One advocate's story of a sham investigation

Florida is an at will-state, but I was fired after submitting a harassment claim. When I was interviewed by the "independent investigator," I stated, "How bad was the abuse for me to give up $85,000 salary, excellent benefits, FRS, six weeks PTO time, and nine years invested into the city and residents?"
 
The independent investigator was protected by the city. He was not objective. I knew I was screwed when the city attorney asked, "Are you submitting the claim because you do not want to work with the new City Manager?" and the independent investigator stated, "I will decide who I will interview." The independent investigator only interviewed the HR Director and Deputy City Manager. The HR Director targeted me for nine years, and Deputy City Manager was not going to speak up because she does not have a college degree, and she would never find another job at the salary she is making now. Here is my story.
 
I worked for a city in Miami Dade County, South Florida, for nine...
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How one manager pushed out a competent medical insurance analyst — and the company did nothing

The late Congressman John Lewis talked about the importance of saying and doing something when you see something that's not right — getting into good trouble. “I fought too long and too hard against discrimination based on race and color not to fight against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity,” he said. “He (President Obama) is sending a powerful message that discrimination in any form has no place in a democratic society. It also gives hope to the 9 million LBGT Americans and their loved ones who have had to bear the pain and sorrow of rejection, loss, and shame with limited means to make their voices heard.”

 

 


In 2007, a healthcare organization hired me as a military medical insurance analyst, a position I would stay in for 12 years. (I had the same position for 20 years in a different healthcare organization.) For those 12 years, I received excellent job evaluations year after year from my previous...

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My supervisor confessed to abuse of power and sexual predation; he advanced — and I changed careers

By Sarah Charley

When faced with extraordinary evidence pointing towards an uncomfortable truth, my former employer responded very strangely.

“I had no idea how persistent his abuse was to have dampened your spirits so much,” the general manager replied to an email about my supervisor’s behavior. “I've spoken with [the senior staff] and they all agree with your assessment of [the supervisor’s] behavior towards you. I feel embarrassingly oblivious about this, but more importantly like we (as a whole, as your friends) didn't do enough to stop it from happening.”

At the time of this exchange, I was 23 and pursuing my dream of being a guide and outdoor educator at a rafting company on the American River in California. My supervisor, however, had turned this dream into a traumatic and disorienting nightmare. In his own words:

“[…] For a period of 4 months in 2012, I used Sarah Charley for sex, and treated her terribly […] [This is]...

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