A few months ago I was threatened with physical violence by a coworker and as a result she no longer can work with me but I was also given a written warning by my boss because I was being “antagonizing” according to my coworker even though I know I was not. I don’t know what they did with my coworker other than moving her to a different location. Also I will have to reread the employee guidebook to see what it says but I think if someone has more than one written warning they get fired.
Pretty much ever since I started my job I’ve been harassed by this older male coworker I have. He would constantly say that he’s gonna go to my place, that he’s gonna pick me up and we’re gonna go out together, he would call me his “work girlfriend.” I have made it so clear to him each time that I am NOT interested, that I am uncomfortable with his comments, and I have told him to stop. I never got management involved because I didn’t really want to. He stopped for awhile after I snapped at him one day and told him to stop, and my coworker also spoke to him and said he couldn’t talk to me like that.
Also I want to make it known that this coworker who has been harassing me makes sexual comments all the time and not just around me. Yesterday, after him not having harassed me in some time, he brought up again the thing about wanting to go to my house and picking me up so we can go out together. And I still feel so uncomfortable when he says things like that. While I was mostly kidding in my response I wanted him to stop bringing it up. I said if he showed up to where I live I’d call the police. And he kept going on about wanting to go to my house and take me out so then I asked him (again I was kidding but wanted him to stop talking about it) sarcastically “do you wanna get a restraining order against you?” And he lost it at that and got angry, going on a tirade for a couple minutes about pointless things. He wasn’t yelling, but he was clearly pissed. I moved to another state far away from my hometown, and he said “oh no wonder you moved across the country, you don’t have any friends” and saying stuff how he thought I was cool but guess not or something along those lines. Also someone else recently told on this coworker for falling asleep in the building we work at which is not allowed, and he said “I bet it was you who snitched on me.” It wasn’t, but whatever. He kept going on and on and I was just staring at him shocked and disturbed with how he was talking. I told him twice to leave it, that the conversation ended, and we should move on. He finally did after I told him a second time. My other coworker was there too and saw this happen.
The coworker doing the harassing went to me awhile later and I had my headphones in with music playing, but I could hear him trying to say he was sorry for earlier. I didn’t wanna talk to him at all at this point so I said “it’s fine, it’s fine” even if it wasn’t because I also felt there was no point in talking to him about it further. He also held his fist out for a fist bump but I didn’t give him one. Also my other coworker said that the one doing the harassing was afraid I’d report him for what he has been doing.
I feel not only really uncomfortable to be around him but I feel scared. I do want to report him. I didn’t for awhile but I feel that I should now. But because the last time I reported an employee for threatening me and I was given a written warning, I am worried that it will happen again and I’ll get fired. Which seems a lot like retaliation. I want to bring up this entire problem with my coworker to HR and tell them that I was afraid to go to them about the harassment since the last time I complained about a coworker I got a written warning and now I am worried that I will get retaliated against/fired. I want to tell HR that the minute I was given a written warning after reporting my other coworker for threatening me, they have created a hostile work environment in which I’m afraid to go to my boss or HR, and that this fact should be a concern to them. I’m no expert but something about an employee getting retaliated against for reporting harassment seems illegal and I will mention a lawyer to HR if I have to. I know HR is there to protect the company, not employees, but I don’t know what else to do and I want HR to know I’m serious.