If someone tells you that their job does not feel like work, there are several possible explanations for this. They might be lying to themselves, absorbing themselves in their work so that they do not have to deal with the ugliness of their interpersonal relationships outside of work. They might be trying to inspire young people who feel unmotivated to work so hard for barely enough money to pay the bills. The lucky few among them might practice professions that are genuinely fun, like teaching or the performing arts. More likely, the people who insist that they never want to retire have adopted this position because they do not want to give up control; they are afraid to live the rest of their lives on a fixed income.
If you are among the vast majority of people who look forward to the end of your shift at work, instead of spending your days off looking forward to your next workday, it does not necessarily mean that there is something wrong with you or with your job. A work environment that is less pleasant than your time off is nothing out of the ordinary. If your employer goes out of their way to make things difficult and unpleasant for you at work, though, that is not normal and may even be illegal. The Bozeman hostile work environment lawyers can help you exercise your legal rights if you are faced with a hostile work environment arising from discrimination or employer retaliation.
What is a Hostile Work Environment?
We all know a hostile environment when we are in one. Perhaps your fourth-grade class was a hostile environment, where your classmates made a point of excluding you from conversations and where almost everyone got called by unflattering nicknames, but some kids managed to take it in stride and flip the script, while others were visibly angry or intimidated, and if you were in the latter group, the harassment only escalated. Perhaps your mother-in-law’s house is a hostile environment, where all your relatives by marriage go out of their way to emphasize that you are an outsider, even though you married into the family many years ago.
An unwritten rule is that people should behave in a professional manner in the workplace. Some organizations have policies that specifically prohibit bullying of coworkers, but even in the ones that don’t, common sense dictates that you should recognize that everyone you work with is there to earn a paycheck, just like you are, and you should behave accordingly. In a hostile work environment, your coworkers may tease you and call you names, taking a page from the playbook of schoolyard bullies. They might also sabotage your work by giving you incomplete or contradictory information, taking a page from the playbook of passive-aggressive in-laws. The difference is that, unlike with schoolchildren or childish relatives, you have recourse to the counsel of the Bozeman hostile work employment lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys LLP when it comes to dealing with hostility in the workplace.
When and Why is a Hostile Work Environment Illegal?
People are jerks, people are petty, and no amount of legislation can change that. Therefore, it is probably not even worth formally complaining to human resources if one of your coworkers is difficult to deal with and has no apparent motive for behaving this way. If the difficult coworker is difficult with everyone, then you are not the only person who notices this, and it reflects badly on the difficult coworker, not on you.
It is against the law for your employer to perpetuate a hostile work environment for discriminatory or retaliatory reasons. The hostile work environment counts as discrimination if your coworkers are mistreating you because of a protected characteristic, such as your race, religion, sex, marital status, or national origin. It counts as employer retaliation if the hostile work environment is the employer’s response to the employee engaging in a protected activity. The following are protected activities, according to federal and state employment laws:
- Demanding fair pay, pursuant to laws regulating minimum wage and overtime pay
- Filing a workers’ compensation claim if you get injured at work or receive a diagnosis of an occupational disease
- Voting in elections in which you are eligible to vote
- Reporting workplace safety hazards to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
- Cooperating in a civil or criminal investigation into wrongdoing at your workplace
- Reporting suspected crimes by your work supervisors or coworkers to law enforcement
- Requesting reasonable accommodations for a disability
- Taking a leave of absence from work for medical reasons or family caregiving reasons, pursuant to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
- Complaining about discrimination to the Montana Human Rights Bureau or the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
Your Rights if You are Experiencing a Hostile Work Environment Related to Discrimination or Retaliation
If you are the target of a hostile work environment, you should document your experiences. Write notes on your phone or send yourself voice memos about what your coworkers did on which day. Take pictures of the unflattering signs they posted in your workplace. Then bring your evidence to the Montana Human Rights Bureau or the EEOC and explain to the counselor assigned to your case why you think the hostility is discriminatory or retaliatory, that is, how it relates to a protected characteristic of yours or to a protected activity in which you engaged. You can even schedule meetings with the Bureau and the EEOC on consecutive days, so they can launch concurrent investigations. Hiring a lawyer to represent you in your interactions with the Bureau or the EEOC is not obligatory, but it is a good idea. After the Bureau or EEOC investigates your complaint, it will issue a decision about whether you have grounds for a lawsuit. If they authorize you to sue, you can sue your employer for a discriminatory or retaliatory hostile work environment.
Contact HKM Employment Attorneys About Hostile Work Environment
The Bozeman employment lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys LLP, can counsel you about responding to a hostile work environment. Contact the employment lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys LLP in Bozeman, Montana, to set up a consultation.
