A Letter to HR

I had to cut out any personal information. I tried to get legal help, quit my job, and declared bankruptcy all in one week.

I have done my best over the last three years to cope with on-going issues in Kinderhook. I have addressed them within the company and have not been successful in New York, so I’ve chosen to ignore them. If it is not my appearance, it’s my spiritual beliefs or my ethnicity or my mental health. What’s occurring in Kinderhook has nothing to do with concern for me or my well-being. I have been documenting the major incidents. Historically, the harassment has been premeditated and thought out and not from temporary frustration or from an occasional, temporary outburst, which I could overlook. I can no longer cope with these issues alone and am looking to X to handle the situation from within. These actions have been premeditated with malicious intent. I had met you last winter when you came to New York. Some of the more positive changes have come from policies which your company has put into place. My dispute, therefore, is not with the corporation, but with a group of individuals who feel I don’t belong to “the clique.” I have stood up to these individuals and in the long run it has damaged me personally and caused me emotional duress. On January 16th, 2009, an event occurred which I cannot overlook. An inbound call to the switchboard concerned wage garnishment at 9 am. I didn’t think much of it, until about a half-hour to forty-five minutes later when I heard, “She deserves to have her wages garnished. She doesn’t pay any rent. She’s not sick… She doesn’t deserve to be paid. She doesn’t work as hard as some of these kids. They have done a trace and there’s going to be a meeting with a supervisor. It doesn’t take 3 hours to get to Kingston.” I’m glad to know Ms. X and Ms. X know what meds I’m on. I’m glad they are speaking with such great authority about my medical stats and doctors or my financially arrangement with my father. How do they know what the current arrangement is or what bills I pay in the household? No one bothered to tell me about the call. I had to hear passed to another employee five feet from my cubical. This isn’t the first time my personal information has been spread around the company after having been shared in confidence with my superiors. If my information has been maliciously passed to an opposing attorney without a court order on that date, then your employees have violated my legal rights. And so far, no court order has been delivered to me. So, tell me, just why was my information handed over? Why was not mentioned me and why was it openly discussed? I guess I was supposed to open up a check and find out that way. I have had several operations since 2004 and I have kept coming back to work. The company called 911 last March when I became ill at work and had to go into treatment for several issues from a car accident. They took me to the hospital. My father has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, but I kept working and going to the hospital and I am his advocate and caregiver. I was assured I could keep working without taking leave, but what I have gotten is open hostility from some of the staff as if I am a slacker or worse. I don’t profess to be your most prolific worker, but I do my very best for you every day, no matter what difficulty I have been facing in my personal life. On several instances, I have been manipulated, I suppose, so I will quit. My immediate boss has attempted to be supportive and work with me, but the abuse has accelerated to the point, where she can’t control it. She has tried to help me. Some days are peaceful – without incident— and then the negative behavior starts again. I know where the order comes from and it’s from the top. When I CC the office, I get a professional response as in the case of FMLA paperwork I had requested just last week. The actions of your employees have endangered my financial future. I am paying for medical care and many debts from the past seven years. To be thrust into this position leaves me without any choices or options other than to have wages garnished or declare bankruptcy. My heath has been affected directly and it has been duly noted by several of my physicians as a factor in my recovery. I have tried to get along with my coworkers. How do you expect me to remain civil when I am insulted openly? I walked out in 2007, but it didn’t make any difference. I was pulled back inside, so that the incident could be contained and I wouldn’t get outside help from an attorney. I was told to get a psychiatrist instead and the take the day off. They kept me in one room and moved X into the field unit. It didn’t solve the issue, just temporarily prevented more incidents from happening. Over the last few days, the aggressive behavior has ceased since I shared the diagnosis from my physicians who were understandably outraged to find I had been openly discriminated against as I was going into surgery during February of 2009. Of course, my other surgeon from 2003 Dr. X, who has been voted the top GYN in the Hudson Valley for two years in a row, had to deal with some opposition from my peers when she put me on disability. She mentioned that your company needed to “chill out” about me coming back to work – that it was up to her judgment, not theirs. You see, I must have been feigning illness, when I was hemorrhaging in the chair and into my shoes and clothes at work that day. She, in fact, saved my life and also referred me to the doctors who found the Crohn’s disease last week. I am also undergoing treatment in another program. It seems ironic that I was given a raise of $13.13 per hour a few weeks ago, especially when my every movement and call is being monitored. How do you expect me to be a productive employee in conditions such as this? I refuse to be intimidated any longer. No job is worth it. My family, friends, and professional contacts encourage me to get away from this company. I find some of my co-workers to be a pleasure to work for. I also enjoy assisting the CFAs, but what does it matter – especially after these incidents? I am asking for the harassment to stop. It’s not as if I can transfer to another division and I’m not going to give up my job without letting you know what’s going on, because if I can be singled out, it can happen to another employee and that puts your company at risk in the future. We all signed an agreement. Apparently, it didn’t mean anything to those who are above the company’s policies, the EOCC, and Federal Law. Enclosed is a copy of a letter from my doctor. Thank you for your kind attention in this matter. You can reach me at X.