Legal Question in Employment Law in Illinois

Re: Workplace haraasment/ theft?

First, I am sorry that you are in this situation.

It seems that you have two situations at hand--the harassment and the time-docking. As to the first, believe it or not, general harassment is not illegal, in and of itself. It is only when the harassment is directed at a particular protected class that it rises to the level of illegality. If the manager is an "equal opportunity" jerk, by making inappropriate remarks to both men and woman, there might not be a claim of sexual harassment. If, however, he is creating this sexually hostile environment because of your sex, then there may be a claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Your attorney would need a great more details to determine whether or not you have a legal claim to stop this behavior. At a minimum, you should look at your employment handbook or any anti-harassment policies your company has to see if you have any internal avenues of complaint.

As to the time sheets, there are no laws requiring that only accountants or payroll clerks handling them. Nevertheless, it is improper, and probably illegal (depending on the facts) for an employer to clock employees out when still working. The Fair Labor Standards Act requires payment for all hours worked, unless the employee is properly classified as exempt under the law. Again, you may want to give complete details to an attorney to see if you have a claim.

The foregoing is general information only, not specific legal advice. No attorney/client relationship has been created or should be implied.