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  • Leanne Scott
    Participant
    Post count: 1

    Good morning,

    We have an employee (female) of three years who has essentially abandoned her position. Leading up to this she began, about a year ago, having outbursts and anger issues with co-workers. Her supervisor talked to her many times in a supportive sense but the events kept happening. The final event was an altercation with a co-worker where she walked out crying and she has not returned since. This was over a week ago. She had one phone conversation with the owner of the company where she said this was happening because she does not have a penis, (she is the only female in an office of 4 males). There are two issues here, does her mentioning the gender element constitute reporting gender discrimination, and after numerous texts, phone calls and emails going unanswered for a week without a response constitute abandonment?

    Unsure of our next move. I would appreciate any input you could provide.

    Rick Tobin
    Keymaster
    Post count: 50

    A. Her mentioning does not qualify as reporting gender discrimination, but does put you in an awkward position. You may want to ask her directly if she wants to file a complaint before moving forward.

    B. One week is not a lot of time to qualify for abandonment. Have you sent a certified letter? Have you kept all correspondence? Have you issued a warning that if she doesn’t return to work by X date you will consider the job abandoned and thus terminate employment?

    It sounds like you have tempers, emotions, and potentially some gender/sex issues (or perception of issues) at play in the workplace – this is not a good place to be for you. Our advice would be to maintain copies of all communication, be direct and empathetic, look to identify the cause of all of the issues and create workplans if possible – but ultimately, if this employee is not a good cultural fit, you may want to sever the relationship with a generous severance package and move forward.

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