My wife worked at a Dillon's deli where Danielle was the manager. Less than two weeks after my wife started, Danielle began telling my wife that she is bisexual. She then invited my wife to go with her to a BDSM dungeon, explaining that she is a licensed dominatrix. Danielle told my wife she could come watch and did not have to participate. My wife came home and told me what had been said. I told her absolutely not. My wife agreed and said she did not want to go either.When my wife returned to work, she told Danielle that I did not want her to go. I told my wife I was fine with her using me as the reason. Danielle then invited my wife to go out drinking at a bar after work and also invited me. My wife had already told Danielle that I do not drink. My wife and I are from a small town in Colorado, and we both understood that when a manager asks an employee to go out drinking, it is often viewed as obligatory if the employee wants promotions or to stay in good standing.I served as the designated driver (DD). While at the bar, Danielle hit on both my wife and me. She told us she had previously slept with other employees but that it had burned her in the past and she had gotten in trouble for it. She said she had not been laid in a very long time and wanted to do it again. The person who had brought Danielle to the bar left her there. Danielle then told me she wanted to continue hanging out after the bar closed, but we could not go back to her place because of her kids. I tried to play dumb and deflect the conversation. I eventually drove Danielle home.After that night, Danielle began contacting my wife extensively while my wife was off the clock, often for hours at a time. She wanted my wife to snitch on other coworkers and talk about work and personal matters unrelated to work. Danielle even tried to convince my wife to leave me and come live with her.After several weeks of this behavior (nearly a month), I went to the store manager and reported the sexual harassment. My wife and I had already had multiple conversations about how uncomfortable the situation made her. The store manager promised that my wife would not face retaliation, stated that he takes sexual harassment allegations very seriously, thanked me for coming forward, and assured me it would be handled. He noted that Dillon's does not allow retaliation for sexual harassment complaints.During this period, my wife had confided in other employees about what Danielle was doing. The store manager later called my wife into the office, confirmed the details I had reported, and scheduled a meeting that included HR, several managers, the union, and me. In the meeting, we discussed the sexual harassment by Danielle. My wife was specifically instructed never to discuss the sexual harassment she experienced with any other coworkers again. To our knowledge, Danielle was not suspended, written up, or placed on paid leave. Nothing else resulted from the meeting.After the meeting, Danielle began giving my wife extensive closing lists that no other employees received. My wife was the only one required to complete these lists. The lists contained tasks well beyond her normal job description. When my wife stayed late to finish them, she was still made to feel that her job was in jeopardy if the lists were not completed. Danielle frequently complained about my wife to higher management in hopes of getting her written up. When my wife was not written up, Danielle would be in a bad mood all day. We could predict when Danielle planned to go out to the bar because she would come to work wearing heavy makeup and jeans that showed her thong.My wife repeatedly complained to HR and the union about the apparent retaliation. The union told her to "suck it up" because Danielle was the manager and my wife needed to do what she was told. HR said they would investigate but never reviewed the documentation my wife provided showing the pattern of retaliation.My wife continued checking the internal job board and applied for an assistant manager position at a different store. She interviewed for the role and hoped it would allow her to escape the harassment and retaliation. She did not receive the promotion and was later fired.The stated reason for her termination was that, months after the initial harassment report, another coworker asked my wife what was happening with the sexual harassment situation involving Danielle. My wife replied that nothing had been resolved and that she was being retaliated against. A different coworker reportedly overheard this conversation and claimed to be "offended." Management stated that my wife had maliciously and knowingly violated company policy by discussing the matter. As a result, my wife was fired and is now blacklisted from working at Dillon's again. This occurred even though she genuinely loved the job itself aside from the issues with Danielle. Throughout the entire situation, my wife followed the chain of command by reporting the harassment. read more
