Re: Wrongly accused

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On 1/14/08, Terry wrote:
> On 1/11/08, Wendy wrote:
>> I work for a small family owned company, husband, wife,
>> and father. Recently the husband and wife have seperated
>> due to the husbands drug use. The wife had the company for
>> about 14 days then they went to a hearing and she had no
>> choice but to relinquish the company to her husband due to
>> him and his father voting her out by majority vote. She is
>> still listed as a consultant and receives pay weekly. The
>> husband has been back in the business for 3 weeks and has
>> recently began some really strange behavior. He is adimit
>> that I have writtin some kind of program that encrypts,
>> sends, copies, and password protects things on the
>> network. For the past 4 days that I have reported to work
>> I have suffered long, confusing, examples of things
>> that "my program" is doing. I have not a clue how to write
>> code. He is very hostile in the beginning of my shift by
>> sitting on my computer and showing me how I am doing it
>> and as he continues the only thing I can tell him is that
>> I have not a clue to what he is showing me or accusing me
>> of. This is very stressful,embarassing, and degrating. He
>> has made remarks like "this dog don't hunt", "you are the
>> only one that has the knowledge to do this","the song and
>> dance you did yesterday ain't flying" and continues to
>> interigate me in front of co-workers. I do have some
>> schooling in microcomputers but that was hardware. Mind
>> you the network has no firewall, no anti=virus, and 5
>> other people use my password to gain access to the server.
>> The alligations are said very sarcastically and it sends
>> me to tears. After he vents for 2 hours on how I am
>> encrypting, sending, copying, encoding, and showing me
>> things that make no sense he gets up and expects me to
>> work. By that time I am terrified to touch the computer.
>> Today I turned it off, unplugged it, and took the network
>> cable out. I am the office manager and I have access to
>> the hard copies of information why do I need to send it
>> out via internet when I could just walk out with it. I
>> feel like I have been discriminated against because I have
>> schooling in computers and that I am friends with his
>> wife.No one else has been questioned it is all coming from
>> my computer from what he states. I am to the point of
>> quitting because of this however, I live in Ga and I don't
>> know if I would be eligible to draw unemployment. I have
>> never been reprimanded, I have received several raises for
>> my work ethics, I have been there almost a year.His
>> behavior towards me is really speratic almost bi-polar. It
>> is completely focused on me individually. Can someone
>> please help me by giving me some good advice on what I
>> need to do. I am trying to hang in there so I might be
>> able to draw UI, it is getting nastier every minute. Does
>> hostile work enviroment fall under this category?
>> Harrassment? Bullying? Abuse?
>> Thanks!
>
> While the husband's behavior is unsupportable, his behavior
> towards you is not illegal. The situation does not qualify
> as any form of discrimination or prohibited harassment. If
> you quit, it's unlikely that you will receive unemployment
> benefits. If you are terminated, then you almost certainly
> will as obviously the company will not be able to provide
> any evidence that you did what you're being accused of.
>
> Only you can decide whether you want to quit or wait and see
> if you're fired but either way, I suggest you start looking
> for a new job immediately. The husband's mental state is
> obviously badly alterted due to his drug abuse plus the
> financial stability of this company is greatly at risk due
> to the current state of affairs. Good luck.

I have have argued many a cases before hearing officers in
cases where claimants were granted unemployment benefits after
they quit there job based on similar type harassment. If you
do quit, make sure you raise the issue with management prior
to your resignation in order to show you took steps to
maintain employment.