I'm not usually one to air my dirty laundry, but I need to vent to someone that isn't my husband and I feel like you all will understand.
I work for a large hospital as a pathology technician. Basically that is a glorified phlebotomist that gets to do some lab processing and has a Bachelor's in Science.
For about 3 months I was working strictly in the lab (as in not out on the flood drawing blood) due to an injury. One of my jobs was to make sure the patient list was getting drawn and to occasionally page people to go draw rooms.
There is this one co-worker who has treated me downright terrible since about my second week at this job. Honestly it is whatever because I am old enough to know that not everyone can be friends and I really don't care if people don't like me. (For reference I am usually liked by everyone and only know of her having a problem with me).
Anyways, back in October I got wind that she was spreading a rumor around work that I am a racist and that I am picking on her for her skin color. That is absolutely false, but I do make sure she does her job and doesn't just sit around if things need to be done and there is no one else to do them. I told my supervisor about it and nothing really happened, but I was ok because I had let management know. In November there was a situation where this coworker completely disrespected me and was putting patient safety at risk by refusing to go to any rooms I had asked her to go to. There was a bit of a heated exchange and I told my supervisor that it needed to be taken up the chain or I was done.
After over a month of waiting, we finally got an HR meeting. In this meeting the HR person forgot our names, and forgot that she had asked us to come up with a handful of things we could both do at work to make working together easier. I had come up with 3 things, and this other person came up with nothing. She flat out said it was a waste of her time and demeaning to her. Nothing was resolved and the meeting lasted only 15 minutes in total. During that meeting however, HR in her infinite wisdom, said that if there is anymore talk, or if anything else comes up about this, that BOTH of us would be written up for corrective action. Yes, even if I reported that this coworker was still slandering me and telling others that I am a racist, I would be the one to get written up.
I am pre-med and was hoping to someday either get a residency or shadowing in this hospital, and a rumor like that can kill a reputation. Not to mention it is just a shitty thing to lie about.
At first my supervisor seemed to still be friendly with me and told me she was on my side and apologized for what this co-worker was doing. But now the script has flipped and I am being punished. I am having my shifts moved around – for example, I was supposed to be in the lab working, but when I got to work they had me scheduled for the E.R. This has happened more than once, and without any warning. I had tried asking about it but my supervisor said she had to make the schedule fair, but I can see the schedules for my other co-workers and others aren't being treated the way that I am.
My husband and I are planning on moving to another state this summer and for medical school, so it is only about 6 months that I have to stay and deal with it, but it is at the point where I am feeling punished for speaking up. I feel like I am being ostracized because I made people aware to what this person was doing, and HR didn't take it serious.
I don't know if I am asking for advice or just needing to put this out into the void, but here it is. The stress that this whole situation has caused is starting to seep into my personal life. This person was not reprimanded, punished, or even asked to stop spreading the lies. This hospital company cares only that they have warm bodies on shift, not that they have workers who actually care about patients.
Thanks for listening to my rant, and please tell me if I am being the asshole here.