Wrapped Up…..Now On To Make Change
After almost a year and a half, the legal side of my journey with a Fortune 500 Bank has finally come to an end. I want to share some details of the journey to keep those who have been following along on this journey informed of the progress and to give hope and guidance to others who may be debating about venturing out on a legal journey on their own.
When my attorneys Mike Fuller and Christina Stephenson accepted my case pro-bono in the beginning of 2020, I made it very clear that my goal was to expose the toxic workplace in order to make lasting change at the highest levels, and provide hope and encouragement to others who find themselves experiencing, or terminated after, bullying, abuse, and discrimination. This was the sole reason I refused the $100,000 silence agreement that they attempted to pressure me to sign at the time of my termination. Though I was very worried about being able to support myself financially, to me you cannot put a price on doing what is right.
To this day, I have yet to meet anyone else who turned down their silence agreements bribes at termination and I want this blog to give hope to those that find themselves in toxic workplace situations and let you know you DO have a choice. When you strip away the fear and the pressure, only then can you begin to hear the guidance from your heart which will take you on a journey too wild to even dream of and which will bring you blessings you never thought possible.
Mike and Christina shared with me up front that workplace lawsuit cases typically take 3-5 years to settle/close. Since time was not an issue to me, I was able to put the lawsuit in the back of my mind while I began building a blog to help others who have been abused or discriminated against in the workplace. I never imagined my blog would reach so many people across the country or provide the amount of hope and encouragement that it has. My heart felt/feels full.
After The Oregonian published an article in February 2020 about what happened to me, and after my blog started gaining traction, in June of 2020 (just 1 month after publishing my blog) The Company approached my lawyers and asked to settle financially. At that time they had not provided a single document that we had requested up front in the initial lawsuit including the Human Resource records of the two men listed in the lawsuit which would reflect all complaints from women and minorities to HR against them that have gone ignored, and in most cases resulted in increased bullying and ultimately termination (such as what happened to me).
I refused to meet with them. Staying true to my purpose, I expressed that I would not even consider meeting with them to settle until we received the documents we requested. My purpose was to expose in order to create new processes to stop the toxic treatment of employees.
When we finally received over 1200 pages of documents at the end of 2020, it was clear that we were being met with aggression. Many of the documents were blacked out, and there were hundreds of pages that were duplicated and out of order, making it extremely difficult to review. Mike told me that this is so common with corporations that there was actually a coined term for it; Document Dump (you can read more about this HERE).
Here is a brief description; A document dump is the act of responding to an adversary's request for information by presenting the adversary with a large quantity of data that is transferred in a manner that indicates unfriendliness, hostility, or a legal conflict between the transmitter and the receiver of the information… It is often seen as part of the characteristic behavior of an entity that is engaging in an ongoing pattern of activities intended to cover up unethical or criminal conduct.
Clearly I had struck a nerve.
Mediation was scheduled for March 2021 (just 13 months after filing the initial lawsuit, years shorter than the typical workplace lawsuit timeline) and I sent my “requests” that I intended to use to start a conversation about creating a healthier workplace, which you can view below.
My initial requests (meant to be a starting point for discussion) to The Company prior to mediation;
Going forward, 3rd party monitored process for employees to escalate unethical practices, abuse, discrimination, or bullying in the workplace. Regular reporting to the 3rd party company to report on # of calls, geography of calls, repeated claims of abuse/unethical practices by specific individuals. Ongoing audits by 3rd party company to ensure compliance to the process, including yearly confidential phone or in person interviews of random employees at all levels.
Ex. I escalated to the 3rd party Ethics and Compliance hotline in August/September 2018 and never received a single response from (The Company) through and after my termination
Equal pay for roles across the board- then increases based on performance.
Ex. (The Company) states that pay is based on experience, however facts reflect that that is not the case and is a statement the company uses to continue to disparage treatment and unequal pay for women and brown and Black associates.
5 strike rule; once a single entity (department or person) receives 5 complaints from 5 separate individuals regarding their treatment of employees in a 18 month period, they must go through a review with (The Company) and 3rd party company for conduct. Review includes verbal testimonies from those escalating complaints, emails, and overseeing of the potential abusers’ interactions with their employees. Findings are reported to 3rd party company for joint decision on resolution, up to and including termination.
Ex. In under 18 months over 15 people shared with me that they had escalated the abuse/discrimination by the two men listed in my lawsuit (with dozens more confiding in me that they had escalated abuse by these 2 men over a 10 year timeframe), yet these men were never held accountable and are still with the company. This is not unique to these two men. This is how corporations protect the Caucasian men at the top.
Regular 3rd party audits of “whistleblower” and escalation processes, human resources, and advice and counsel processes around complaints from employees for repeated claims of abuse/unethical practices by specific individuals.
Audit of executive boards across the country and ensure equal representation for women/men and minorities.
Portland Metro Market is 100% Caucasian and 90%+ men representation.
Executive boards primarily Caucasian men
Review of company set sales goals against progress to goal by 3rd party company. Any Division and Region with a two year or more history of not hitting sales goals to be audited for complaints (behavior including abuse, discrimination, and unethical sales pressure). Audit to include random confidential interviews by 3rd party from the lowest level of the company (for instance tellers) to (CEO) level.
Through this process, from my own experience being bullied and abused- to receiving testimonies from people across the country asking for help and protection from abuse, bullying, and discriminations, it has become crystal clear that this racism, discrimination, bullying and abuse is actual the norm. Too may corporations continue to put Task Managers in positions of power versus People Focused Leaders (read more about this in previous blog posts) and let them wreak havoc as they see fit. This is caused by several factors; greed and an inability to identify the right leaders in interviews (Task Managers have wordsmithing down and can woo just about any interviewer by regurgitating facts and data, which you can read more about in previous blog posts), and the Good Old Boys network.
Resources continue to be diminished and individual work loads increased with a heavy emphasis on menial administrative tasks that take away from supporting associates and coaching them to success with less support. When someone reaches their boiling point and raises this as a concern, the bullying path to termination begins.
On a personal note I have never felt so fulfilled or at ease with my decisions from turning down the $100,000 bribe to refusing to even meet with The Company and their lawyers until we received the documentation we requested. By following my heart and what I knew to be right, I am now helping corporations, companies, small businesses, and individuals across the country. I would have never dreamed that the years I spent sick with fear from the abuse would bring me to a place that I am helping to change the workplace culture to one that is more healthy, diverse, and equitable. The convictions I have had since I was a child now have a broad platform to create lasting change.
For the whole experience, I am grateful.
To Mike and Christina- you don’t make enough money for what you do and I can’t thank you enough. You, and others like you, give voices to those that have been silenced and help those that feel they have reached rock bottom find hope again. Thank you.
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If your company, corporation, or business wants to make the changes needed to create a healthier and more equitable workplace resulting in increased retention of top employees and improved performance and market share, let me help. Learn more HERE and HERE.
For individuals experiencing a toxic workplace including racism, bullying, abuse, or discrimination- I am here to help you. You are not alone. Learn more and contact me HERE and HERE.