Expert: Michael Troy - 4/1/2007

Question
i recently quit my previous job because the manager and assistant manager (at Party City Rockville, Md store) treated their employees poorly.  The manager used foul language.  He once said to me about one of the girls "that b**** is f***ing stupid
".  The assistant manager would call the young girls (one of them only 17 years old) sweet heart, bonita (which is Spanish for beautiful) etc. He also told one of the girls that only girls could be only the register and that she could not stock because she is not a man.  One of the district managers came into the store one day and as i was walking into the managers office he was saying "you all hire some f***ing stupid people".  I was wondering where you could go to report issues like this so that this nonsense can stop? Its not fair for these young girls to be exposed to this type of behavior in the work place.

Answer
Hi Courteney,

There is nothing particularly illegal about calling people names or using foul language.

However, it is illegal do discriminate based on what jobs you give people based on their sex.  It is also illegal to create a hostile work environment that might affect women more than men.

You can learn more and file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission:

http://www.eeoc.gov

It is also covered at the State level by the Maryland Commission on Human Rights:

http://www.mchr.state.md.us

I hope this helps!
- Mike