lucyv said:
I am an nurse and work in very small pain management center. Our group is very small - about 8 of us. That's all. I am the only Christian. I know that my presence creates restraints in the group. The can be VERY vulgar at times. These are not children. Ages range from 24 -55. All adults and very ungodly.
I sense that my manager (not a very good one) might want me to leave so they can act like they want to! I don't go to lunch with them much anymore because they talk vulgar and curse. When I am around they all seem to hold back - and of course, they don't want to.
One of the girls used to be a friend - I thought. Now she runs with one of the other girls who dotes on her and has turned her back on me.
My struggle is that often I let their behavior and remarks to me bother me. I am a Christian but I have feelings. Sometimes I dont' know how to cope with being a Christian in a heathen workplace.
Help.
You have several options and the law is on your side. You have the power in this case, but you don't know it. In America there are federal and state statutes written specifically to protect religious people from such harrassment... even if the offender claims that there is no anti-religious intent. These laws require the employer to provide you with a
"non-hostile workplace."
The same applies to sexual harrassment which also is the case here. You see courts have held that the offense is in the eye of the beholder -- that is, you, as victim. It means that if you perceive their profane language as religious harrassment, and complain to management, and management does not correct the problem of a
hostile workplace, then may sue.
If management says other emplyees had no hostile intent and that you are too sensitive, then management loses. That is utterly no defense against the charge of a
hostile workplace. The burden of proof would be upon management to prove to a judge that either listening to profanity is an essential part of your work (no way!), or management must prove that baning profanity in the workplace would create such an undue hardship upon the business that it would be too costly to implement (still no way!).
I am not advising either for or against getting a lawyer and suing if management rejects your requests. That is your choice. I am only informing you that you have control of the situation. You are in the driver's seat. You can stop this in a few moments if you care to do so.
Here is how:
Prepare a letter. Tell management in your letter that you are the victim of both sexual and religious hostility in the workplace, that you have asked the offending workers to stop, and that they have not stopped, and that you have appealed to management (name the managers) and that they replied (quote their reply for the record). Tell that they have two days to correct the situation. Ask them for the name of their attorney and insurance providers (for errors and omissions insurance and liabitlity insurance).
Tell them in the letter that they are inviolation of both state and federal laws protecting workers from religious and sexual harrassment and that they have allowed a hostile workplace enviornment to exist. Tell them that you suspect you are not the only one over a period of years to have been the victim of sexual and religious hostility at this workplace, and that if you have to get an attorney, you intend to find one or two others who have been harrassed, and together you will constitute an "aggrieved class". (That means you can sue en masse for every one in very large case. Their lawyer will realize where this is going.)
Tell them that it will be a violation of state and federal law to punish you by giving you bad performance reviews, demotions, unpleasant assignments, bad hours, passing over for pay raises and bonuses and any other punitive action because you compained about the hostile workplace enviornment that they allowed to exist in violation of state and federal laws. Tell them you are not asking for damages or compensation if the matter can be resolved and that you are willing to agree not to sue for past damage provided they agree to certain conditions.
Here are the conditions:
1. All present and future employees are warned that profanity and obcenity are banned at the workplace. Violation of the ban will be grounds for dismissal.
2. If an employee complains that speech or behavior is profane or obscene and offensive, then the offending employee must stop indefinitely in the workplace.
3. Management must investigate and enforce these rules.
4. These rules must be read and signed by all new employees and copies kept in their employment records. These rules must be displayed in a prominent place in the office visible to all employees for a period of atleast ten years regardless of whether you remain employed with them.
5. If mangement should fail to comply, then employees are free to seek legal counsel to resolve the problem.
6. No employee reporting violations of these rules may be punished by low performance evaluations, early layoffs, denial of promotions, reassignment to poor shifts, or other harrassment or punishment as a result of the employee's report.
7. You or one of your agenst has the right to inspect the workplace without prior notice for ten for compliance. If the employer fails to post the rules and otherwise fails to comply for a period, then the employer will pay you a sum of money to be determined. Any expenses to you to collect that sum will be added to the amount they owe for each violation during the ten year period.
Suggest that the employer talk to his/her attorney and insurance providers before replying to you. (If the attorney is even marginally competent, he will realize the employer is drifting over Niagara Falls legally speaking and will advise him to settle.)
Sign and date the report in the presence of a notary. Your bank should provide a notary for you for free. Make several copies (outside of work).
This advice is based upon the assumption that your small pain management office is affiliated with a larger operation. Civil rights laws may or may not apply in your state to business having less that a certain number of employees. I suggest you consult an attorney first. Most attorneys will talk with you for free so you can atleast know the relevant state and federal laws first before you write anything.
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This would probably work immediately. What you do is your decision.
Some Christians would appeal to management and win. Others would appeal to management and be rejected. They may sue to make the workplace healthier for believers in Christ. Others may leave because they feel this is actually the Lord's way of leading them elsewhere. God bless you as you find his will.
Here are the links to various Christian, non-profit websites that prove free legal cousel to people like you... victims of religious persecution.
http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/
http://www.christianlaw.org/
http://www.aclj.org/
http://www.thomasmore.org/
http://www.becketfund.org/
http://www.rutherford.org/
http://www.pacificjustice.org/
http://www.clsnet.org/
http://www.lc.org/
http://www.libertylegal.org/
http://www.hslda.org
If these websites know of Chrsitian affiliates in your area, you could consult one before writing your letter. He may advise you differently or create a custom letter on his/her letterhead. 
for you.
No big deal. It hated our Lord and Savior. Look for a better job and PRAY with us that the Lord will move you. Meanwhile, be sweet and nice and never late and clean up after the slobs. This will heap coals of fire on their heads! i am a 54 year old man and have the same troubles every day in a government job. 
