I just received a call from a person with a few questions about a situation at work. Basically, the boss is being harassing but other than nasty words and actions, not much actual 'harm'. An internal complaint was made but, as far as is known, nothing is being done at corporate. The obvious question is: what to do next? Several options exist: (1) if the job isn't that important, find another one and move on or just quit and fight for unemployment compensation benefits; (2) file a complaint with the local or state civil rights agency, but do so sooner rather than later because 180 days is not too long a time [that's the statute of limitations]; [3] have an attorney write an 'attorney letter' to catch the attention of the corporate HR department the way an employee's contact might not.
There are things the employee should do, no matter what: [1] Request under Chapter 91B of the Iowa Code a copy of his/her personnel file and, upon receipt, paginate it carefully in numerical order, [2] communicate everything in writing [letter, email or whatever]; [3] keep your options open, since it may be best to move on to another job without commencing litigation.
None of these are great options [other than getting your personnel file], but they are steps that people can take to protect themselves fairly easily.
