Female manager harassing another female manager, but not in a sexual way.

Harassment Is Against The Law When....

From your description, it appears that the reason you are being harassed is because you stood up to your manager and reported her to higher management. This is not clear, however, about what caused her to begin harassing you before you reported her. The reason for the harassment is a crucial fact because harassment is only unlawful if the harassment is because of something that is protected under the law. If you are being harassed because you only reported that your manager was trying to fire you because you reported her for trying to force you out of your job based on the way you performed your job, you are not likely to have any claim. But because your question is a very common one, I offer a little more explanation for you and others to assist you with understanding the law regarding harassment and retaliation.

As you have mentioned, employees are protected under the law against sexual harassment. The statutes that resulted in this protection do not specifically outlaw sexual harassment. The statutes outlaw discrimination because of sex. Courts subsequently interpreted these statutes to mean that harassment was a form of discrimination. And if the harassment was "because of" a person's sex, then the sex discrimination laws banned the harassment.

From this concept, the law extends protection against harassment that is "because of" any protected category. Other well known protected categories include race, religion, national origin, age, and disability. There are others, but these are the most common categories that are protected from harassment.

Closely related to unlawful harassment is unlawful retaliation. Not all harassment is unlawful. Only harassment that is "because of" a protected characteristic is unlawful. Likewise, only retaliation that is "because of" certain protected conduct is unlawful. An easier way to understand the difference between retaliation and harassment is that unlawful harassment usually happens because of who you are. Unlawful retaliation happens because of what you do.

Once again, there are many different kinds of conduct that are protected from retaliation. Some examples include, reporting unlawful harassment, making a workers' compensation claim, filing a discrimination charge, or complaining about the right to overtime or minimum wage payment. Again, there are many more kinds of conduct that are protected, but in every case, the reason for the retaliation will determine whether the retaliation was against the law.

The courts are always careful to point out that the laws governing the employment relationship are not meant to be laws that control all social behavior between employers and employees. The most common language that courts repeat is that managerial conduct that is merely rude or boorish is not against the law. So, you may have a manager who is treating you unfairly. You may have a manager who is harassing you because she does not like the way you chose to conduct your business related responsibilities as an employee. And you may have a manager who is harassing you in particularly vile and outrageous ways that are causing you great distress. But u nless the manager is harassing or retalating against you "because of" a protected characteristic of or action by you, the manager's conduct will not be against the law.

posted by Gregory Gordillo  |  Nov 7, 2004 08:12 AM [EST]