[jayjohnson]

I would like to know what grounds I have for going up higher in the ranks of my company, if my immediate supervisors do not do anything. Here's a little background information: I work at a hospital and for many years I was a CNA. Unfortunately, age got the best of me and I received surgery on the tendons in my legs. I needed to find a job where I didn't have to move around so much. I successfully found a job, at the same hospital, in admitting. This particular admitting department is connected with the Emergency Room. Although I do not work within that specific area, we are apart of the same team and we work each other's shifts/sick calls. One of my coworkers needed a day off and asked me to work her shift in the Emergency Room. This would involve a lot of moving around, although I am still able to work at fast paces it really wears on me and it's not my favorite thing to do. Luckily, another coworker offered me to work her shift, which is still located in the ER as a coordinator admitting patients into the hospital, in turn taking the shift with more moving. I gladly accepted. The day I worked was chaos, as the clinics were closed due to the holidays. That day I worked with two other gals, the one that switched with me and another one who was doing her scheduled shift we will call her Stephanie. Those two worked with the patients coming through the ER, registering them, updating information in their demographics, and bringing the charts to the nurse's station. I sat at a desk behind taking calls from nurses admitting patients from the ER to the hospital. Occasionally when they would get busy I would also register patients at my desk. The day went smoothly besides the fact we were busy. It's an ER, what do you expect? The other gal, we will call her Stephanie, the one that was working her scheduled shift, wasn't too thrilled with being busy. She wasn't handling herself well under the stress, she never does, and throughout the day she became colder and colder towards me. To the point where if I had a question and I tried to ask her, she would snap at me, I'm too busy to help you and just walk away, though, the other girl found time to help me. About half way through our shifts, Stephanie stopped back at my desk and said, and I quote, “If you can't help out around maybe you should get a desk job. If you're disabled you shouldn't work in a department like this. I think that needs to be addressed to you.”. I was completely taken back, and I almost walked out because I was so upset. My other coworker that day said after Stephanie had said that to me she walked over to her and said, “I don't care if I have to be a ***** to her face, I refuse to work with her.” Now, Stephanie isn't a 20 year old that just stated working at the hospital, she's a 43 year old that has been there for 20 some years. I know this isn't her first instance of being so straight forward with someone that it comes off as just plain rude, she's actually been moved to different departments because she's offended people. The main point of this is I want to know what I should do. I'm incredibly hurt and I know I'm not disabled, and if my boss didn't think I could perform up to par I wouldn't have been hired. I think some think something needs to be done about her so she doesn't hurt the feelings of anyone else. I don't know if this is considered discrimination because she isn't my boss and doesn't decide whether I'm hired or not. I do believe that it's considered harassment; I just don't know how far to take it.

[JudyKayTee]

Much of this is totally irrelevant. How many times has this co-worker harassed you and in what manner? If you ARE disabled and she tells YOU you are disabled, I don't see an action.

Likewise, if you ARE disabled (semi or not) and she tells that to other people, it's not harassment, it's the truth.

Now, if she calls you untrue names on more than one occasion, that's harassment.

So - what did she do and how many times did she do it?

[joypulv]

I think you will find that supervisors and personnel don't want to hear what she said (even if you shorten it to just the sentences). They aren't harassment, slander, libel, anything. Employers expect staff to work out differences themselves. She said she can't work with you - that's her problem to address with whoever she works for. She said if you are disabled, you should work a desk job. All you had to do was say that you do, except when you are covering. I don't quite get the horror at being suggested that you might be disabled. What's so wrong with that? You can't dash around the floor. Confront what needs confronting with tact and your employers (and everyone) will admire you for it.