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Violence

I was assaulted by a co-worker . I turned him in to the superintendent. All he said about it was to put a memo in his tray & copy his supervisor also. Nothing else was said. I was so upset I left work & took vacation time. I had to ask permission to go to workmen comp doctor. No one really said anything to me. I went to workmen's comp doctor. Then went home & called work. The co-worker was still there but I was not. This seems a little backwards. I then decided I was alone in this. I called local law enforcement & filed an assault charge. It's been a week & a half.

Police took a statement from me. I was told that an investigator was put on this case. I have two witnesses & Two trips to workmen's comp doctors. I also wrote a statement out of the events of that morning sent to HR dept, legal dept, Asst. Manager. No manager at this time. Also to the supervisor of the superintendent that I reported this to. I haven't heard a word work wise or legal wise. Only thing I know is this person was temp. put on administration leave with pay. I was not off on workmen's comp. But I was put on light duty for a week.

My question is should I take this to EEOC? I'm afraid they will turn this around on me & try to get rid of me instead of dealing with the person who did this. I work with about 40 to 45 people. Only 3 of us are female. I was slammed against a block wall by one of the male employees who tried all that morning to manipulate me & start an unpleasant situation between us. I'm in need of good advice. The only thing left to say is I am a city employee. The superintendent of this work place does not like me & it is very clear to see he wants me gone. I've been harassed by him. I notified management above him but it seems it does not do any good. I would have to say all co-workers at this job know about these issues. But I know they are afraid to be involved.

 

 

The problem is that there are so many gaps or exceptions to the law that it mostly comes down to sympathetic employers. Federal laws only apply to companies with more than 50 employees, which actually doesn't cover the majority of employees. This means that if this is your situation you have to turn to your state's laws and see if they offer better policies, which they are likely to do. The step after this is to actually just consult your company's policies -- which are or should be on record -- and you should make sure to access them. However, since you are talking about assault, that is actually a criminal complaint -- and if it happens again, you might want to consider going right to the police. Take care and I hope that you are able to resolve this.

- Amy

 

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