking individuals and 2 AA individuals *3 including myself*. I was informed that the team leader had gotten the previous AA+Muslim worker deliberately fired because he didn't like him/kiss his ass. Multiple complaints about the "Team lead" not doing his job/ having no certs or real IT experience had been ignored before my arrival. End of week one of me being there "Team lead" approach's me to talk and try and get me to be his kiss ass , i dismiss the notion. A month later i find out hes filed a complaint that i work "slow" , this is the same excuse he got the last AA guy fired with. So i'm immediately on high alert, less then a month later im informed hes filed another complaint that im on my phone to much * i listen to music on it with headphones it was ok'd when i was hired hes just being a cunt*. Yet again i ignore it, theres an incident with a more vocal AA coworker who calls our company's HR about the situation were dealing with and about "Team lead" and his butt buddy. Its all swept under the rug by our actual boss and were all told to stop making his life hard.

A good 2 months go by no major incidents we do our jobs and deal with the fact "Team lead" doesn't work , lies about his hours and short changes us on our hours. Team leads butt buddy gets in trouble for sleeping in the office and in the employee work areas but yet doesn't get fired multiple times. 3 weeks ago a major project gets dropped on our team , in addition to our normal work hours we can earn unlimited OT by helping another group put out and set up 20,000+ monitors. We jump on the offer and start working OT after our main shifts, well the "Team lead" hijacks control of the project and starts ordering us and the other employees from a different company around. Everyone wonders who gave him this authority but we let it slide the first 3 days. That is until one night we work till 11am - 3am, without "Team lead" around from midnight to 3 *all the OT work*. At 3am when were picking up and putting everything away " Team lead" comes strolling out of a different department and tells us he will see us tomorrow. This destroys moral of all the people working OT because hes taking credit for the work we are doing. Well overachieving AA guy flips his shit the next day goes to the director and files a formal complaint about it. So we have a meeting with the director he makes promises about it not happening again etc.

Next day , "Team lead" is working * if youd call it that * at a pace of about 6 stations in 1 1/2 hours. All other workers are moving about 14-20 stations an hour easy. I get sick of watching this guy leech off our work and leave , along with 3 others. I come into work the next day to find out they were there till 5 am because "Team lead" didnt help clean up and only did 7 stations after everyone but 2 others left. This lead to Angry AA guy complaining to OUR boss, and us having an emergency meeting in which we are told by our boss's boss to leave "Team lead" alone hes immune from anything because he doesnt work for our company and hes protected by the director. So our whole team is pissed , i refuse to work OT with "Team lead" present and leave when i hit my 10 hours for the day / 45 hours for that week.

Next Day, i wake up and have a message from my boss asking why i left work early and am making his life hard. So i call my boss and inform him that thats false and im told "Team lead" sent an email saying i left 2 hours earlier then the actual time i left. So im livid and go to the guy in charge of the project and inform him of the blatant lie and have them pull my hours to see when i went / left work , they dismiss it as a miss understanding and i voice my concerns about being targeted by "Team Lead". I stay at work to do OT and inform them ill be leaving at 6pm since i shouldn't be working on that day anyways. Well i clear 14 stations an hour , " Team lead" is present and doing 3 an hour tops. I leave at 6 with another guy, 2 more leave at 7 and the last 2 leave near 7 as well, leaving "Team lead" and his butt buddy to actually WORK. .

Today, Apparently he then sent an nasty email about me and everyone else who left for the day not "working". So our boss sent out an email to ONLY the 3 AA workers *not our 4th white coworker* informing us that we need to do whats "best for the big company" and "work well with others" if we want to have a job anymore. I didnt see this e-mail until after my coworkers had a meeting with our boss where he requested if i should be fired because of the complaints "Team leads" been making. They stood up for me because i know the most and have the most real world IT experience on this job and DO my job.

Im being targeted along with my other AA coworkers and am researching my legal options sorry for the long read and poor grammar.

TL:DR
only the black guys at my job * including me* are being targeted to be fired while the guy causing all the problems is sucking the directors dick in a corner.

**Howie Roary** · 2013-10-28 21:26

why did they hire a bunch of guys from Alcoholics Anonymous?

**Boyiee** · 2013-10-28 21:30

Good it wasn't just me.

What state is this? Fire at will/just cause policies by chance?

**jmc** · 2013-10-28 21:32

Honestly doesn't sound like there's anything you can do to really claim racism. I just don't see how you could present that

**Dimmauk** · 2013-10-28 21:41

The only thing you can do in that situation is play the same game. Get with his manager and HR to make a statement. Explain how you work and how the "Lead" is creating a hostile environment for you and your fellow co-workers. Its at a point where everyone is afraid to say anything cause they would get fired like the Muslim guy.

Or

Quit and on your way out you can put him on blast.

After a while he will eventually get himself fired.

**Jefe** · 2013-10-28 21:46

All I can tell you is have everyone document everything, dates, details, etc. and hope for the best if something comes up. Now, if you were to be absent tomorrow, would people notice you were gone? Or could they just get another random guy do the same thing you were doing? Sometimes we have to be wired to just do the job and brush off if you get recognized or not. That's the difference between putting food on the table or not. That dude is the head because of seniority or he knows people. So yeah, fly low and maybe start looking for another job?

**Gokku** · 2013-10-28 22:45

State is Texas so at will state. The only slip up they have made was the email sent only to the 3 black employees. I also have a few texts saved covering my ass. I'm not sure if I could get enough attention, based on our situation alone but I've also been floating the idea of airing out the company's dirty laundry since they employ a large amount of foreign labor in conditions that are no where near what the employees are treated to. The company is a pretty large international figure.

**Gokku** · 2013-10-28 23:51

http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/qanda.html
http://www.twc.state.tx.us/crd/racia...imination.html

Would I have any ground in the harassment clauses?

***Ddz*** · 2013-10-28 23:53

Work your ass off and document everything.

**Chun Liroy** · 2013-10-28 23:55

I think I'd sleep for 3 straight days if I had a 21 hour shift, goddamn.

**Abandon** · 2013-10-29 00:59

Originally Posted by Chun Liroy

I think I'd sleep for 3 straight days if I had a 21 hour shift, goddamn.

people do that for weeks/months at a time, you goddamned pussy

**Andalusian girls** · 2013-10-29 01:04

murder them

**Ksandra** · 2013-10-29 01:43

How do you guys clock in/out? Iono about texas laws, but here in cali they will flip their shit if things aren't documented/paid out correctly.

Honestly, I think that would be your strongest case to threaten a lawsuit if they are lying about your hours.

Regardless, any step you take at this point, I would already start looking for another job. It's really hard to prove that you got fired for discrimination without anything written down.

**Gokku** · 2013-10-29 01:59

We input our own hours into a system but it can be checked via the main companies system since we use a badge to access everything from doors to elevators

**Dimmauk** · 2013-10-29 07:55

Originally Posted by Gokku

We input our own hours into a system but it can be checked via the main companies system since we use a badge to access everything from doors to elevators

I've seen people get fired based on falsifying the time based on badge swipes at doors vs punch in on timekeeper systems. In Texas they can get you on anything.

There is no discrimination, just assholes. You cant prove discrimination unless they actually say they hate a certain group. If someone fires a bunch of people based on their race it could be because that person employs a large amount of that group. Managers will always cover their ass with reasons like poor performance, attendance, etc....

**Meresgi** · 2013-10-29 09:23

Find a new job, and document your hours and shit. You wont get them on discrimination (i'm guessing AA = Middle Eastern? Or American Alaskan? Alcoholics Anon??? fucking acronyms). Anyways, race card doesn't work unless your black and can get a huge media uprising over it, otherwise it's swept under the rug and no one cares. The shit with your hours and worktime however can be documented and if they are fucking you over, then you can come at them over that.

**archibaldcrane** · 2013-10-29 09:27

You've got nothing on discrimination really - sounds like "team lead" knows his job is safe as fuck and you just have to dill with it.

**Blubbartron** · 2013-10-29 09:53

I've been assuming that AA = African American, but I've never known black people to say that instead of plainly saying "the black people here get treated like shit." Granted, I don't know a whole hell of a lot of black people, so...

At any rate, my opinion is that you should shy away from the discrimination aspect, because as noted, it's very difficult to prove. It sounds like you have pretty clear evidence that the douchebag is lying about shit. Focus on that, and you'll be more likely to get what you want (him fired and/or you not getting fucked so hard).

**ringthree** · 2013-10-29 10:10

Originally Posted by Dimmauk

I've seen people get fired based on falsifying the time based on badge swipes at doors vs punch in on timekeeper systems. In Texas they can get you on anything.

There is no discrimination, just assholes. You cant prove discrimination unless they actually say they hate a certain group. If someone fires a bunch of people based on their race it could be because that person employs a large amount of that group. Managers will always cover their ass with reasons like poor performance, attendance, etc....

Actually, the EEOC can do something about that. But it is hard to get a letter from them.

I would contact them and submit a complaint, but usually things have to happen first (i.e. they can't just be dicks, they have to fire you first).

**Lucavi** · 2013-10-29 10:46

Originally Posted by Blubbartron

I've been assuming that AA = African American, but I've never known black people to say that instead of plainly saying "the black people here get treated like shit." Granted, I don't know a whole hell of a lot of black people, so...

At any rate, my opinion is that you should shy away from the discrimination aspect, because as noted, it's very difficult to prove. It sounds like you have pretty clear evidence that the douchebag is lying about shit. Focus on that, and you'll be more likely to get what you want (him fired and/or you not getting fucked so hard).

Say no more.

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