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My direct manager has been hostile toward me. The most egregious and recent examples are that I was passed up for summer employment despite having seniority, and my hours were cut from 20 to 8 when I returned to work this fall. She also sent disparaging texts regarding me to a co-worker that I also work with at an internship after work hours. I asked her why she was doing these things, and she admitted that she wanted me to quit, but couldn’t fire me because my performance reviews and customer comments were all exceptional. I tried to contact HR, but nothing came of it. Is there anything I can do about it?
Asked on October 23, 2010 under Employment Labor Law, Utah
Answered 14 years ago | Contributor
There *probably* is nothing you can do about it, unfortunately. Unless you have an employment contract or agreement of some kind (in which case, it's terms regarding work conditions, discipline, etc. have to be honored), you are an employee at will. Companies may essentially treat employees at will however they like--including, for that matter, firing them at will despite their performance reviews and customer contacts. If a manager chooses to not simply fire an employee for whatever reason, she can be as nasty, meanspirited, disrespectful, unfair, etc. as she likes. There is no obligation for employers to be fair, reasonable, or logical--again, unless there is a contrat.
The only likely ways a cause of action might arise in a case like this are:
1) Certain types of discrimination (e.g. vs. race, religion, age over 40, sex, disability) are illegal; if you think you are being singled out for bad treatment on one or more of these bases, you may have a cause of action;
2) If the texts, etc. sent to a coworker (or anyone else) about you contained false negative factual statements (not merely opinions; they must be statements off fact) that damaged your reputation, there may be a cause of action for defamation.
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