Reddit Stories

By: throwra7654790

Hi everyone, This might be a bit long, and I apologize if formatting is weird because I'm on mobile.

Backstory: I (17f) have been working as a lifeguard for almost 2 years at my town's community center. This guy, we'll call him Z (18m), was hired in the beginning of this year. He was very awkward and I would catch him staring at me or other girls in our break room from time to time. I wasn't scheduled with him for a while after the first few times, and after a couple months of not working with him, I was scheduled with him and noticed that he would casually slide his hands down his pants while other people were in the office. Keep in mind this wasn't him simply "adjusting" or putting his hands in his pockets. He was very clearly touching himself. I started to keep an eye on him while we were in the break room, and I noticed that he would do it quite frequently, and sometimes put his fingers in his mouth after doing it. I was in the break room with my friend once, and I was across the room while he was sitting across from her and she was talking to me. I noticed her eyes widen and she gestured for me to look at Z, and out of the corner of my eye I saw him staring at me with his hands down his pants.

Around a week later, I was scheduled with him again, and I made my shift supervisor aware of the issue, where I learned that he was also aware of Z's behavior. My supervisor told me that if I saw him do it again to let him know, and he would have a conversation with him. I'll let you figure out what happens next, but my supervisor had a conversation with Z that ended in him denying everything and saying that he was just on his phone. I went home and emailed HR that night. I met with HR the following week, where they took mine and another coworker's statements, getting specific details of Z's actions and "movements" when he would touch himself. HR met with Z the following week, and they followed up with me and told me that they were very blunt with him that his actions would not be tolerated in the workplace, and told me to let them know if anything happened again and they would take action. I was very adamant that I did not want to be scheduled with him again, yet I worked with him multiple times after his meeting with HR.

Fast forward to around a month ago, Z comes into work just as my shift is ending, and lo and behold, I see him touching himself. I immediately reached out to my boss and HR, who I met with again the following week. This meeting was pretty much the same as the first one, with HR saying they would be addressing the situation immediately. However, my "accommodation" was that if I'm scheduled with him again, I can leave, no questions asked. He works a couple 3-hour shifts a month in the evening, whereas I work upwards of 25-30 hours a week, so in my opinion it's not that hard for them to not schedule him with me. It's been a month and I was told they would follow up with me after meeting with Z, and I haven't heard a peep from my boss or HR.

Today I was made aware by a coworker/friend of mine (16f) that Z was sent home and written up for touching himself. Instead of just an employee write-up, my coworkers who witnessed his behavior were asked by my supervisor to fill out security incident reports as well. The supervisor on duty also reached out to my boss immediately following the incident. I should also add that Z has been written up almost every shift he's worked for either staring at female coworkers, putting his hands down his pants or overall being terrible at his job.

I'm not sure what my next course of action should be if mine and my coworkers' complaints are ignored yet again. I'm paid well at this job and I don't want to be the one to quit because of this, but I am at a loss for what to do. I don't have any "proof" of Z putting his hands down his pants aside from coworkers texting about his actions in a group chat. My parents have told me that if my workplace continues to ignore our complaints, it's grounds for a lawsuit. Is this true? I don't know what else to do. Any advice is appreciated at this point. Thanks for reading.