#Workplace bullying policies

[exlibrisfangirl]

Hey, hope your doing okay! I was just wondering if you had any advice about how to deal with ableist co workers? I have Crohn’s disease, so I have a weakened immune system. I have been out of work a lot recently due to flares and RSV, so I’ve been having people covering my shift. I asked someone to in the group chat and this girl said I should just quit. I kindly said I have an invisible disability and tried to be polite. She continued with ableist comments and even asked if Crohn’s was even a disability like I didn’t know what I was talking about. Just trying to think about how to handle the situation and if I should bring it up to management. If you have any advice, I’d be glad to hear it! Thanks!

Dear Nonny,

I am... SO sorry it took me forever to respond to this. I saw it, and then... shit kinda hit the fan in my personal life, and I forgot about it. *hangs head in shame*

I am actually dealing with a slightly similar situation at work at the moment. A coworker has been bullying me for a couple months now, which includes: a) giving me the silent treatment, b) undermining my authority with our clients at every opportunity, and c) talking shit about me to our other coworkers, including saying that she thinks that I am faking my medical conditions/don't actually have any "valid" medical conditions, and that she won't believe anything I say until she sees my "medical records" (which, of course, she has no right to demand). I have just recently met with my boss and HR and filed a formal grievance. I'm still awaiting the outcome, but, in the meantime, my boss has changed my schedule so I don't have to work with that coworker.

Unfortunately, this is not my first rodeo, and I've learned a lot over the years regarding how to deal with workplace/coworker issues as a chronically ill and disabled person.

Here's my advice...

First and foremost, know your company's policies on bullying/harassment and workplace discrimination, as well as your state/federal rights. (I don't know what country you live in, but I've dealt with this in the USA and in the UK, and I know they have similar protections in place. Here's an overview of your federal rights in the USA from the ACLU website.) At my workplace, in our staff handbook, there is a section which outlines our code of conduct and explains that any employee can face disciplinary action - up to and including immediate termination - for violating any of those expectations. Bullying and harassment are specifically mentioned. There is also a section which explains our rights as employees, including disability rights and what to do if we believe we have been discriminated against and/or wrongfully terminated.

Secondly, document EVERYTHING. Document what this coworker says to you and when. If there were witnesses, document that, too. If/when you choose to bring your boss/HR into it, they may ask for specific details, dates, and whether or not there were any witnesses present. I keep a running list in the note-taking app on my phone, so that I can easily access it during meetings, as well as copy and paste easily into emails.

Last, but not least: in my experience, the earlier you involve management the better, and be persistent. If you let the behavior go unchecked for a long time before you say anything, your boss *might* interpret that as "it must not be thaaat bad, so I can put it on the back burner". Make it very clear from the beginning that you a) want to be there/want that job, b) know your rights, and c) expect action to be taken and follow-up to take place. Employers generally do not want to risk being sued (or risk losing employees... or at the very least risk getting a bad reputation, which might deter potential future employees), so this will usually get them to take your concerns seriously and address them promptly. If that is not the case, and your workplace has an HR representative/department, telling your boss you'd like to meet with HR will likely do the trick; your supervisor/boss doesn't want to get in trouble with HR. The same goes for your union rep, if you are part of a labor union. Don’t hesitate to seek support from higher up the ladder (e.g. your boss's boss, etc.) if your boss doesn't seem to be taking you seriously or isn't taking prompt action to address your coworker's behavior.

Let me make this very clear: You don’t owe your coworker SQUAT. She is not your boss. She has no right to your personal medical information, and you do not owe her an explanation. If you really want to, you could perhaps send her a link to an educational website where she can read more about your condition on her own time, but please don't waste any further time and energy trying to educate her. If she truly wants to learn, she will. If she just wants to be an asshole (which is what I suspect is the case), she won't even bother reading the info you provide. Either way, your coworkers do not have the right to demand details or proof of your disabilities/illnesses, and you should not have to disclose personal medical information to your coworkers in order to be treated with respect and dignity in your workplace.

Read it... and then read it again. And again. And again.

You should not have to disclose personal medical information to your coworkers in order to be treated with respect and dignity in your workplace.

Feel free to plagiarize me and borrow/quote/adapt as much of this as you like for use with your coworkers and management. (Is it still plagiarism if I give you permission? 🤔)

I hope this has helped, even just a little, and I truly hope your situation improves soon! Stay strong, Nonny. Spoonie solidarity! 🥄💜

[stephistopheles]

So this is a thought I've been grappling with, a lot, for a long time, and a friend of mine posted something about it, so I'm ruminating on it.

What is it that, in some people, not liking/not agreeing with/not approving of a person then translates into "this person deserves my cruelty."

No person is required to like another person - any person. That's not an obligation any of us have. But I genuinely don't get what happens to the wiring in a person's brain that then makes them feel not only the need, but the RIGHT, to act horribly towards a person based on that. To willfully cause that person mental/emotional distress for the simple fact that they do not meet the standards of the person in some way.

There are plenty of people I don't currently like. Well, honestly, "plenty" is a bit of an exaggeration - there are several people I don't currently like. My reasons for not liking them are pretty well-justified, and mainly rooted in their negative attitude and behavior toward me.

But, that doesn't inspire in me the need, or even the want, to make them miserable. On the contrary, their behavior indicates to me that they are already miserable on some fundamental level. These are people I have tried to reason with on every human level I could to just treat me with a basic level of respect, and something in their mind thinks, "You? I don't like you, so why would I be anything but cruel to you?" And no matter how many times I've reflected on it, or tried to empathize with them, it's still beyond my capacity to grasp.

But, I guess that seems to be the fundamental difference between people who are abusive, and people who are not. How those sorts of people get from point A to point B in regards to "don't like this person" to "maximize the unhappiness of this person" will never be something I can truly connect in my mind.

Even in the midst of being treated with active hostility from multiple sources, I still don't think, "That person has treated me cruelly, so they deserve to be treated cruelly." At most, I've gotten to the point of thinking "That person has treated me cruelly, which is not something I deserve, so they should be held accountable so that they understand that treating anyone that way - not just me specifically - is not okay.

And, further, feeling the hurt, frustration, and betrayal of being a target for someone's abuse has just inspired in me the deep, flourishing desire to not only have them held accountable so that I feel safe, but so that no one else will have to be a target to that. Because I truiy and wholly believe that no one deserves to be made to feel worthless and devalued in that way.

I have a lot of thoughts going on in my brain about it... Currently, specifically wondering how to take my really shitty experience at my job and see if I can somehow make it into an initiative to provide more employee safeguards and resources in healthcare settings.

I've noticed that in trying to find information on how employees are protected from bullying and retaliation at my job, I'm coming up with very little. And I understand how in direct care work, protecting the recipients of services is of paramount importance - I would never disagree with that on any level. But without the direct care workers, none of what the company provides would be possible. It can often be a difficult and potentially unsafe position, so I'm confused as to why there aren't more protections for employees in place.

This has been long and rambling, but I'm getting to a point : in some people, disliking another person makes them deserving of cruelty in the eyes of the person being cruel. In myself, disliking another person means attempting to understand them, holding them accountable, and then protecting others in my position from possible harm in the same ways. Where does the road branch in those opposing directions, and why? And what has to happen to a person that makes them someone who finds enjoyment or validation in causing another person pain?

So yeah, I don't know. That was really just a massive thought dump, and I still don't get shitty people. But, no matter how many shitty people I come into contact with, I know this much : I don't deserve to be treated poorly, nor does anyone else. And no one is ever justified on making the choice to make another person distressed or miserable - ever. It's actually pretty simple : if you don't like someone, just leave them alone. Period, end of story, problem solved. Why do some people find that so difficult to do?

Sigh. Well, I can't change those people, and I certainly won't understand them it seems. But, what I can do with it is choose to let it reinforce the negative self-image that repeated mistreatment tends to create in a person, or, I can choose to grow in my empathy of others, and strive to make sure they can keep themselves safe more than I was able to.

Yep, this kind of went all over the place, but... There you go?

[femvaylin]

Frantically googling how to stop trusting people

[ukrfeminism]

A lawyer and the government department she works with are being sued after she made gender-critical statements at work, including expressing the belief that only women menstruate. 

Elspeth Duemmer Wrigley works at an arm’s-length body affiliated to the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and is a chairwoman of a civil service network that represents staff with gender-critical views. 

She is one of three key signatories of an explosive letter sent in October to the cabinet secretary warning the impartiality of the civil service was under threat because anyone with gender-critical views was “openly and unlawfully bullied and harassed”. 

The confidential letter, seen by The Times, makes serious claims about a “small number of active gender ideologues” embedded in the civil service who brief against ministers and seek to alter official documents.

Duemmer Wrigley will appear at an employment tribunal next week accused of harassment for several comments and posts shared in the workplace. An employee of another body affiliated to Defra is suing the government department for allowing the network to exist and Duemmer Wrigley personally for her views. 

These include a statement made during a seminar on female autism that “only women menstruate” and a link to My Body is Me!, a book that encourages young children to understand and accept their bodies. A post in which she celebrates “diversity of belief” and explains that being gender-critical is a protected belief has also been penalised.

The Sex Equality and Equity Network (Seen) is an official civil service network with more than 700 members in 50 government departments who support the belief that biological sex is binary and immutable. Duemmer Wrigley is chairwoman of Defra’s Seen network and believes she is being targeted as a figurehead.

The claimant, who has not been named, has accused Defra bosses of creating a “intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating and/or offensive environment” and is calling for a disbanding of the departmental SEEN network and, potentially, the cross-governmental network as well. 

Duemmer Wrigley warns that if successful, the case would have a “chilling effect” that could silence all gender criticism in the civil service.

“[It] would effectively preclude any public gender-critical discourse in the workplace,” she writes in a statement. 

“It has been brought at a time when employees with gender-critical beliefs in many organisations, both in the civil service and beyond, are already facing vexatious, chilling or bullying attacks. I believe if this case succeeds, these attacks are likely to escalate. I believe if this case succeeds there will be no place in the civil service for those with sex realist views.”

It comes months after the letter to Simon Case, the head of the civil service, called for “urgent action to ensure that civil service impartiality is upheld, and freedom of belief is respected”.

It warns that unchallenged bias in relation to gender is having a direct impact on policy, based on interviews and evidence from SEEN members across government.

The letter cites efforts from some staff to “remove contributions to government consultations that relate to sex instead of gender” and “quietly briefing external organisations on how to circumnavigate ministerial direction”. 

It alleges there is an “active obfuscation of facts” among some trans activist civil servants to “prevent ministers seeing the impact of trans-inclusive policies” and evidence of internal policy being leaked to “partisan organisations”. 

Maya Forstater, executive director of Sex Matters, a human rights organisation that campaigns for clarity on sex in law, policy and language, said: “This is a shocking case, which follows revelations by civil servant whistleblowers about a ‘culture of fear’ among gender-critical civil servants across Whitehall. 

“It is not reasonable to view the existence of a network of gender-critical colleagues as ‘harassment’. 

“The civil service needs to have a robust culture of integrity, objectivity and accountability, and treat all its employees fairly. Civil servants should not expect to be kept “safe” from encountering ideas or people they don’t agree with.”

A government spokesman said: “We are unable to comment on ongoing legal proceedings.”

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Trudy Ring at The Advocate:

If you’re looking for yet another reason that Donald Trump shouldn’t be elected president again, we have two words for you: Project 2025. You’ve probably been hearing these words, but you may be sketchy on what they mean. We’re here to fill you in on the details thanks to a report by Accountable.US.

What is Project 2025?

Basically, Project 2025 is a blueprint of what far-right activists want from the next conservative president — and Trump is the conservative who’s running. It includes plans to fire as many as 50,000 career federal employees and replace them with people who have unquestionable loyalty to the president; restrict access to contraception; possibly implement a national abortion ban; cut federal health care programs; and much more, designed to make the U.S. an authoritarian nation. And LGBTQ+ people are directly in its crosshairs. “Project 2025 couldn’t make its anti-LGBTQ+ agenda any more clear. With far-right extremists at the helm, the project is a power grab by conservatives attempting to turn back the clock on hard-fought progress and fundamental rights,” Accountable.US President Caroline Ciccone said in a statement to The Advocate. “Project 2025 doesn’t just pose an existential threat to our democracy but seriously threatens the rights and freedoms of LGBTQ+ communities across the country.”

[...]

How will it affect LGBTQ+ Americans?

Project 2025’s “Mandate for Leadership” is a document taking up 900 pages, but Accountable.US has put together a succinct summary of what Project 2025 would mean to LGBTQ+ Americans, and The Advocate has a first look. Here are the key points. The project urges the next conservative president to basically ignore the 2020 Supreme Court decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, in which the court found that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, in banning sex discrimination in the workplace, also bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. President Joe Biden, in contrast, had directed all federal agencies to implement the provisions of Bostock not just in the workplace but in health care, education, and other aspects of life. It calls for barring transgender people from the military and to stop what it considers the “toxic normalization of transgenderism” across the government and American society. It seeks to abolish the president’s Gender Policy Council, “which it views as promoting abortion and the ‘new woke gender ideology,’” Accountable.US notes.

The next Health and Human Services secretary, Project 2025 recommends, should reverse what it calls a focus on “‘LGBTQ+ equity,’ subsidizing single-motherhood, disincentivizing work, and penalizing marriage, replacing such policies with those encouraging marriage, work, motherhood, fatherhood, and nuclear families.” “The Project 2025 playbook laments the fact that family policies and programs under President Biden’s HHS are ‘fraught with agenda items focusing on “LGBTQ+ equity,”’ making it clear that they intend to roll those agenda items back,” Accountable.US explains. It further calls for the Department of Justice “to defend the First Amendment right of those who would discriminate against LGBTQ+ people. It also objects to the DOJ notifying states that their bans on abortion and medical services to transgender persons may violate federal law,” Accountable.US reports. On foreign policy, Project 2025 says a new conservative president should dismantle and U.S. Agency for International Development programs that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, such as what it dubs “the bullying LGBTQ+ agenda.”

Project 2025’s harmful anti-LGBTQ+ agenda is just one piece of the radical right-wing Heritage Foundation document. Project 2025’s goals are to make life harder for LGBTQ+ Americans.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Andrew Doyle

Published: Feb 17, 2024

This is how it begins. “Why not add your pronouns to your email signature?” “Why not announce your pronouns at the beginning of meetings?” “Why not encourage your staff members to ask for pronouns in day-to-day conversation?” After all, it’s just about being compassionate and creating a more “inclusive” work environment. Only a bigot would object to that…

It’s this kind of skewed reasoning that has led to the firing of Fran Itkoff, a 90-year-old volunteer for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, who simply expressed confusion when faced with a request that she add pronouns to her emails. “I had seen it on a couple of letters that had come in after the person’s name”, Itkoff said in an interview, “but I didn’t know what it meant”.

We can hardly be surprised when a nonagenarian is befuddled by this strange new quasi-religious ritual, so rapidly has the practice taken hold. This didn’t stop the National MS Society from turning its back on Itkoff, a volunteer whose commitment to the charity dated back for six decades. For committing heresy against the Holy Creed of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Itkoff was immediately sacrificed. The statement issued by the National MS Society claimed that her query about pronouns was “viewed as not aligning with our policy of inclusion”.

Declaring pronouns makes little sense in any case, given that they are used in place of a name when talking about someone, not to someone. And besides, human beings are perfectly capable of determining someone’s sex without being told, usually instantaneously. Of course, according to activists, all of this is irrelevant. We are assured that sex has been superseded by “gender identity”, that mysterious sense of self that few of us believe even exists. It would be like being told to announce the colour of your aura every time you began a conversation. 

Like the vast majority of the population, I use pronouns to denote the biological sex of the person to whom I’m referring. And I certainly would not comply if commanded to declare my own due to my innate aversion to any form of compelled speech. The lessons of history are clear: when those in authority begin to demand the use of certain phrases, they have taken the first step on the pathway to tyranny. I do not wish to see a future in which we are forced to stand in lockstep and chant the approved slogans of the ruling class. 

Of course, the declaration of pronouns is far removed from any such scenario, but the principle to me is sacrosanct. I will not be told what to say by anyone, least of all those who claim to know what is best for the good of society. Authoritarians have always couched their demands in faux-benevolence, and we have seen how gender ideologues have a particular tendency to viciousness and bullying. “Be kind… or else” is not a maxim to which I am willing to capitulate. 

To ask for pronouns in the workplace is the equivalent of suggesting that employees pledge fealty to a deity they do not worship. It is a kind of test, a way to ensure that the tenets of Critical Social Justice – otherwise known as “wokeness” – are being observed. Spinoza argued that for any man to “be compelled to speak only according to the dictates of the supreme power” is a violation of his “indefeasible natural right” to be “the master of his own thoughts”. Once you agree to make statements in favour of a belief-system you do not hold, you are surrendering your agency to those who will exploit it. 

While the declaration of pronouns remains a purely voluntary matter, it is fair to say that no-one’s free speech is being violated. But the consequences for non-compliance in the workplace are becoming increasingly severe. Members of staff are passed over for promotion, they are smeared as unreconstructed bigots and “transphobes”, and eventually shunned and isolated. I have written before about friends of mine in the acting profession who feel uncomfortable in stating pronouns at the beginning of rehearsals, but know that they are unlikely to be recast if they refuse. This may not be compulsion, but it is coercion.

We see the same phenomenon on social media, where trans rights activists routinely denounce and defame those guilty of the crime of “misgendering”. They report users in the hope of seeing them banned, contact employers and claim to feel “unsafe”, and even occasionally call the police. This is the essence of cancel culture. They are, of course, free to criticise, even in a robust and rude manner. But to seek to destroy someone’s livelihood for their choice of language is fundamentally authoritarian. 

In the same vein, we have seen a handful of gender-critical feminists attacking people online for choosing to use “preferred pronouns” in certain cases. Again, the criticism is valid, but once it strays into the realm of libel, misrepresentation and character assassination, these critics are merely borrowing from the playbook of trans activists. In the tenor of some of these online free-for-alls, it has been difficult to tell one faction from the other. 

When it comes to the declaration of pronouns, I have often wondered how long it would take before requests transformed into demands. The sacking of Fran Itkoff by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society has the ring of inevitability about it. Many of us saw this coming. This is why we need to be vigilant against anyone who attempts to compel the speech of others, for whatever reason, and in whatever context. If we tolerate this inchmeal erosion of our liberties, we will doubtless live to regret it. 

--

If you haven't been following it, Fran Itkoff is a 90 year old woman who volunteered for the MS Society for sixty years after her husband had MS (multiple sclerosis). She didn't understand what all this talk about pronouns was about, asked, and was then told her volunteering services were no longer required.

Some of you may well go, "ew, LibsOfTikTok, ew, ew." Okay, but hear me out: shut up and read the screenshots. They tell the story.

Kali Kumor is the stupid little girl who removed a woman who had dedicated her life, and worked longer than this vacuous apparatchik has been alive, to helping others.

One supposes that all the MS in the world has been cured, given how eager they are to tell dedicated volunteers that they're no longer needed.

--

A few years ago, there was a fuss about atheists being turned away from volunteering activities.

This is the same principle: adherence to their dogmatic ideology supersedes what is supposed to be their organization's mission and purpose: their "telos". This is why you cannot have two "teloi." One will always win over the other.

This is what I mean by ideological capture. The telos of the MS Society is no longer services and support for those with MS, it's "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion." That's their number one objective. And that means pronoun-policing and excommunicating those who aren't part of the cult.

It would seem both humorous, being so petty and stupid, and sad, given Fran's long service to the organization, but as Andrew Doyle points out, it's more insidious than that. It's compelled speech. It's about punishing those who will decline to be part of - or even simply don't understand - the fundamentalist, puritan religious ideology these fanatics have adopted and imbued throughout the organization.

Just as you must testify to Jesus as your lord and savior in order to volunteer at a soup kitchen or to raise money for cancer, they will demand you adhere to the belief in gender thetans in mismatched meat prisons in order to volunteer for the MS Society. In the name of "Inclusion,"

As Fran mentions, the MS Society has always been inclusive, but what she doesn't understand is that it's now Inclusive™, a brand name which doesn't mean including as many people as possible but including as many members of their cult as possible.

They're not looking for behaviors - e.g. respect, tolerance, etc - they're looking for beliefs. Enforcing a particular ideological belief system. They don't care that you might be an atheist who subscribes to secular humanism, or you could be a Xian who believes we're all children of God, they want to make you believe what they believe.

Resist it. They'll try to act like you're just being unreasonable for a small accommodation, but they know that it's how they get you to start complying with their demands. Like Islam, it's one little thing at a time. Don't draw pictures of Muhammad, that's not a big ask is it? Then it's respecting the Quran, then it's not blaspheming Muhammad or Allah, and so on.

[probablyasocialecologist]

The 39-page document produced by the Cabinet Office and the Government People Group is expected to be published within weeks. The document outlines proposed changes to the UK Civil Service’s “Gender Identity and Intersex policies”. There are around half a million UK Civil Service employees – they are politically impartial officials who support the functioning of central government departments, such as probation officers, who are a part of the Ministry of Justice, or Jobcentre staff, who work for the Department for Work and Pensions.  The new policies state civil servants should equally recognise “gender critical beliefs” and “gender identity beliefs” – meaning that employees can openly share controversial views on trans lives without being penalised. 

[...]

The leaked document also proposes “changes on access to toilets'', so that only trans people with a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) can use single-sex facilities.

[...]

Responding to the leaked document, Jolyon Maugham, director of the Good Law Project, which has advocated for trans rights, said: "These measures are illegal - the Equality Act does not only protect trans people who have a gender recognition certificate - and they’re revolting in equal measure.” Responding to this story, Robbie de Santos, Stonewall’s director of external affairs, said: “The leaked guidance contains many highly exclusionary and reprehensible suggestions that, combined, would effectively make it impossible for trans people to work in the civil service. Not only would this guidance be unworkable in practice, but it would be unlikely to stand up to legal challenge, as it brazenly ignores the long-established rules around single-sex spaces as outlined in the UK's world-class Equality Act. “Everyone should have the same opportunity to thrive in the workplace. But these guidelines would serve only to promote bullying and exclusion of trans people - a group who already experience diminished career prospects.”

[ausetkmt]

Yahoo News: Civil Rights Groups Horrified at Elon Musk's Racist Outburst Against Black People

Earlier this week, multi-hyphenate billionaire Elon Musk endorsed a tweet suggesting Black students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have lower IQs and shouldn't become pilots.

"It will take an airplane crashing and killing hundreds of people for them to change this crazy policy of  DIE," he tweeted, intentionally mixing up the letters of the acronym for "diversity, equity, and inclusion."

Civil rights groups were understandably horrified at the billionaire's racist comments.

"The only thing anyone needs to hear from Musk about diversity in the workplace is an apology," Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, told NBC News, calling his statements "abhorrent and pathetic."

In his tweets, Musk appeared to imply that HBCU students shouldn't be allowed to become pilots. However, neither his statement nor the tweet he was responding to stand up to virtually any degree of scrutiny, from made-up average IQ numbers to wrongfully correlating high SAT scores with high IQ.

Musk also claimed that a United Airlines program that allows students at three HBCUs to interview to become a pilot meant that the airline had "prioritized DEI hiring" over "safety," a demonstratively false statement that only further highlights his twisted worldview.

Even fellow billionaire Mark Cuban saw through the racist fearmongering.

"BTW, looks like multiple layers of merit-based evaluations before they can fly for United," Cuban tweeted, adding a link to the program.

In a schoolyard bully-esque response, a clearly incensed Musk called him "a liar" — without offering any evidence, of course.

In the CEO's mind, DEI initiatives seem to lead to mistakes like the door plug of a Boeing 737 MAX 9 jet falling out and forcing an emergency landing — a preposterous claim with no relationship to reality.

To be clear, Musk's latest hurtful remarks shouldn't come as much of a surprise, given previous comments and conspiracy theories he's already endorsed.

Musk's ventures also happen to have a well-documented problem with overt racism in the workplace, with swastikas and nooses found at Tesla, according to a lawsuit filed by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) last year.

"Musk’s company not only refused to investigate complaints or take any steps to end the abuse, it viciously retaliated against employees who complained or opposed the abuse," Morial told NBC.

It's a sad state of affairs, with Musk's racist tirades quickly becoming a common fixture on his social media platform X. Just over a month ago, Musk called an unhinged and antisemitic conspiracy theory "the actual truth," leading to an outpouring of criticism and condemnation.

His latest remarks are only adding to the pile.

"Reminder to Elon Musk: providing a home for the proliferation of hate speech and white supremacist conspiracy theories kills people," NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson wrote in response to one of Musk's tweets. "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion cultivates a more inclusive society."

"They are not the same," he added. "We are not the same."

Yet Musk is digging in his heels. In response to NBC's reporting, Musk lashed out once more.

"Those are openly racist organizations," he tweeted in a pitiful rebuke that will likely only stoke the flames.

More on Musk's overt racism: Elon Musk Cosigns Racist Claim That Black Students Have Low IQs

[the-delta-42]

Hindsight - Chapter 1

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Hindsight

Chapter 1

Hector Damocles prided himself in his work. College Francis Dupont housed the children of the elite and influential, from the daughter of the mayor to the son of a famous Fashion Mogul. He also prided himself in his skills when handling a delicate situation. One such situation was when a pupil not only cheated on a test but stole from and attacked another student. To Hector, there was only one course of action. Expulsion in front of all her peers.

He didn’t back down from his position, not when the girl’s parents protested it, not when a member of his staff approached him and told him there was no way the student could’ve cheated on a test, not when her score matched up with her previous scores and that the student, she attack was acting perfectly fine. Hector didn’t hesitate when telling Caline to hand in her notice. He had made it clear on everyone’s contracts that they were not to question him on such matters.

To Hector, everything was perfect.

Across the city, at Jeanne D’Arc Creative Arts College, Caline Bustier was openly gaping at her contract.

“There’s no exceptions list.” Said Caline, getting a frown from Arthur Coleman.

“What do you mean ‘exceptions list’?” Asked Arthur, leaning forwards.

“At my previous workplace, there was a list of students that we weren’t allowed to punish.” Said Caline, “The Mayor’s daughter for one.”

“And that was written into your contract?” Asked Arthur, putting his fingertips together, “Well, Ms. Bustier, here at Jeanne D’Arc we have no such stipulations, if a student is misbehaving or bullying another student they are to be treated like any other student and punished.”

Caline was quiet, soaking in the new information.

“Now, if that is everything, I believe we have work to do.” Said Arthur going to stand up.

“Wait!” Gasped Caline, “At my previous workplace we had a student that was expelled based on accusations that didn’t make sense, the principle didn’t investigate the claims and refused to after he expelled her.”

Arthur mulled over the information, before asking the student’s name.

A few hours later, Tom Dupain and Sabine Cheng were at the school doors with their daughter in tow. Arthur looked Marinette over, noting that amount of makeup under her eyes, as well as the slight limp in her left leg.

“Fallen down the stairs recently, Ms. Dupain-Cheng?” Asked Arthur, getting shocked looks from the girl’s parents.

“No, I jumped down a trap door and landed awkwardly.” Said Marinette, making Arthur frown.

“A new member of staff made us aware of your expulsion from your previous school, as well as your creativity.” Said Arthur, as he led the group to his office, “Caline told us about the lack of a proper investigation and how the evidence was circumstantial at best. As well as the schools ‘course of action’ when it came to the bullying of students.”

Tom and Sabine exchanged a worried look at his statement.

“Rest assured, this school has a zero-tolerance policy on bullying and will punish the aggressor as we see fit.” Said Arthur, “As well as a full and proper investigation into the matter. Now, shall we begin with the tour?”

H

Marinette nervously shifted as she waited outside her form room. The receptionist reassuringly squeezed her shoulder, before knocking on the door to the class.

“Alright, everyone, we have a new student today,” Said the teacher, Mr. Stolberg, “She’s a new transfer and I expect everyone, Allan, Claude, to be kind and welcoming.”

There was a half-hearted muttering, before Mr. Stolberg called them in, “Everyone, this is Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Ms. Dupain-Cheng, meet your classmates.”

There was the sound of someone choking, making everyone look at them, a dark-skinned boy was thumping his desk mate on the back.

“I thought I said everyone was to be kind and welcoming, Allan.” Sighed Mr. Stolberg, making the dark-skinned boy sit up straight.

“Hey, this was all Claude!” Protested the boy, as Claude, a light skinned boy with brown hair and eyes coughed up a ball of paper.

“Dude, again with the spitballs?” asked a blonde-haired girl with tanned skin.

“That’s enough, Allegra.” Said Mr. Stolberg, “Now, I’m going to need a volunteer to show Marinette around.”

Allegra’s hand shot up as she practically launched herself from her seat, “I’ll do it!”

Mr. Stolberg looked around, seeing a few hands up, before he turned back to Allegra, “All right, Allegra, since you don’t have a desk mate, you can show Marinette around.”

There was collective groan, as Marinette made her way over to the blonde girl.

“Hi, I’m Allegra Musique, but everyone calls me Allegra, well, since it’s my name and- I’m babbling aren’t I, hehe, Sorry, I don’t meet many celebrities.” Babbled Allegra, giggling nervously.

Marinette quirked an eyebrow, “Oo-kay,” Said Marinette, slowly, “I’m not a celebrity, but, sure.”

“W-what do you mean you’re ‘not a celebrity’?!” Exclaimed Allegra, “You are Marinette Dupain-Cheng, right?”

“Yeah, have been since I was born.” Said Marinette, taken aback by Allegra’s outburst.

“You did design Jagged Stone’s Sunglasses and CD cover?” Asked Allegra, getting a nod from Marinette, “You did design the Messenger bowler hat that was modelled by Adrien Agreste?” Marinette nodded again, “Aren’t also working on a multi-coloured sequin jacket that was commissioned last week?!”

“How’d you know about that last one?” Asked Marinette, as Allegra went red with embarrassment.

“She’s a fan of your work.” Said Claude, leaning forwards, “Personally, I prefer magic tricks to clothes.”

Marinette glanced him over, before her mouth said, “I can tell.” Before Marinette clapped a hand over her mouth.

Allan laughed, “Oh, she’s gonna fit right in.” As he thumped Claude on the back, who cracked a smile.

H

Alya internally groaned as the new teacher went through the lesson, Ms. Bustier never made the class so boring. Alya saw Adrien rub his wrist, before remembering that the Teacher had ordered him to write Lila’s notes for her.

Strangely enough, Lila had walked into the school with a spring in her step, a far cry from how Marinette had supposedly injured her. Alya had made a group chat with all of her classmates, excluding Lila and Chloe. After Marinette was gone, everyone had started to notice how some of Lila’s stories did not add up. They all agreed that they owed Marinette a very big apology.

H

Three months later, Marinette had a new friend group in her new school, she had introduced the trio to her old Classmates, Allan and Claude nearly fainting when they met Nino and Mylene, respectively.

“We’ve managed to convince Marinette to audition for a role in an upcoming production,” Said Claude, leaning back in a chair in Marinette’s living room, “it became a group effort after everyone heard her singing voice.”

“Wait, Marinette can sing?” Gasped Rose, looking at the dark-haired girl.

“It’s not as good as Allegra’s.” Mumbled Marinette, her face going red.

“Bullshit.” Said Allegra, flipping her braid over her shoulder, “You build everyone up and try to make everyone forget about you, if anyone of us is going to be famous, we’re going to drag you to the top with us.”

“What did she sing?” Asked Alya, resting against her arms.

“History has its eyes on you.” Said Allan, through a mouthful of croissant.

“Yeah, we tried to get her to rap once,” Shuddered Allegra, getting a pillow thrown at her, “She bit her tongue while doing it though.”

Everyone stared at Marinette, “I panicked, and my jaw seized up.” Defended Marinette.

“We’re going to try to train her in the art of rap.” Said Allan, throwing his arm around Marinette’s shoulders.

The ground suddenly shook.

“ADRIKINS!” Screamed a high, shrill voice, “WHERE ARE YOU?!”

The sound of a pot breaking, swiftly followed by a thud, made everyone look up, just as Adrien slid into the room.

“Adrien…” Said Nino, as the ground shook again, “What did you do?”

No one noticed Marinette slip out of the room.

A few moments later, Ladybug swung past and landed on the roof.

The giant form of Chloe Bourgeois stomped around the city. Chat Noir landed next to Ladybug and winced.

“Okay, I’ve got to admit,” Said Chat, rubbing his arm, “I did not expect this to happen when I woke up today.”

Ladybug glanced over at Chat, before doing a double take.

“Chat, what happened to your arm?” Asked Ladybug, turning towards her partner.

“A, uh, ‘friend’ gripped it too tightly.” Said Chat, rubbing his hand over the cast.

“That ‘friend’ better not still be a friend.” Muttered Ladybug, readying her yoyo, “Any idea where the Akuma could be?”

“Picture in her hand.” Said Chat, pointing to an over-large piece of paper in Chloe’s hand.

“Okay, I’ll trip her, you get ready to destroy the picture.” Said Ladybug, before throwing her yoyo into the air, “Lucky Charm!”

A second yoyo fell into Ladybug’s hand, who grinned and spotted two Lamp posts standing opposite each other. Ladybug quickly hooked one yoyo around the two lamp posts and then looped the second around Chloe’s legs. Chloe face planted the floor, dropping the picture in her hand.

Char quickly Cataclysmed it, releasing the Akuma within it. Ladybug caught the Akuma, purified it and then cast the cure, restoring everything to normal. Unbeknownst to Ladybug and Chat Noir, a woman glared at Ladybug, before rushing forwards.

Ladybug froze the second she felt someone’s hands on her ears, before the earrings were ripped from her earlobes. In a flash, Chat had the woman pressed against the ground, with the earrings in hand. Chat almost reared back when he recognised Nathalie, before he looked up at Ladybug and his stomach dropped the moment, we saw her. Marinette knelt on the floor, blood coursing from her ears, her hands to occupied to cover her face. The sight of the camera was the cherry on top, letting Chat know Ladybug’s, Marinette’s, identity had just been thrown to the wind. Looking down, Chat spotted something on Nathalie’s chest, a small peacock fan shaped broach. Gently removing it, Chat watched as it changed its shape into the same style of broach, but vastly different from what it had been.

[canadiannurse]

Challenges and Dynamics in Nursing Environments: Retaining Canadian Nurses

May 22, 2024

By: A Canadian Travel Nurse

Many nurses who have moved from hospital to hospital are well aware of the kinds of characters they may encounter as colleagues.

Some nurses are very vocal, often discussing personal and work-related issues. They may use strong language, curse words, and dominate conversations at the nursing station, impacting the work environment. This behavior is often tolerated by colleagues in their clique, making it difficult for others to focus on their duties.

Nursing unit managers are often afraid to deal with these nurses. By not intervening, they essentially condone their behavior to the detriment of the unit. These abrasive nurses can remain in their positions for years, seemingly immune to disciplinary action. Managers, typically female, face additional challenges such as covering for colleagues on maternity leave and organizing the unit’s employee work schedule. They are often former bedside nurses with master’s degrees and are frequently overworked and underpaid. Men in these positions are rare because they would not consider a managerial role for $110,000 a year to start, when a bedside nurse working overtime could easily make more than that in a year.

Now imagine a new nurse fresh out of university or an internationally trained nurse trying to fit into a culture dominated by nurses who believe they possess superior knowledge of nursing acumen, hospital and union politics, and who have opinions on everyone who comes through the unit’s doors, and even the hospital’s main doors. Their opinions often carry thinly veiled malice toward those they view as weaker, inferior, unskilled, or incompetent. This could be a new nurse, their manager, or other support staff. They seem to relish “othering” people they don’t understand or have no patience for, sometimes walking a line dangerously close to being racist. Yet, if accused of racism, they would be offended.

Combating racism in hospitals is not a top priority. While you will see signs for washing your hands everywhere, you won’t find a single sign stating a “zero tolerance policy for racism.” Instead, the catch-all phrase is “bullying,” which encompasses racism in hospital environments. There are no clear consequences for racist thoughts and behaviors, no mandatory training for all staff on recognizing and addressing racism, and no modules on anti-racist behaviors, allyship, and creating inclusive environments for anyone who is not Caucasian.

Nursing managers assume that all registered nurses working on a unit innately know how to interact with coworkers from different cultural backgrounds. However, there is no mandatory training for managers on recognizing and addressing racist attitudes. They don’t know how to handle such concerns and may not have the resolve to take the employee to Human Resources. However, if the terminology is changed to “bullying”, it can become a Human Resource issue. Still, unless the complaint is made directly to HR, a manager trying to control a reportedly antagonistic nurse would likely want to have an individual meeting with the offender and the offended nurse. This, of course, would make the accuser feel as though they might face retaliation from that nurse and their clique. If the matter is handled by HR, confidentiality would be mandated, and both parties would have to remain quiet about the issue.

When internationally trained nurses are hired to replace burned-out Canadian nurses, they will likely experience significant culture shock for several reasons. Workplace dynamics such as the dominant nurse hierarchy, hindered autonomy, and communication styles may differ significantly from their previous experience, leading to misunderstandings. Clinical practices, including standards of care, the use of technology, and medication practices, might be challenging to adapt to. Patient interaction requires quickly learning the cultural norms and expectations of a diverse Canadian population, which includes understanding cultural sensitivities, health beliefs, and practices. Language barriers, even with proficiency in English or French, can add to the confusion. Integration into established teams can be difficult without adequate support, leading to feelings of inadequacy. Personal and social adjustments, such as adapting to a new climate, food, housing, and social norms, can contribute to culture shock. Being away from family and familiar social networks can lead to isolation and stress.

Institutional policies that talk about diversity without genuine inclusion are merely superficial, resulting in a workforce where different voices are neither heard nor valued. This superficial approach leaves nurses feeling marginalized and unsupported, contributing to low morale, decreased job satisfaction, and high turnover rates. As a result, the nursing shortage persists, creating a cycle of burnout and dissatisfaction that undermines the healthcare system’s ability to provide quality care. To break this cycle, it is crucial for healthcare institutions to implement comprehensive anti-racism training, enforce zero-tolerance policies for discriminatory behavior, and genuinely support diversity and inclusion efforts. Only by addressing these issues at their core can we hope to create a healthier and more supportive work environment for all nurses.

[ukrfeminism]

5 minute read

A toxic culture of sexual assault, harassment, racism and bullying has been alleged by more than 100 current and recent UK staff at outlets of the fast-food chain McDonald's.

The BBC was told that workers, some as young as 17, are being groped and harassed almost routinely.

The UK equality watchdog said it was "concerned" by the BBC's findings and is launching a new email hotline.

McDonald's said it had "fallen short" and it "deeply apologised".

It added that all employees deserved to work in a safe, respectful and inclusive workplace.

The BBC began investigating working conditions at McDonald's in February, after the company signed a legally binding agreement with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) in which it pledged to protect its staff from sexual harassment.

At the time, McDonald's insisted: "We already have a strong track record in this area."

But our investigation has revealed a very different picture.

Over a five-month period, we reached out to McDonald's workers to ask about their experiences of working there. Of the more than 100 allegations from employees we spoke to, 31 related to sexual assault, and 78 related to sexual harassment.

We also heard 18 allegations of racism, while six people made allegations of homophobia.

Warning - this article contains distressing content

Claims the BBC has heard include:

A 17-year-old current employee in Cheshire who says a colleague 20 years older than her called her a racial slur word and asked to show her his penis, and said he wanted to make a "black and white" baby with her

A former worker who was 17 when a senior manager at a Plymouth restaurant choked her and grabbed her bottom. A shift manager also sent her sexually explicit images

A manager in Hampshire who suggested a 16-year-old male worker perform sexual acts in exchange for vapes

A manager who preyed on 16-year-old new female starters in a Cheshire restaurant, trying to pressurise them into having sex

A woman who said she was called a slur word and subject to racist jokes at an Aberdeen branch

A current worker in Essex who says she faced antisemitic abuse

A current worker in Oxfordshire, originally from India, who says crew members spoke in "gibberish" to imitate her and called a Pakistani colleague a terrorist

Male managers and crew members at a branch in Wales making jokes about putting cash bets on which of them could sleep with a new recruit first

An outbreak of gonorrhoea at a branch in Northern Ireland where sexual relationships between staff members were commonplace

Multiple workers told us that McDonald's managers at the outlets across the UK were responsible for the harassment and assaults.

All too often, senior managers are said to have failed to act on complaints.

Staff have also told the BBC of sexual relationships between managers and more junior members of staff, which is against company policy.

Young women have described feeling constantly judged about how they looked.

One current worker said she was seen by her male colleagues as "fresh meat" when she started at her branch in Nottingham. Other female workers told us they were forced by managers to wear uniforms that were too tight for them.

"There is a saying at McDonald's, "tits on tills" - boys in the kitchen, girls on the counter. The idea is to put attractive people at the front," said Lucy, who's 22 and worked in Norwich.

"It's the expectation that if you work at McDonald's, you will be harassed," added Emily, who's 20. She left her branch in Brighton last year, after a male colleague in his 60s kept stroking her hair in a sexually suggestive way and making her feel uncomfortable.

McDonald's is one of the UK's largest private sector employers. The fast food giant has more than 170,000 people working in 1,450 restaurants.

Its staff are also one of the country's youngest workforces. Three quarters of its employees are aged between 16 and 25. For many, it is their first job.

Most workers are not directly employed by the company as McDonald's uses a franchise system, which means individual operators are licensed to run the outlets and employ the staff.

'I went to work in fear'

Shelby was just 16 when she started working at a McDonald's restaurant in Berkshire last year.

She said older male colleagues would use the cramped layout in the kitchen as an excuse to touch junior female staff inappropriately.

"They'd grope stomach, waists, bums," she said. "Every shift I worked, there would be at least a comment being made, or I'd be brushed, a hand brushed across me, or it would be a more severe thing, like having my bum grabbed, hips grabbed."

There was one man in his 50s, in particular, that managers "warned" young staff members to stay away from, Shelby said.

One day last summer, she said she was standing at the front counter when he came up behind her and grabbed her onto him, pulling her onto his groin.

"I just froze," she said. "I felt disgusted."

Shelby says she told senior management about what was going on in the store, but nothing was done. In her resignation email, she said it was a "toxic work environment".

McDonald's said it was "deeply sorry" to hear about what Shelby went through. It added that it was investigating why any issues that she raised were not formally escalated at the time.

Managers turning a blind eye

We do not know how many of the workers we spoke to made formal complaints. But a number of them told us they did - only for them to be ignored.

In the case of 17-year-old Chinyere in Cheshire, who was sexually and racially harassed by a much older man, she initially raised it with a female colleague who was responsible for staff wellbeing. She told her to ignore the man's behaviour and go back to work. After months of harassment, Chinyere confided in her stepfather who wrote to the franchise, to corporate headquarters and the police.

The man was then fired. Chinyere believes if her stepfather hadn't intervened, nothing would have happened. McDonald's described her experiences as "abhorrent and unacceptable" and apologised unreservedly. It said it took swift action as soon as the issue came to its attention and that the man was dismissed within three days. They added: "It takes a great deal of courage to speak up and as soon as we were made aware of the situation the individual in question was offered both internal and independent external support."

Another worker in Birmingham, who says she was smacked on the bottom by a male colleague when she was 19, reported it immediately to her manager. But despite it being caught on camera and her having a visible bruise, she was forced to continue working with him, which made her so uncomfortable that she eventually quit.

Several workers also said that when complaints were made about managers, they were then moved from one McDonald's restaurant within the franchise to another, rather than being fired.

Other employees said they didn't complain as they couldn't risk losing work. Young staff at McDonald's are often on zero hours contracts - it means their hours are flexible, but also that they are at the mercy of shift managers who decide their rotas.

What to do if you have been sexually harassed at work

Report it: Charity Victim Support says you can report it to your manager, HR representative or trade union who will take action.

Keep a record: Including dates, times and details of what happened, as well as any relevant emails. These could be helpful if you decide to report it.

Get help: Victim Support operates a free and confidential 24/7 helpline and live chat service. Call 0808 16 89 111 or use the live chat at: victimsupport.org.uk/live-chat.

Call the police: If sexual harassment escalates into violence, threats or sexual assault, you should report this to the police by calling 101. If you are in danger, call 999.

Training 'not taken seriously'

In the February agreement, McDonald's pledged "zero tolerance" on sexual harassment and to deliver training for employees.

But staff have told the BBC the training is not being taken seriously by managers.

One employee described perching an iPad next to a McFlurry machine and speeding through the harassment training video while he made drinks.

Baroness Kishwer Falkner, chairwoman of the EHRC, said every firm should have zero tolerance of sexual harassment and protect its workforce.

McDonald's culture has faced scrutiny globally. In the US it is facing multimillion dollar lawsuits brought by employees over sexual harassment allegations.

Its chief executive, Steve Easterbrook, was fired in 2019 after it was revealed he had inappropriate consensual relationships with McDonald's employees.

Allegations of sexual harassment at McDonald's first surfaced in the UK five years ago when the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) says it received 1,000 complaints. There was very little reporting of the allegations at the time - this could be because some cases were settled using confidentiality clauses.

Sarah Woolley, BFAWU's general secretary, said the new allegations uncovered by the BBC were "shocking".

Alistair Macrow, chief executive of McDonald's UK & Ireland, said there was "simply no place for harassment, abuse, or discrimination" at the company.

"Every one of the 177,000 employees in McDonald's UK deserves to work in a safe, respectful and inclusive workplace. There are clearly instances where we have fallen short and for that we deeply apologise," he told the BBC.

"We will investigate all allegations brought to us, and all proven breaches of our code of conduct will be met with the most severe measures we can legally impose, up to and including dismissal."

Mr Macrow said that more than 2,000 managers had completed full awareness training and that most restaurant teams were now working within the new protections which aim to create "a safe and respectful workplace". He added that the company has stringent rules to ensure its workplaces around the world are safe and respectful.

[coffeeheartaddict2]

Everybody hurts Sometimes (10/18)

Fall from Grace

Book: Open Heart (AU)

Pairing: Ethan Ramsey x f!MC Casey Valentine

Category: Angst

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Language, mentions of sexual activity, workplace bullying

****trigger warning- this series deals with issues of abandonment and addiction****

Word count:2971

Summary: Casey returns to work part time. June’s scheming and harassment of Casey is found out and punished.

Disclaimer: characters belong to Pixelberry

Authors note: For those who have been baying for June’s blood this is your chapter.

💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋

It was the first day back for Casey. She was a tumult of emotion. She was excited to be back at work, nervous about being back especially on the seventh floor but the main thing that Casey was most nervous about was being open about their relationship. It had already been HR approved, Naveen approved and her and Ethan had agreed to go public but she still could not help but feel nervous. The biggest source of nerves was coming in the form of what June Hirata would do.

It started off as a normal day, morning announcements, rounds, then a team meeting. Casey had gone better than she thought she would mentally, she did wonder if having no patients on the seventh floor was the main reason but it did not shake a sense of foreboding. The team had a few cases they were working on when Casey had returned so Ethan and Casey decided to wait until they had cleared the cases until they disclosed to the rest of the team but every time she saw June she felt that she was under more scrutiny than before.

Casey survived the few days she was working. She went to Ethan’s at the completion of the shift.

“You have seemed troubled the last few days Casey” said Ethan as he handed her a glass of scotch. “Is everything ok?”

Casey took a sip before she spoke.

“Work has been fine, in fact I think I have gone better than what I thought I would but June has me feeling, well, uneasy.”

“What about June, if you want to put off telling the team…”

“No Ethan, let’s not, the longer we wait the more intelligence she can warp to her own agenda. She just seems to be scrutinizing me more than normal this week, it is just disconcerting.”

He kisses the side of Casey’s head, “is this why you have not stayed with me the last few nights?”

Casey kissed him, deeply, “I could never tire of staying with you but I also wanted to be with my friends and yeah a small part of me was not wanting to give June any reason to suspect anything.”

She kisses him again.

“Well I am glad you are here” he whispers before kissing down the column of her neck. They go multiple rounds and Casey falls into a deep sleep. Ethan felt bad for missing June appearing to being more attentive to Casey but he hoped that there was not too much she could do.

The second week of back to work begins, the team have cleared their cases. At the beginning of the meeting Ethan stated

“Myself and Casey are in a serious relationship. When Casey had her return to work meeting we disclosed it to HR. I have been approved by HR and Naveen to still oversee Casey’s work.”

Baz congratulated them both and June remained silent. They discussed some new cases and went on with their day.

June was shell shocked. At least she knew what the deal was with them now but him being her supervisor, well that was really pissing her off. It was HR policy that if there is a relationship with a subordinate there had to be alternate reporting in place. She wondered if Naveen was too biased to make such calls. Ethan was well entruly under his wing when she started at Edenbrook and she was shocked when there was no punishment for Ethan secretly treating Naveen which also irked her. She knew this would put a dint in her leadership ambitions but if she could make Ethan’s calls look bad by making Casey look bad….

Her mind was ticking. He may have ended their arrangement but she messaged Tobias.

“You will never guess, the relationship is legitimate but that is not all. She still gets to report to Ethan? Naveen must be too biased.”

Tobias received the message, intended to delete it but then he read it. She did not say anything of what she may get upto but he knew June and she had to be upto something. Instead of replying, he screenshot the message and sent it to Ethan.

“She does not say what she is upto but she seems pissed at this arrangement. I meant what I said the other week, you deserve all the happiness.”

Ethan was surprised to see a message from Tobias but was not surprised at what Tobias had surmised about June. He thanked him for the heads up.

Meanwhile, in an on call room near HR, June met with Kelly, an assistant in HR whom, like June was appalled that such a reporting arrangement existed. June was showing her appreciation for the file when Kelly asked if there was anything she could do. June doubled down in her appreciation and when Kelly recovered June stated, “I will let you know. Thank you for getting me this file.”

“My pleasure” said Kelly.

June left the room and had thoughts. There was still the photo she had but she still felt she needed more.

A week later, the team was seconded to Dagger Mountain. They were there for a patient whom the local doctor felt he could not help. All the physical signs appeared to be altitude sickness but they were not at an overly high altitude. They all decided to keep an eye on Paula in shifts. Ethan went first. Casey and Baz made s’mores while June watched her at the bar. Ethan then came down and approached Casey. It was also Baz’s turn to watch over Paula. Ethan and Casey made their way to Ethan’s room. Whilst walking Ethan vented more frustration about his dad and how he would not contact his mother. Casey asked him why his dad’s opinion about what he is not doing is bugging him. Ethan pauses. He knows confronting his past will enable him to move on and let go of the anger towards Louise but at the same time he does not want to find out she left because of him. He already spent much of his life feeling unworthy and afraid of love, not because of the highs but the painful lows and he knows that he could not bear it if she left because of him. He states that he feels disrespected and misunderstood. Casey smiled and nodded. She felt that Ethan was holding back but she left it there, after all if Ethan wanted to tell her more he would in his own time.

They enter the suite. He places his hands around her waist and starts kissing her neck.

“Alone at last” he whispers into her ear before continuing to kiss her.

Casey can already feel a familiar sensation pooling at her centre.

“It is so pretty, despite the storm.”

“Stay with me Casey”

“Afraid of storms?”

“No, I want to be with the woman I love.”

“I have a few hours to my shift, what do you want to do to me?”

He walks her over to the bed, taking her dress off in the process. He turns her around and places both hands above her head against the post. He kisses her hungrily.

“I want to make love to you and worship you as you should.”

Casey’s breath hitches and he kissed her again. He kisses down her body, the sensations causing Casey to moan. He finally works his way to her core and wastes no time. The first contact elicits a moan mixed with a scream. He keeps one hand on her waist and the other massaging her breast. Casey is so sexually stimulated that she can not form words. The onslaught with his tongue becomes relentless and Casey gets light headed and starts to clench. She mewls in protest when the hand massaging her breast stops but when he inserts two fingers all she can do is mutter fuck under her breath before moaning. His tongue moves to her swollen clit. Casey starts to clench hard. Ethan tells her to come and she does, screaming. She goes limp and Ethan catches her. He lays her on the bed to let her recover. He makes love to her twice before she has a nap before her shift with Paula.

Unbeknownst to them June had slipped into the room next door and had recorded what was happening. June’s mind went to replicating the recordings and playing them and making false complaints. She smiled and messaged Kelly and told her the plan.

The next day came and they were back at Edenbrook . The altitude sickness symptoms seem to have disappeared. They run tests. Casey makes some extra observations about how attentive her son is. Casey checks in on her patients while she is waiting for the test results.

Meanwhile June meets up with Kelly. She listens to June’s recording. She states that it is doable. They make plans to meet up to replicate some of what they heard. Kelly also states she could also circulate some rumours also which would play into the plan for June to get the team. June smiles and makes plans get the plan into action.

The test results for Paula come back and Casey notices Lithium in the blood work. She spoke to Timothy. He told her how her moods were quite varied and unpredictable but his mum would not see a doctor about it. A friend of his at school, who suffers bi-polar cut his medicine and Timothy hid it in the food or in her tea. Casey explained how the lithium interacted with the ibuprofen. They then went to Paula to explain to her what was happening. Paula was relieved to know what was happening and Casey gave her information for mental health support services and a referral for a doctor.

Casey finished up and finishes her rounds for the day and heads back to the office. June and Baz are there and Casey fills them in. Casey was exhausted and June noticed that she looked tired. Casey stated that she was fine and left. Later that night June and Kelly did the recordings for their plan. June had not been so satiated sexually in a long time, that coupled with her plan to bring down Ethan and Casey, well she was euphoric.

The plan was a simple one, pre-recorded sex noises to be played on wireless speakers in random on call rooms where people whom were skeptical of Casey’s abilities would frequent. June would also monitor any downturns in Casey’s patients or when there appeared to be an intern doing her work more than normal and generate fake complaints from that. June also decided to use the photo that she took and anonymously send it to HR as a complaint.

Over the coming weeks Casey started to receive a few odd looks from various staff members. She found it odd but she was feeling good and was about to enter talks into coming back full time so she hoped that it was it. With all the odd looks there was gossip, and none of it was flattering towards Casey and also Dr Ramsey. Nurses were jealous that Casey was getting plenty of sex from Dr Ramsey, other attendings were jealous at the quantity and the quality. Complaints were slowly making their way to HR and June was ecstatic. What she had not counted on though was the gossip making its way to the gossip king of Edenbrook, Naveen. He was shocked at what he was hearing. He knew that they had been together for awhile and only disclosed recently but he knew Ethan would not partake as regularly as gossip was stating on hospital grounds, not because he valued his privacy but because he had his boundaries and so did Casey. He contacted Anita in HR. She told him about the complaints she had received. She had looked into them but could not find any evidence to back up any of the claims. He looked at the times and days and who the complaints were coming from. He also saw the photo of the kiss. He found the allegations with that complaint rather dubious also. Naveen was able to work out the next complaint was due and roughly where. He made his way to the fourth floor. He spotted Dr Rochford and heard the noises coming from the on call room. Naveen knocked loudly. There was no sign of any noises of covering up coming from within. He was surprised to find the door was unlocked but called out anyway. The room was empty except for a phone and some speakers. Naveen was appalled that someone would do this. He paged Anita down. Kelly saw Anita leave, she messaged June as she followed. She made her way to the fourth floor and spotted Naveen and Anita looking at the speakers and phone. Kelly messaged June stating the plan is up.

June was with patients so she missed the messages. It was not until she got a page to go to Naveen’s office that she began to think something may have been up.

She made her way to the admin floor and Kelly was outside. June was surprised to see her. Kelly tells her that Naveen and Anita found the set up on the fourth floor. June sat down. We are screwed aren’t we.

“I think so.”

Naveen’s assistant states that she can go in. They enter, Naveen looks pissed, Casey and Ethan are there, Ethan has his poker face on but CSey is upset.

Naveen launched straight in, telling how he had heard some unfavorable gossip. How he then went to Anita and saw the complaints and how there was very little to substantiate them. He then looked at the times and the locations and went to the fourth floor and that is where he found the phone and speaker. He went to to the other locations in the complaints and found similar set ups.

“What does this have to do with me, Naveen?” Interjected June.

“Funny you should ask me. I went to security to see if we could find anything suspicious. Not long before all the complaints, either yourself or Ms Anderson here were recorded entering and leaving the on call room and on several occasions, both of you were seen entering and at a much later time were seen leaving, somewhat very satisfied and disheveled I might add.”

“That does not prove anything Naveen, you know that.”

“Oh so the disdain you have shown Casey since she started on the team, the scheming to find out the deal with them, involving Dr Carrick in your scheme…shall I…

“How the fuck did you know Tobias is involved?” Exclaimed June.

At this point Ethan spoke. Right so you did not message Tobias after myself and Casey disclosed to the team that the relationship is legitimate and accuse Naveen of being too biased?” Ethan showed June with the message from Tobias. She could not form words.

“Ethan and Casey have told me that you have been questioning the legitimacy of any calls that have been made in regards to Ethan and Casey. What you have been doing June is a form of harassment. All calls I made, from instilling Casey onto the team, to giving my overall approval into keeping Ethan as Casey’s supervisor were my own decisions. Before Ethan’s sabbatical I even offered to oversee Casey’s work so they could continue in a relationship without ending it to avoid you overseeing Casey.”

“Why was I not asked to oversee Casey initially!” Asked June.

“June, you know how rabid the I slept my way into the team camp was when Ethan went on sabbatical. I also knew you were in that camp June, how would I know that you were going to be impartial?”

“And Ethan is?”

“Yes,” said Ethan, “Despite our secret relationship and treating Naveen, I was able to keep it out of the results for the competition. You know the solves Casey has done, and how many of them had minimal help from me. So I ask you, how have I been biased?”

June was stunned into silence.

“I am angry June, despite you stalking your way onto the team you did do well but this persistent campaign against Ethan and Casey, it is harassment and dare I say bordering on sexual given the nature of the recordings you used. I know you are ambitious but this has been grossly unprofessional.” Stated Naveen “There is no room for such conduct in this hospital. You, Dr Hirata,effective immediately are terminated from your employment.”

“And before you can ask where are my warnings,” said Anita, “there is written into policy exemptions and what yourself and Ms Anderson have been doing is an exemption. Both of you are terminated. We will be in touch to sort out paperwork.”

June is shocked.

“Get out of my office and Hospital please.”

June leaves and Casey finally let’s go of a breath she had been holding.

“Thank you Naveen for not believing the worse,” said Ethan. “It means more to me, and I presume Casey that you have our backs.”

“Of course Ethan, now you two get back to work.”

“With pleasure," says Casey.

Not long after June was contacting Kenmore to see if she could work there but she was told that there was no position for her. She was annoyed and went home to figure out her employment.

That night, Casey was at Ethan’s. Casey was relieved that June was gone, she was appalled too at the lengths she was willing to go too. They enjoyed just being, because neither knew how soon it would be before Ethan was confronted by his past and neither know how that was going to impact not only him but them.

————

Authors note: the pain and the gist of the request that this series is born from will be from the next chapter onwards. I wanted to set up a different universe where things were appearing great between them and how the lack of closure can catch up.

Tagging: @jerzwriter @genevievemd @jamespotterthefirst @cariantha @potionsprefect @liaromancewriter @alj4890 @youlookappropriate @a-crepusculo @crazy-loca-blog @bex-la-get @peonierose @trappedinfanfiction @tessa-liam @ofmischiefandmedicine @schnitzelbutterfingers @binny1985 @lucy-268

@openheartfanfics @choicesficwriterscreations

[woefully-undercaffeinated]

I didn't become an engineer the traditional way; rather than getting an engineering degree, doing internships, and then going straight into engineering work after college, I was forced to leave school early and study on my own while working as a cook, a customer service rep, an oilfield laborer, and an aircraft electrician. So as an engineer, I do my best to ensure that I don't segregate myself from the technicians, assemblers, cleaners, inventory stockers, and clerical staff. I try to be available to them as much as possible, help them when they're struggling, and stand up for them when another engineer or a manager is bullying them.

My client has been... demanding. They wanted the assembly plant on our campus to be operational *right away*, and so required the production company contracting with them to hire urgently and relocate workers from other states and other countries in order to work in a building that wasn't even half-finished -- it took six months for working bathrooms to be installed, the first three months were spent working in tents to prevent the dust and debris of the active construction zone from contaminating the prototypes we were working on, there was constant loud noise everywhere in the workplace, there were so few chairs that I caught people sitting on hazmat bins, and work space was limited so badly that stepping away from a workbench for a moment resulted in all of your work items being packed up and put away. There were sudden and unacceptable security policy changes enacted, such as the day we discovered that a personal search was a condition of exit from the production floor, or the month and a half we spent with no phone or chat access and no way for someone to reach us in an emergency. The production schedule was so ambitious that I and a good portion of the production staff frequently worked sixty- and seventy-hour weeks throughout the summer and fall, but despite the constant supply quality issues and conflicting directives we managed to stay on top and even get ahead of the schedule. Anyone who says "no-one wants to work anymore" needs to be dragged to my facility and shown just how much these men and women are willing to put up with for their job.

This morning, I came into my job to discover that all of the production staff in my workplace had been notified that the assembly plant is being shut down this spring. They'll spend the next few weeks wondering if they'll be required to relocate to another state or country to keep their jobs or simply let go, and then spend the rest of their holiday season dealing with the ramifications of that decision. And there's nothing I can do other than share pro-labor songs -- my NDA means I'm not even allowed to say who the client is.

But if any Dickensian spirits are looking for a Scrooge, I know of a few boardrooms that could use a visit.

[pagankingfinn]

I'm really proud of myself and felt the need to share.

So recently my mom got fired from her job (shift lead at a dispensary) for essentially no reason, the reason was "customer and employee complaints" that suspiciously only became a thing when the manager was on vacation.

And lemme tell yah, I was fucking PISSED. I was seething. Especially bc the company gave her a training course on bullying in the work place because they've got an "anti-bullying in the workplace" policy and I've got so much dirt on how that simply isn't true.

So the employees that complained were a group of girls who acted like they were still in a high school clique and purposefully excluded my mom from all attempts at conversation, even when it came to work related things like closing up at the end of the shift.

These same girls also couldn't function without a doobie every 15 minutes but then would get pissed when my mom would just go ahead and help customers instead of telling them to get off their asses. They went so far as to tell the manager that my mom was basically stealing their customers. They also refused to take a lunch until the mid-shift was over and leave my mom to man the shop alone, and always came back 30 minutes to an hour late, thus meaning my mom never actually got to take her lunch.

Which for the record, violates federal regulations. It is a felony to deny your employees a lunch break on a regular basis.

Did this stop her manager from "adjusting" her time card so that it looked like she was taking a lunch just so he wouldn't have to pay his employees more? No, it didn't. He'd also "adjust" time cards so that no matter how early someone came in or how late they stayed they were always only paid for 5 minutes before and after the shift.

Back to the girls who peaked in high school, they decided to get their customers to lie about my mom. The best part of this is the dispensary has security cameras inside that clearly show my mom NOT being the one to deal with those customers, but each employee also has a different pin for the register and the records also prove that my mom did not deal with those customers.

All this said and done, I went feral. I drafted an email to HR that laid out everything that had ever gone on. The bullying, the lack of lunch breaks, the time cards being messed with, the lies, everything. And then I metaphorically took a crow bar to their knees when I basically said "for a company that preaches anti-bullying in the work place you sure do protect the employees breaking these rules."

As far as I'm aware, HR hasn't responded. So now I'm going public. The moral of the story is don't go to Igadi for weed. They treat their employees like shit and won't do anything about it.

[bestgabriellegal]

Employment Attorney Long Island

As an employee, you have certain rights and protections under the law. However, sometimes your employer may violate these rights, leaving you feeling helpless and unsure of what to do. This is where an employment attorney comes in. We know here about employment attorney long island. Here are the top 5 reasons why you need an employment attorney in Long Island:

1. Discrimination

 If you feel that you have been discriminated against in the workplace, an employment attorney can help you navigate the complex laws surrounding discrimination. They can help you file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and represent you in court if necessary.

 2. Harassment

 Harassment in the workplace can take many forms, including sexual harassment, bullying, and verbal abuse. An employment attorney can help you understand your rights and options if you are experiencing harassment at work.

 3. Wrongful Termination

 If you have been fired from your job for reasons that are illegal or against company policy, you may have a case for wrongful termination. An employment attorney can help you determine if you have a case and represent you in court if necessary.

 4. Wage and Hour Disputes

 Employers are required by law to pay their employees a fair wage for the work they do. If you feel that you have not been paid fairly or that your employer has violated wage and hour laws, an employment attorney can help you seek compensation.

 5. Contract Disputes

 If you have a contract with your employer and there is a dispute over the terms of the contract, an employment attorney can help you navigate the legal system and ensure that your rights are protected.

 In conclusion, having an employment attorney in Long Island can provide you with peace of mind and legal representation if you are facing discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination, wage and hour disputes, or contract disputes. Don't hesitate to reach out for help if you need it.

[thegeekgene]

Someone said they went Former Workplace and were told that, as they smoked weed, they would need to go to detox, which sounded batshit. So I called Forner Workplace and, after requisite bullying from the receptionist, confirmed they have not adopted a 'No Weed Ever' policy, which is for the best as they'd have to fire half the staff