Harassment and Discriminatory Attitude

        Anyway, my two absences were reported on time according to the Target guidelines to avoid any No Call/No show that is a typical excuse for the employers to punish their employees. In fact, on May 19, 2010, The ETL-Softlines addressed a written Counseling Corrective Action to me based her decision in the No Call/No Show on May 4 and 5, 2010. I ratified that two absences that supported the Counseling Corrective Action were appropriately justified to Target, however she obliged and forced to me to sign this corrective Action alleging that if I refuse to sign this action, she could not keep the job. In this, circumstances due to I need the job, I proceeded to sign it. 

I can say that I felt humiliated, rejected, and bullied at my workplace by the Department Manager as representative of the Target Management who put me in jeopardy as well as to my baby too on several ways. The indolence that I received from them was immeasurable. The retaliation and discrimination was increasing progressively. One day, I arrived to the store on time because I used to be there early        to organize my belongings in the locker, drink water, and check my schedule… after two hours from my work shift, I felt bad, dizzy, and I vomited in the restroom repeatedly.... Then, I requested permission to the Manager on Duty to leave to my house to recover my sickness, and my husband picked me that day from the store.

            After this situation, I received a call from my Department Manager, and she told me that she needs to talk with me when I back to work according to my schedule. When I     returned to my workplace I remained with the issues of my health conditions, but I was there. Immediately, my manager called me to go to her office as soon as possible. I went to her office and she started yelled me with a defiant tone that she will not accept more sick absences. In addition, she said that my hours were assigned, and I cannot continue            affecting the company with my sickness absences. In fact, she said “…if this situation continues you know Anamaria what will happen to you…! However, she repeated the same statement more of four times at front of other representative of the Target’s Management in her office. I explained to my manager what was happening with my pregnancy and the sickness, but she did not care and restated her statement one more time…

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) states that “An employer is not required to provide an employee’s first choice of accommodation. The employer, is requires to provide an effective accommodation, i.e., an accommodation that meets the individual’s needs and will allow him or her to perform the essential functions of the job or enjoy the full benefits of employment.”

The EEOC is taking very seriously What Are No-Fault Attendance Policies.

[N]o-fault attendance policies also are viewed less-than-favorably by the EEOC.  No-fault attendance policies are those policies that charge an absence against an employee regardless of the reason for the absence.  Thus, problems arise when the employer fails to recognize – and exclude from the policy – any absences that relate to a disability or which fall under the FMLA.