Legal Question in Employment Law in Pennsylvania

Unemployment Comp. due to resignation because of harassment

Hello, I have been an excellent employee for Neiman Marcus Group. Recently, I had to go on medical/sick leave due to being ill; I had all the doctors documents and HR paid me and accepted me back to work. The issue is: I was harassed several times by co-workers while being on sick leave and when returning to work. First, one of the employees posted comment on facebook network visible to everyone - making racial remarks that hurt feelings, now when I returned to work - someone damaged my mailbox and wrote inappropriate comments regarding my hygiene in my employee handbook. I do not feel comfortable being at work as some people also ignore me. I understand that by taking sick leave I made lives of my coworker little bit difficult (they had to work OT) but I am stressed about their behavior now. I informed HR about this and it has been three days now; the situation is not corrected and I experience hostile work envoronment that affects my health. Is this considered sexual/racial harassment? Can I quit? Do I get UC if I resign due to this issue? How long to wait for HR to act to resign due to situation not being corrected? Thanks!


Asked on 6/21/09, 12:27 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Solomon Weinstein Solomon Weinstein, Esquire

Re: Unemployment Comp. due to resignation because of harassment

if you know the employee who made racial you may have some legal claim or possible criminal claim for harrassmen. You should review your company handbook to see if it spells out the procedure when a complaint is filed with HR. They may have a policy statement in the handbook saying that various forms of discrimination are not tolerated.

You should probably get a letter from a doctor if the environment at work is affecting your health and well being. I would follow up with HR to find out the status of your complaint. If they allow the situation to continue with out taking action after a reasonable period of time you may also have a discrimination claim whether sexual, racial disabilty depending on the facts. You would file such claim with the PHRC (the State) or the EEOC (federal). When you file with one it will be crossfiled with the other. In generalyy it is not good policy to voluntarily quit a job. This may prevent obtaining UC. You should contact an attorney to discuss your issue more completely as the facts are a bit sketchy.

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Answered on 6/22/09, 10:42 am


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