what is my next step

It sounds like your next step may be to go looking for another job. First of all, human resource employees are not doctors, lawyers, psychologists or father confessors. There is no "privilege" that applies to your communications with them. They have no duty to treat your complaints as confidential, and their function is to provide advice and support to management. It is their duty to advise management officials of problems that require attention, including complaints about employee behavior. Your assumption that you could "trust" your human resource manager was misguided. Second, you have no protected right to make "anonymous" complaints about the behavior of coworkers. If your complaint was about some kind of unlawful discrimination, your employer is not allowed to retaliate against you for making the complaint, but if your coworkers react negatively toward you, this is not something within your employer's control. "Shunning" by coworkers as a result of a complaint of discrimination is not considered unlawful retaliation. Finally, there is no protection against retaliation by your employer if your complaint was merely about conduct that you believed was generally inappropriate. For example, if you complain about being sexually, racially or religiously harassed by fellow employees, these complaints are protected because they involve opposition to unlawful forms of discrimination. But if you complain merely because your fellow employees are mean to you, or because they are violating school policies or behaving in a way you consider unprofessional, there is no law that protects you from retaliation for making these kinds of complaints.

posted by Francis Fanning  |  May 11, 2011 3:21 PM [EST]