More From The Legal Side

A hostile work environment is primarily a legal term used to describe a workplace situation where an employee cannot reasonably perform his work, due to certain behaviors by management or co-workers that are deemed hostile. Hostility in this form is not only a boss being rude, yelling, or annoying. It is very specific, especially in the legal setting when one is suing an employer or either wrongful termination or for creating an environment that causes severe stress to the employee.

There’s just a handful of ways in which you can define a hostile work environment. Any act of sexual harassment on the part of bosses or co-workers can be viewed as hostile. Any act or remarks that are overtly discriminatory regarding age, race, gender, sexual orientation, or disability are also considered to create a hostile work environment.

The other way a hostile work environment may be defined is when a boss or manager begins to engage in a manner designed to make you quit in retaliation for your actions. Suppose you report safety violations at work, get injured at work, attempt to join a union, complain to upper level management about a problem at work, or act as a whistle blower in any respect. Then, the company’s response is to do all manner of things to make you quit, like writing you up for work rules you didn’t break, reducing your hours, scheduling you for hours that are in total conflict with what you can do, or reducing your salary. The company’s reaction can be viewed as creating a hostile work environment, one that makes it impossible to work and is an attempt to make you quit so that the employer does not have to pay unemployment benefits.

When an employer is trying to make you quit by creating a hostile work environment, if you can hold onto your job, do so. It’s then important to make complaints about this employer either to upper level management or to government agencies that help people with discrimination or poor treatment in the workforce. These agencies can vary from city to city and from state to state. A good place to start is the federal US Department of Labor.

There is also a documented history of payroll errors against former and current Rainbow Of Hope employees. While some employees work 4 days of 10 hour shifts, time off for holiday pay is paid to these employees for 8 hour shifts.

For those seeking "mysteriously disappearing vacation time" hidden under a blotch of White-Out and for those seeking what they're rightfully owed for hours worked and earned, this link will provide you with the necessary department to file your complaint: New Jersey Department Of Wage And Hour.