You should have gone to the top, your bosses boss. Unfortunately it is most likely too late, though you could still try to go to his boss or his bosses boss and see about fixing the problem. It sounds like your boss was apart of the problem, and was allowing it to happen.
Contact an attorney who deals in labor matters. You have a just grievance. Your supervisors DID have the power to stop the drinking, but failed to do so.
You WILL need an attorney–because just by your lonesome self you won’t get anywhere. Same for all of us “little people.”
But with a lawsuit threatening them, you’ll get your old job back and/or a nice settlement!
P.S. Courts frown on organizations that create a hostile work environment!
I was a whistleblower involving a very serious national security matter that happened about ten years ago. I also worked for a college that was supporting people here illegally involved in this event. It ruined my life and my health. I have PTSD and agoraphobia now and these illnesses are nearly impossible to battle.
I stayed at work for 5 years and helped high level government officials by giving them information. I also was used by a newspaper reporter as a source and he fed me a bunch of BS, caused me to break up with my boyfriend and when he got a promotion because of me, stopped helping me. After the story blew over, no one cared except me. And this, again, was involving a major national security event about ten years ago. I am home disabled, too sick to leave my house, and lost the ability to be close to anyone or trust anyone.
Here are my recommendations: Do not say a single word to anyone at work. They already know. For all you know, the CEO may be a drunk and hired his drunk friends. I went all the way to the president of my college and he did not care. People resigned over this. People were fired and demoted. But, my life was the one that was ruined just for doing the right thing. They acted as if they wanted to be helpful and follow the laws. But they didn’t. They waited until the “story” was over and then they began giving me bad evaluations. I live in a state close to Nebraska. They have very similar whistleblower laws. Good luck getting an attorney to help you. They do not win these cases because most people just do not care. I had an attorney tell me “let me know when they fire you and THEN we can do something.” I lived through abuse and hell for years and then when they fired me after building up a false negative employment history for two years, he said, “Oh you didn’t have a contract. Sorry.” I could not sleep, I lot weight, I had to have my home watched by the police for months. This was a very big deal and NO ONE CARED.
My best advice: Contact OSHA and anonymously report safety issues involving intoxicated people operating heavy machinery. Then, AND THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THEING: Get out of there. Start applying for new jobs now. Try to get to another campus. Try to get to another college or university in the area. Try to apply for other state jobs. But, get out now. Keep your references intact. After you have another job, THEN start contacting more federal and state agencies if you want to do the right thing. But, get yourself out. I had heard of PTSD. But I had no idea that it is a terror that will take over your mind and ruin your life.
The laws in this country are not helpful to working people. And by the time your employer is finished with you, their high dollar attorney will make it look like you were the worst employee in the world and they will fool any jury. And your fellow employees will scatter like rats. I commend you for your courage thus far. It takes a different kind of person to want people to do the right thing. But, unfortunately, most people do not do the right thing and they don’t care if you do….not in this type of environment.
Do not tell anyone what you are doing at all at work. Not even someone you think is your best friend. Speak to no one else. Get another job and/or report this information to the authorities anonymously.
hp1195 wrote:
I was a whistleblower involving a very serious national security matter that happened about ten years ago. I also worked for a college that was supporting people here illegally involved in this event. It ruined my life and my health. I have PTSD and agoraphobia now and these illnesses are nearly impossible to battle.
I stayed at work for 5 years and helped high level government officials by giving them information. I also was used by a newspaper reporter as a source and he fed me a bunch of BS, caused me to break up with my boyfriend and when he got a promotion because of me, stopped helping me. After the story blew over, no one cared except me. And this, again, was involving a major national security event about ten years ago. I am home disabled, too sick to leave my house, and lost the ability to be close to anyone or trust anyone.
You have my profound thanks for doing the right thing. I wish we were not so hypocritcal as a society. Our history of failing to protect whistleblowers is abysmal, and nothing has changed.
Wow! Chev-jame, Thank you so much! I am not too familiar with this forum and I just saw I had a message here. I cry every day. No medication helps. Thank you so much for validating and encouraging me. The ten year anniversary of the culmination of my nightmare is close and on that day, everyone feels it. But I know things about it that I relive every day of the year. Thank you again. Another human thanking me for it is something I have not experienced.
You are welcome. You showed great courage and you paid a terrible price for doing the right thing. But the entire American public owes you a debt of gratitude. Now we need to enact laws that really do protect whistleblowers, instead of just paying lip service to them!
Anonymous
#
1 year, 9 months ago (1 month, 1 week after post)
Well a few years ago, the Supreme Court actually decided that Federal whistleblowers would have LESS protection on the job. It would be so great if common sense ruled. It just doesn’t. Most people will not speak up.
I recently watched a documentary about Enron and the talked at length about The Milgram Experiment. This was a study that was done during the 60s. They paid people $5 to push buttons giving higher and higher electrical shocks to another person while they scream on the other side of the wall. This was a set up to test average human behavior. All of the “volunteers” being shocked were actors who were screaming and were not really being shocked. It was really a test to see if a human would hurt another if an “authority figure” (in this case an actor in a doctor’s white coat) would be able to make someone keep inflicting pain on another with money as an additional incentive. Milgram discovered that over 60% of people will shock another human being if told to and/or for money.
In recent years, they’ve done a similar study in the UK (on You Tube) for $50 and they came up with the same results. Even seemingly nice people would say, “I can’t keep doing this. You can have your money back. Please. I’m hurting him/her.” But, if the ‘doctor’ said, “You must continue the experiment. You can not stop,” they would wince and do it again. Others laughed nervously while they thought they were shocking another human. Most people are sheep. In the UK study, a couple of people got angry, gave back the money and refused to keep shocking the person.
Milgram conducted this study during the Nuremberg Trials. He was curious to see if the war criminals who had played a part in killing millions of people really could believe they had done nothing wrong because their superiors told them to kill people. His study showed that more than half of the people will justify harming another person if an authority figure tells them to do keep doing it.
People are afraid to lose their jobs. They can lose their homes. They can’t feed their children. That turns into a justification to ignore things and not to be whistleblowers. The other 30 to 40% (at most) of us will do it because it is the right thing to do. My experience showed me that the more religious the people involved were, the more they were afraid to do the right thing and could be controlled. They also were the ones that turned their heads away when confronted with what was going on and how they were a part of it. If their boss told them to keep their mouths shut they did.
Thank you again. This site is going to help me and I appreciate people like you so much for reaching out to help me.
We have grown from a society in which we were mostly on our own–mountain men, hunters, farmers, etc.–to a society in which we must COZY UP to others for our existence as their hirelings. As a result, personal integrity and fortitude took a nosedive.
When we are dependent upon others for our livelihoods, we lose most of our freedoms. You can write all you want in the Declaration of Independence or Constitution, but with people dependent upon the whim of others, we no longer have real freedom.
Anonymous
#
1 year, 9 months ago (1 month, 1 week after post)
Well, some of us get very ill….especially whistleblowers and we must depend upon others. I wish I was a mountain man. But I am a skinny, ill woman who risked her life to save others. I am grateful for a government that strives to be for all of the people. It does fail a lot. But people get sick and disabled and old. What we need is honesty and more government regulation to protect our citizens from greed and power hungry egos. Just one very sick whistleblower’s opinion. If I had to survive on my own, I would be dead. If all of the billionaires in America got together and gave up 10% of their income to help keep America a country that takes care of its people, imagine what could happen. Just my opinion and my experience. I was a strong, ethical person before. Now, because of the actions of others for money and terror, I am a sick, scared person who can not leave her home. My freedom wasn’t taken away by my government. It was taken away by my fellow citizens (most of them religious) who chose money or to look the other way when something wrong was happening.
America is headed for a great fall, because it has allowed the rich to bribe their way into complete control of the country. We are now in the same state as Israel was when Jeremiah voiced his dire prophecies, and warned of what would happen to the bankers and lawyers who were devouring the homes of widows and orphans. The fall will be great, and it will be talked about for centuries to come.
The financial crisis of 2008 was just the beginning . . .
As for those people who claimed to be religious, but who looked the other way when evil was being committed, they will have no part in the kingdom of heaven.
hp1195 wrote:
Wow! Chev-jame, Thank you so much! I am not too familiar with this forum and I just saw I had a message here. I cry every day. No medication helps. Thank you so much for validating and encouraging me. The ten year anniversary of the culmination of my nightmare is close and on that day, everyone feels it. But I know things about it that I relive every day of the year. Thank you again. Another human thanking me for it is something I have not experienced.
I just got to this forum. Hp1195: I went through almost exactly the same thing.
PTSD is horrible. I thought colleges had more principles..but just look at PennState and Colorado in Aurora..they don’t care about doing what is right. Sorry for you and me.
hp1195 wrote:
I was a whistleblower involving a very serious national security matter that happened about ten years ago. I also worked for a college that was supporting people here illegally involved in this event. It ruined my life and my health. I have PTSD and agoraphobia now and these illnesses are nearly impossible to battle.
I stayed at work for 5 years and helped high level government officials by giving them information. I also was used by a newspaper reporter as a source and he fed me a bunch of BS, caused me to break up with my boyfriend and when he got a promotion because of me, stopped helping me. After the story blew over, no one cared except me. And this, again, was involving a major national security event about ten years ago. I am home disabled, too sick to leave my house, and lost the ability to be close to anyone or trust anyone.
Here are my recommendations: Do not say a single word to anyone at work. They already know. For all you know, the CEO may be a drunk and hired his drunk friends. I went all the way to the president of my college and he did not care. People resigned over this. People were fired and demoted. But, my life was the one that was ruined just for doing the right thing. They acted as if they wanted to be helpful and follow the laws. But they didn’t. They waited until the “story” was over and then they began giving me bad evaluations. I live in a state close to Nebraska. They have very similar whistleblower laws. Good luck getting an attorney to help you. They do not win these cases because most people just do not care. I had an attorney tell me “let me know when they fire you and THEN we can do something.” I lived through abuse and hell for years and then when they fired me after building up a false negative employment history for two years, he said, “Oh you didn’t have a contract. Sorry.” I could not sleep, I lot weight, I had to have my home watched by the police for months. This was a very big deal and NO ONE CARED.
My best advice: Contact OSHA and anonymously report safety issues involving intoxicated people operating heavy machinery. Then, AND THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THEING: Get out of there. Start applying for new jobs now. Try to get to another campus. Try to get to another college or university in the area. Try to apply for other state jobs. But, get out now. Keep your references intact. After you have another job, THEN start contacting more federal and state agencies if you want to do the right thing. But, get yourself out. I had heard of PTSD. But I had no idea that it is a oterror that will take over your mind and ruin your life.
The laws in this country are not helpful to working people. And by the time your employer is finished with you, their high dollar attorney will make it look like you were the worst employee in the world and they will fool any jury. And your fellow employees will scatter like rats. I commend you for your courage thus far. It takes a different kind of person to want people to do the right thing. But, unfortunately, most people do not do the right thing and they don’t care if you do….not in this type of environment.
Do not tell anyone what you are doing at all at work. Not even someone you think is your best friend. Speak to no one else. Get another job and/or report this information to the authorities anonymously.
This account has been deactivated.
Dr. Jackson
The Sherlockian
Zirbel
hp1195
ocbugs201