Employer Harrassment

While working for a large automotive industry supplier, in Aug 2003, I
applied for and was interviewed for a promotion. I am an African-American
male, with a BA & MBA, 20 yrs experience and had over 6 years with this
company. A White male co-worker with a BA, 10 years work experience, &
almost 5 years with this company was also interviewed for this position.
The co-worker got the position, and thus became my manager. i was told by
the overall organization manager that the choice was difficult as we were
both equally qualified, and I was also told that both candidates were
subjected to indentical interview questions and by the same interviewers. I
later found that this was not true. This overall manager then stated to me
that he had inquired as to whether there were any requirements for minority
candidate preference that must be considered in the hiring decision. After
the position was filled, in Sep 2003 I had pre-planned & pre-scheduled knee
surgery, from an injury that had occured in Feb 2003, while at the
co-workers church, at the invitation of the co-worker, and in the
co-worker\'s presence. During my medical leave, my now-manager was unable
to deal with the job pressures effectively, and asked me to work from home
during my medical leave. I said yes, but never heard back from the company
about this request. When I returned, to work, the now-manager asked me to
move my desk to a place just outside his new office, and said this was to
\"facilitate communication\" between myself and others that I worked closely
with. In ensuing months, I made a trip my dentist to have a filling
repaired, and my now-manager asked for the name of my dentist, stating that
he had a dental problem that needed attention, and he wanted the name of a
good dentist. I provided the information. At a later date, the now-manager
called me into his office and stated that he felt that left to have knee
surgery in order \"to make him look incompetent\" and he also stated that
didn\'t think anything was really wrong with m!
y knee,
and that I appeared to have been getting around fine to him. This type of
behavior continued for several months, and other co-workers also noticed the
difference in how I was now being treated by this manager. On every
occasion, I provided details to the Human Resource Manager for the site, who
also informed the overall organization manager (who had made the promotion
decision). Two other co-workers were hired by this now-manager, one from
outside the company, and one an internal promotion. Both eventually asked
to be removed from the position due to issues with the manager, and both
eventually left the company. The overall manager of the organization
eventually left the company, and a new overall manager was internally
promoted. This overall manager stated to me that the behavior of my
immediate manager was unacceptable, and that disciplinary action would be
taken based on my substantiated claims. However, this overall manager also
stated that he expected me to approach my immediate manager and state that I
was willing to \"let bygones be bygones.\" I refused to do this, and even
sought a position outside of the organization, but all available positions
would require me to take a salary reduction. I chose to leave the company
rather than allow this now-manager to be in a position to administer my next
performance appraisal, which I felt would be negative. Up to this time my
performance appraisals had been stellar. i would like to know if any of
this constitutes harrassment, discrimation or other violations of employment
laws.

It could yes. If you feel the acts were discriminatory file a complaint with the dept of labor/EEOC.

You need to file quickly as time frames run fast.