My daughter stood up against Trump related bullying today

[rainbow4321]

And I’m one proud Mom.

An executive at her corporate office won a state award and in response her department came up with the idea for a congrats group picture from her dept—-and because it is well known that the exec is a Trump lover all the workers were given signs of Trump’s face to hold up.

My daughter refused to participate while her co-workers agreed.
She was told by her boss that it was a department activity and she had to.

She again refused.

More pressure...more refusing.

One of her co-workers finally said “I’m calling a code yellow, she is clearly uncomfortable with this”.

I have yet to actually speak with her but I believe code yellow is their corporation-speak for harassment/bullying/pressuring an employee to a point that the worker is being made to give in and everyone is to cease/desist or risk HR involvement.

How horrible is it that a person can’t even just go to work/stay in their own lane...and still they have to be treated this way? 😡😡😡🤬🤬🤬

[TEB]

1. I know your proud

I am as well

[MagickMuffin]

2. How abusive

Proud your daughter stood her ground!

[Martin Eden]

3. "all the workers were given signs of Trump's face to hold up"

That is extremely inappropriate. How about a backdrop of Confederate flags while they're at it?

[Different Drummer]

38. I agree. The request that they do that is venturing into "Dear Leader" territory. n/t

[Cha]

52. And, throw putin's pic in there. Jesus!

[yurbud]

58. "Bob is a big Civil War fan, so if you don't mind, could you put on these slave collars & shackles?"

[Martin Eden]

60. ... and sing some soulful cotton pickin' songs?

The darkies were so much happier back then.

[yurbud]

62. or Klan hoods.

[bigbrother05]

4. Congrats to your daughter, but a shout out to her co-worker

Standing your ground is tough in the face of such pressure, but she was sticking to her convictions.

Her co-worker had to step out from the crowd to overcome the harassment/hostile work environment.

Both are heroes!

[lunasun]

27. I have to agree. Silence from others is just as bad . Both are heroes

[TNNurse]

5. Hope she can find a better job with a better work environment.

I suspect there will be repercussions.

[lambchopp59]

7. Ditto, she should absolutely not stay in that environment

Trump supporters are every bit as complicit and untrustworthy as the Traitor Tot at this point.

[AJT]

31. and they are just as vindictive as 45....

her work life might get very uncomfortable and eventually lead to being fired.

[GreenEyedLefty]

54. Hopefully HR will define "retaliation" to management.

[TeamPooka]

6. Totally inappropriate for the company to do that. There's no other part of that exec's life they can

give a nod to?

[LisaM]

40. It sounds as if it was her department, not the company.

I agree that it's terrible and inappropriate, but it's also clear that the company itself has an anti-harassment policy in place, and a way for people to implement it.

In a fair world, the manager who pressured her and the people in her department who cooked up with ridiculous idea are the ones who should get some kind of reprimand.

We had a situation once where I was on a committee for a holiday party and most of the group voted for some highly inappropriate entertainment. Two of us voted "no" and someone actually asked us to explain our reasoning in front of the whole group (wrong) and the upshot was that ultimately the head of HR, who'd also been there, came to her senses and nixed the entertainment. So if there is a policy, that's a good sign that something like this might not happen again, at least is the "code yellow" triggers any kind of review.

[TeamPooka]

41. Going with politics and Trump is not smart. Golf is nice. Or dogs or cats

[LisaM]

42. No, it was ridiculous.

I'm just saying (without knowing what will ultimately happen) that it's her department who screwed up, not the whole company.

[TeamPooka]

43. yes, that dept manager especially. Baseball or their college football team is good too.

[firstwife]

8. Not just totally inappropriate,

it is illegal. I would understand if she doesn’t want to, but the appropriate response and the only way to put a stop to this treatment, is to file a lawsuit against the company and find another job. I wouldn’t want to work in such a toxic, oppressive environment. Companies losing lawsuits and public humiliation are the best tools to root out this kind of harassment in the workplace, IMO.

[TheBlackAdder]

9. She probably should go to HR, as her boss might hold it against her. There might be HR rules about it

[mbusby]

17. Never go to HR...

They are not on your side.

[Va Lefty]

19. Have to agree, in my experience going to HR usually made things worse.

[zipplewrath]

21. Unions for companies

HR is to corporations what unions are to executives. It is in essence collective bargaining for the company. Without unions, HR is a real menace.

[TheBlackAdder]

23. It depends on the company and the relationship she has with her boss. At least journal things.

.

There should be some sort of paper trail, even if it is a file stored on her email system that details it.

Just in case. Granted, HR will always follow-up with the manager, and that's manager's boss, so there might be some animosity or burning of bridges involved. But, if the workplace is pressuring her, and others note that folks were verging on HR violations, they are aware of their actions. Now, this might work to her benefit, as folks might not want to upset her for a while. The problem is that Trump fans have mental issues and are extremely unpredictable and hold grudges that might not manifest themselves for a few months... then the paper trails being, once they think enough time passed between the event and present day.

.

[Delmette2.0]

36. Very good advice.

[Pacifist Patriot]

24. Depends on the company.

I am HR and I defend every single one of our employees with my last breath. I have zero tolerance for harassment and bullying, and so does my boss the CEO. We both nip that shit in the bud!

Yes, HR is there to defend the company, but not standing up for employees is an excellent way for you to put your company at risk. It's a weird situation where interests can actually align.

[DBoon]

26. They might not be on your side

but if the boss is doing something that puts the company at risk, they may back you up.

They don't protect employees, but they do want to shield the company from legal penalties, litigation and bad publicity

It's not about you, it is about the company's interests

[nini]

49. You have to go to HR

If they do not do anything about your complaint.. bring on the lawyers.

[Soxfan58]

10. To you for raising such a remarkable daughter

[ProfessorGAC]

11. The Boss Is A Jerk

Nobody is irreplaceable, and that boss better figure that out!

[edbermac]

12. She should have said she'd hold up this sign of Trump

[Cha]

53. LOL! So many trump signs to hold up.. now

that would have been like something not very nice in the punch bowl!

[oasis]

13. They'll all feel better for going "code yellow" by the end of 2018. nt

[Louis1895]

14. re you sure it wasn't a "CODE ORANGE"?

[Chicagogrl1]

15. HR Director here

First off, congrats to your daughter standing her ground. Not sure how big her company is, but they should have an employee handbook that specifically states that employees are not to engage in political or religious activities while on company time. Like others have said, she will likely be unofficially “Black balled”. Sad but true. I have experienced this myself personally. She should document this situation & may consider sharing this info with HR, depending upoon their ability to support employees in this company. In other words, she needs to lay the ground work for a hostile work environment. Again, I would only recommend this if her HR dept is considered an equal part of the executive team. Hopefully, it all blows over, but she should start looking for a new job.

[LittleGirl]

22. yep, look for another job. eom

[yonder]

16. Good on your daughter, but hats off to her co-worker too!

[TygrBright]

18. Suggestion for your daughter:

(First off, though-- good on her, good on her colleague who supported her, and good on you for raising her right!)

To protect herself from blowback on this incident, it might be a smart move for her to DOCUMENT the incident, and ask to have that documentation added to her personnel file.

In documenting it, a few things are key:

First, link specifics to the company's personnel handbook or manual. That is, look at the policies around appropriate behavior expected in the workplace, which might include political activity, bullying, etc. Identify those policies by name and explain briefly why the incident may have, in her opinion, been non-compliant with the company's own policies.

Second, stay within her "I experienced, I felt, etc." language. Not expressing an opinion on the behavior of anyone else, just talking about how the incident affected her perception of the work place, etc. Include specifics such as date, time, who was present, etc.

Keep it short. No need to file a formal complaint unless the policy handbook requires it. Just document the incident, and ask to have that on file.

If at some point she feels as though she's being retaliated against, singled out for negative treatment, etc., that document will be in her file as evidence of a possible reason.

helpfully,

Bright

[Delphinus]

25. Excellent -

thank you for thinking of this.

[Louis1895]

32. Maybe take a cue from the FBI

And memorialize it an e-mail sent to herself so it is time-stamped and on the company servers for validity.

[FakeNoose]

34. Also don't forget witnesses

There were other employees involved and their cooperation/corroboration will be important. The daughter should quietly ask the other participants to write down what they remember of the incident and sign it and date it. Even if nothing else comes of this, she's got proof that she's not making the story up, it really happened.

[Initech]

20. Trump is the great divider!

Great for anyone who can stand up to the division! It's the patriotic thing to do!

Although it sucks that HR had to get involved.

[FoxNewsSucks]

28. Good for her!

I would take their sign, grab my sharpie, and then replicate this:




Then I'd ask if they still want me to hold up their fucking sign.

[LoveMyCali]

45. OK

This is really funny, probably won't solve this woman's problem but it's funny.

[7962]

55. That what I was thinking, although my mind had a much more minor alteration.

And I cant draw that well!

[woodsprite]

29. Very proud of your daughter and the person who took a stand for her decision.

But really...... shouldn't it have been "code orange"?

[lunasun]

30. I knew a lady who told me in order to get her Xmas bonus she had to kiss the boss

Last edited Tue Aug 7, 2018, 05:26 PM - Edit history (2)

when he handed it to you and he would put his arms around them. There are so many toxic work enviros . Hope your daughter finds a new boss
RESIST

[peggysue2]

33. Good One on Her!

There's all sorts of resistance; it doesn't all happen in the street. That being said, this sort of forced participation in political messaging has no place in the workplace. There was no need for the Trumpster's face signs. What's that got to do with the exec's award anyway? And the pressure to go along to get along is unacceptable, particularly in today's political atmosphere.

Very admirable on your daughter's part, and for the co-worker who supported her. Well done!

[Tipperary]

35. How very odd. What did the award have to do with the shitgibbon?

People in offices just happen to have signs of the cretin’s face lying around?

[trueblue2007]

37. and .... why DID they all surround themselves around DONALD TRUMP. Too bad the team

didn't have the backbone to say a RESOUNDING NO !!!

[pansypoo53219]

39. go and wear a pussy hat & a scowl.

[LuckyLib]

44. She wasn't the only one who was horrified to be asked to be part of such a stunt.

They were just too intimidated, too frightened to speak out, to stand up and say "No."

This is workplace intimidation, and HR should be all over this.

[Amaryllis]

46. Wow. Is this a conservative city?

[Ohioboy]

47. Good for your daughter! We are not supposed to worship our leaders!

In America our leaders work for us. Who are these people sucking up to Trump all the time? This sounds like something they might do in North Korea.

[sharedvalues]

48. Those employees are suckers

[RhodeIslandOne]

50. Is this actually mocking the boss?

Does anyone in your daughter's company realize only assholes support this dipshit anymore?

[True Blue American]

51. Yes, but

The problem is, how many of those fellow employees are Trump backers?

Thank goodness both your daughter and fellow employee stood up!

Did they take the picture?

[MrModerate]

56. I suspect this company has to call "code yellow" all the time . . .

If they think that forcing an employee into a political expression is "just good fun."

[lapislzi]

57. Always have witnesses

When confronting harassment. I learned that the hard way.

[yurbud]

59. it would be fine if all the employees could wear Che t shirts while doing it.

[rainbow4321]

61. Thank you to all who responded and rec'd this post

Spoke to her.
It was a video of the group. The state award was from a charity..the charity itself had nothing to do with the Trump theme, it was the employee planner of the dept video. Like me (and many of you) my daughter’s reaction was WTF...the planner could have picked from a LONG list of potential themes (company related, state related, charity related...SO many themes).

Her boss kept telling her it was “a department activity” that she had to participate in. My daughter stayed in the area and helped behind the scenes (getting chairs, helping the camera guy with on-camera people placement, etc..). She and I agreed..she WAS participating..but she refused to go on camera.
One of her many, many concerns: who the hell knows where this video could end up..they “offered” for her to be in the video “and not hold his picture” but she stood her ground and said no to that “offer”...she did not even want to be surrounded by his pictures.

So far there has been no fall out against her. I’ve passed on the advice that has been posted here. She is a very strong, level headed, passionate about doing right by people woman... anyone who gives her future grief about her decision won’t know what hit them.