Discrimination at work

[JRCR 4]

Soo….My husband got his green card a few months ago and recently landed a pretty good job. He has only been there about two weeks but everything has gone smoothly up until now. 

Today, someone he had met from another department a while back called him and left him a voicemail at his desk saying "Hey this is immigration services I wanted to update you about your current 

green card status call me back, etc". The guy left this message thinking he was playing a joke and thought it was funny. My husband did NOT think it was funny. (Also, this man has no business knowing my husbands status.) 

I know I'm preaching to the choir but we all know in this political climate the immigration process is grueling and there is so much hate , judgment, and ignorance surrounding people who immigrate to the US. Just wondering, how would you feel if this happened to you and what would you do? Would you "laugh it off" or file a complaint? My husband did let his supervisor know and they took it seriously, apologized, and were overall sorry it 

happened. BUT, they did not file a complaint or document what happened. I just don't want this to happen again. 

[igoyougoduke 1,662]

what part is the discrimination ?

[Lucky2Lucky 2,526]

Your husband should file a complaint with HR. It is not his supervisors responsibility to file the complaint. That is not acceptable in the workplace and I'm sorry that some idiot did that to your husband. 

[JRCR 4]

@James120383 It's wildly inappropriate at the minimum. 

@Luckycuds Thank you. I agree, totally unacceptable! 

[millefleur 5,047]

I would file the complaint anyway. That's good that they apologized but that was really unacceptable. It's also really poor taste to impersonate a government agency. I don't think there's evidence that any kind of illegality or discrimination happened but I think you need to let them know the seriousness of the matter and that it shouldn't happen again, not even as a "joke."

[NEW CITIZEN 151]

17 hours ago, JRCR said:

Soo….My husband got his green card a few months ago and recently landed a pretty good job. He has only been there about two weeks but everything has gone smoothly up until now. 

Today, someone he had met from another department a while back called him and left him a voicemail at his desk saying "Hey this is immigration services I wanted to update you about your current 

green card status call me back, etc". The guy left this message thinking he was playing a joke and thought it was funny. My husband did NOT think it was funny. (Also, this man has no business knowing my husbands status.) 

I know I'm preaching to the choir but we all know in this political climate the immigration process is grueling and there is so much hate , judgment, and ignorance surrounding people who immigrate to the US. Just wondering, how would you feel if this happened to you and what would you do? Would you "laugh it off" or file a complaint? My husband did let his supervisor know and they took it seriously, apologized, and were overall sorry it 

happened. BUT, they did not file a complaint or document what happened. I just don't want this to happen again. 

Your husband need s to file a "formal" complaint to HR.

If HR does not follow up, then he should seek legal action.

[portorusa 431]

On 8/27/2020 at 5:20 PM, Luckycuds said:

Your husband should file a complaint with HR. It is not his supervisors responsibility to file the complaint. 

Oh yes, it is his supervisors responsibility to react appropriately and document what happened. As supervisor myself, I’d do it immediately.

And yes, OP’s husband can complain to HR , too.

The “immigrant” joke was inappropriate and offensive, IMHO.

[Lucky2Lucky 2,526]

2 minutes ago, portorusa said:

Oh yes, it is his supervisors responsibility to react appropriately and document what happened. As supervisor myself, I’d do it immediately.

And yes, OP’s husband can complain to HR , too.

The “immigrant” joke was inappropriate and offensive, IMHO.

Unfortunately this supervisor did not create a report/document it so OP husband should escalate it. Maybe companies are different but I personally would go to both my supervisor and HR because I'm not going to rely on my supervisor reporting it. 

[lucardo3 220]

file a complaint and file a lawsuit if HR don`t act on it.

[LukeU 413]

On 8/27/2020 at 7:54 PM, JRCR said:

called him and left him a voicemail at his desk saying "Hey this is immigration services I wanted to update you about your current green card status call me back, etc". The guy left this message thinking he was playing a joke and thought it was funny. My husband did NOT think it was funny. (Also, this man has no business knowing my husbands status.) 

My main concern would be how would he know that your husband even has a "status" and isn't just a citizen? 

 

On 8/27/2020 at 7:54 PM, JRCR said:

if this happened to you and what would you do? Would you "laugh it off" or file a complaint? My husband did let his supervisor know and they took it seriously, apologized, and were overall sorry

Personally, I would have laughed it off but I definitely have a somewhat darker sense of humour (shop floor) than most. That the person apologized I think is the main and if something else happened, then report it because it's clearly not funny in your eye's.

 

I was known in my previous position as "the import". So I'd quite often know work was coming my way when I heard it....I know some may class that as discrimination, I don't.I personally wouldn't class this as discrimination/bullying/intimidation etc, more along the lines of testing the waters or trying to be funny and failed. However, only your husband can make the decision if he felt it to be discriminative as humour is purely subjective.

[Allovertheworld 355]

On 8/27/2020 at 6:54 PM, JRCR said:

Soo….My husband got his green card a few months ago and recently landed a pretty good job. He has only been there about two weeks but everything has gone smoothly up until now. 

Today, someone he had met from another department a while back called him and left him a voicemail at his desk saying "Hey this is immigration services I wanted to update you about your current 

green card status call me back, etc". The guy left this message thinking he was playing a joke and thought it was funny. My husband did NOT think it was funny. (Also, this man has no business knowing my husbands status.) 

I know I'm preaching to the choir but we all know in this political climate the immigration process is grueling and there is so much hate , judgment, and ignorance surrounding people who immigrate to the US. Just wondering, how would you feel if this happened to you and what would you do? Would you "laugh it off" or file a complaint? My husband did let his supervisor know and they took it seriously, apologized, and were overall sorry it 

happened. BUT, they did not file a complaint or document what happened. I just don't want this to happen again. 

I found it amusing, but I have a sense of humor

[Celebi 139]

On 8/27/2020 at 7:54 PM, JRCR said:

BUT, they did not file a complaint or document what happened. I just don't want this to happen again. 

Send out an email to his supervisor, cc HR. Something like:

This is to document the incident on MM/DD/20202. Mr/Ms/Mrs ("Joker's" name) left me a voice message stating "blah, blah, blah". We had a closed door discussion with my supervisor and ("Joker") who had already apologized to me. If for any reason it happens again in the future, I will be forced to escalate the matter.

 

As a former supervisor, it helps that instances such as these are documented. It's not an actual escalation, but at least it was documented. With all the changes happening around us, it is best to look for ways on how to improve our workplace, IMHO.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

On 8/27/2020 at 5:54 PM, JRCR said:

Soo….My husband got his green card a few months ago and recently landed a pretty good job. He has only been there about two weeks but everything has gone smoothly up until now. 

Today, someone he had met from another department a while back called him and left him a voicemail at his desk saying "Hey this is immigration services I wanted to update you about your current 

green card status call me back, etc". The guy left this message thinking he was playing a joke and thought it was funny. My husband did NOT think it was funny. (Also, this man has no business knowing my husbands status.) 

I know I'm preaching to the choir but we all know in this political climate the immigration process is grueling and there is so much hate , judgment, and ignorance surrounding people who immigrate to the US. Just wondering, how would you feel if this happened to you and what would you do? Would you "laugh it off" or file a complaint? My husband did let his supervisor know and they took it seriously, apologized, and were overall sorry it 

happened. BUT, they did not file a complaint or document what happened. I just don't want this to happen again. 

 

   Impersonating an immigration officer is a crime, so it is something they should be taking seriously. This could lead to the other person losing their job and/or potentially even criminal charges depending on the circumstances. With that in mind, if it was me I would do my best to decide if this was just an ill conceived attempt at humor, or if there was something more malicious involved. If it was the former, I would probably let it go with what has already been done. If I felt it was the latter, I would contact HR. Where I work we have a step process for this kind of thing, but any activity that could be considered a criminal offense often leads to termination of the offending employee without a warning step, so just be aware that is a possibility.   

[Blue Bianchi 77]

File a complaint. But before that, get a copy of the office's anti-discrimination and harrassment policies. If your husband works for a university, there are offices that can help him, such as an ombudman's office or faculty and staff support services.

[Boiler 45,712]

Have you gone and talked to the supervisor and explained the seriousness of the issue?