1. I was gaslighted multiple times. For example, I was given a confidential heads up 3 times over the course of months that my job was going to be eliminated. Once I documented via email the conversations I had with my boss, they told me they never said I would lose my job and acted like they had no idea what I was talking about. 2 weeks later, I got a call from them that my job was eliminated.
2. If you don’t gossip with the leaders and others in the department, you will not fit in and they let you know it. I’ve been around leaders laughing at other coworkers when they weren’t around.
3. I would be told by my boss to do something a certain way. After I did, they NEVER remembered what we talked about and I constantly had to redo things even after documenting and recapping our conversations.
4. I was told the Resource Center in HR was a joke and never submit any employee complaints, concerns, and to never seek advice from them.
5. In my second week, I was told to lay someone off and tell them, verbatim, that it wasn’t a “cultural fit”. Being in Week 2, I asked who I should consider and they told me “just pick someone”.
6. I was told many, many times how you need to be liked and that performance was minimally noticed. Better to be with the “in crowd” to quote.
7. Coworkers would offer to help with something, but then turn around and tell my boss I came to them and was incompetent to do my job on my own. The situations were things everyone does with one another, but the coworkers kept that quiet. They care more about getting ahead and will squash anyone or anything in their way.
8. Constant layoffs in HR. They even laid off someone sick on long-term disability. They didn’t care. Severance was given and they called it good.
9. In terms of diversity, the recruiting team is told to “just look at the profile picture”. This is making judgments.
10. There is a “work for your day” dress code. I stuck with jeans and sweaters. I was told to look at how 2 leaders dress and to copy them. It was very demeaning.
11. I hit ALL performance metrics, which is a large portion of what bonus is based upon. That and company performance. I was not given a single dime because according to my boss someone thought I was rude in an email one time when I was just direct with my question. They prefer small talk in all conversations before getting to the point. It’s tiresome when you have a lot of work to do.
Also, I was encouraged not to apply to an internal opportunity I was highly interested in and had experience in because, per my boss, I “had no chance”.
These are a handful of examples. There are many, many more (I was called a derogatory name and my boss and their boss just told me to just not respond).
Ultimately, I had/have a very strong case to go seek legal counsel and thankfully I have the majority of conversations documented in emails, notes, Teams, texts, and a few recorded one on one meetings with my boss.
You can’t make this stuff up.
