Hi all – I (22M) worked on campus at my University for multiple departments – one of which was office A from Oct '21 up until Dec '22 and another (office B) from Jan '22 – May '23. We also have two HR offices for two sides of the university (the main side and the 'auxiliary' side). I will refer to them as HR #1 and HR #2
Office A (a small Dept. made up of eight staff) consisted of Faculty Affairs in which the Vice President and Director handled all grievances that stemmed from the Staff/Professors. There were other analysts in the Dept. and the two figureheads gossiped about everyone's problems to the rest of the office – a culture I didn't really care for but it happens everywhere lol. At one point during a particular investigation consisting of child endangerment and drug use the topic of having children came up in which the Director was discussing it with both I and one other analyst: and the conversation literally shifted to her saying “If you adopt, or have kids, or whatever it is you people do…” as she suddenly alluded to me passively with a nod and gesture (she knew I was a gay male and learned as such during my interview/seeing a march for AIDS I do annually listed on my student resume). The analyst and I exchanged a glance in that moment then. It didn't dawn on me then that she may have meant something more by it – be it discriminatory or not. However, who exactly would she be referring to when I was one of the other two people there?
I eventually get let go from Office A over a sudden phone call in the winter of 2022 and get told no hours are available for me lmfao…ironic considering they had just hired two new people I trained just about a month prior to it. I was told it was just a result of labor not being available and NOT as a result of my performance/attendance/any other possible issue. The call was with one analyst I reported to and lasted an hour so I did probe her to try and get the truth. I am reassured it was not but knew something was off because I had overheard my VP once say she didn't believe I knew what I was doing. I will admit I was unfamiliar with many software apps but after working in offices and on different projects these past two years (one of which was Spring of 2021) have developed those savvy skills as a result. I eventually send an email to Office A in April of this year addressing two analysts and the VP/Director calling them out on their behavior (hoping people may give a damn about integrity and confidentiality) as well as bringing up what I realize now to be a discriminatory comment made by my Director in front of the other analyst who was there.
I am then let go from Office B in May of this year due to budgetary reasons along with another girl and do get a letter of Termination from them – no shadiness there. Office A doesn't provide one because I wasn't fired apparently – just not renewed per the hiring letter. Understandable.
From there, two investigations ensue – first with an office of Equity before being referred to HR. In Equity's investigation the Director could not deny nor confirm the allegation – but the witnessing analyst did confirm that the conversation occurred. Because the comment was trivial enough to not be an adverse homophobic action – it wasn't meant for Equity's scope. The Director of Employee Relations in HR then began an investigation at the end of May and Equity's investigation closed July 5th after starting between Apr/May.
I must also state that throughout all of this too between the last week of May up until now I have been interviewing for several other positions on campus (over ten interviews) but get none except for one in the office of the president – only for it to be retracted an hour after I accepted it. Super odd despite my qualifications/experience.
During this, I am flipped off and called the f-slur by a gym employee at my Uni. I feel conflicted about reporting him at first because he's had my ID number memorized and recognizes me as a regular from when I first started going – but we have no real relationship whatsoever so I did so once he began making comments about my weight too.
As this occurs and escalates to the auxiliary HR and not the other side of campus' HR, a friend of mine sends screenshotted messages from another friend I personally fell out with who works in an auxiliary Dept. (I happened to apply to her Dept. and also emailed a Director in it concerning their hiring practice consisting of a 'task' to be completed: I was worried folks could steal an idea but not hire the person basically) and she was revealing that she learned about my email to the Director AND that when her Department was speaking to HR #1 they were told I did something similar to a separate office and now HR is trying to blacklist me. I brought this hard evidence to the Auxiliary HR (HR#2) Director who was perplexed because not only did she not know about that interaction – she deduces that the office I applied to exchanged info with HR #1 and encouraged me to go to them with the concern. I have her suggestion and justification in writing as well as the screenshotted evidence presented to HR #1 but they completely ghost me as of July 14th. I have followed up in person/over email several times and event sent a letter over two weeks ago in order to get a response from the Director in HR #1 who began her investigation in May. She had told me the length of it all would take 2-3 months but we have now exceeded that.
In her final email on July 14th she refers me back to HR #2 because their side was where the breach of confidentiality initially happened despite all of my evidence pointing to HR #1. I suddenly get a letter on Sept. 15th after hearing nothing from their director concluding HR #1 investigating Office A and it consists of the analysts and Director being interviewed only to say I was a terrible assistant who was frequently tardy, unreliable, had poor attendance, and didn't pay close attention to instructions nor details and people always had to check in on me. They did not interview the VP of Office A and she was barely mentioned in the letter which stood out as odd. Office A also claims in the letter that no one gossiped about anything sensitive and I likely overhead things as a result of an 'open floorplan' the office had. Ridiculous, but whatever. Office A also did not address any of these supposed performance concerns with me and recognize that they should have – however, there are several weird bits of info in the document emailed to me. They seem to contradict themselves when stating they never spoke to me about my performance concerns, yet people in the office would supposedly have to constantly monitor me/my progress and correct errors or not even assign projects to begin with? I can't determine if my abilities her subpar or not – and I just have to laugh at how many holes I am able to poke in this apparent agenda. One interesting piece to this is that the Director of Office A did not deny the allegations in Equity's investigation – but did deny them with HR #1. The analyst who witnessed the comment in Office A quit in between the time Equity concluded their investigation and when HR #1 finished theirs – thus, he was not interviewed by HR #1 as a result. However, because Equity and HR #1 do not share info, there is the strong contradiction that my former boss is denying something she didn't before between the two separate investigations. Facts aren't lining up and HR #1 is refusing to address them/investigate properly as well as push false information to be true. My University's administration is covering one another.
I have already completed the intake process with a LGBTQ+ interest law office after being referred to them following a free consult with a separate lawyer and will be hearing from these lovely people next week. I basically am here to ask if this is something I was right to pursue and advocate to such an extent because something feels off and this bad feeling keeps dwelling within me as if something more is going to happen. Am I crazy to think there's something shady here?