Today I will
give you two examples of how I was discriminated against for being Male in the
workplace.
From 1997 to
2003 I worked for a Christian Ministry named The Quiet Hour in Redlands, California.
I was on Salary which means no matter how many hours I work I get paid the
same. It also means I didn’t get overtime if I worked a lot of extra hours.
The person in
charge of the Bible School was Laura and she was also on Salary. She would
arrive to work several hours late and then leave work several hours early. All
of us on Salary got paid for 9 hours of work per day. So while I worked for 9
hours every day and got my pay for 9 hours daily, Laura would work an average
of 6 hours per day but get paid for 9 hours.
Understand
that I was told by not only my direct Supervisor, but also by the Director of
the Computer Department, my Vice President of Operations, and the President of
the company, that since The Quiet Hour is 100 percent donor funded that we have
to make the best use of the donor’s money they donate to our organization. I
was actually told once that even if I am on my allowed break time and I went on
my computer to check the weather or the news that I was in violation of proper
use of donor’s money since I am not doing required work-related stuff on the
computers provided by the donor’s money.
At one point
I was actually called into the Vice President’s office and told that if I start
work just ONE MINUTE early that I would be fired. I asked what the problem was
since I am on Salary so I don’t get extra pay, overtime, or compensatory time
off for any extra timed I put in. Again the Vice President stated that YOU ARE
TO WORK FROM 7:30 A.M. TO 5:30 P.M. AND IF YOU SHOW UP AND START WORK ONE
MINUTE EARLY YOU WILL BE FIRED!
I was shocked
so I asked the question why Laura in the Bible School was allowed to show up 2
or 3 hours late for work, and she leaves 2 or 3 hours early from work, and yet
that isn’t a problem while starting my work 1 minute early is grounds for
firing me. They had no answer but I know what the answer was. They were discriminating
against me for being Male while they gave the Female employees special
benefits. Discrimination of any type in the workplace is illegal under the law
and yet I was a victim of gender discrimination.
This carried
on when I went to work for the Southeastern California Conference office for
the Seventh-day Adventist Church located in Riverside, California. One of the
Estate Planning Officers, Lloyd Janzen, wanted to hire me as his Trust Services
Administrative Assistant. He told me that the Director of the Department, Roger
Heinrich, flatly told him: I DON’T WANT YOU
TO HIRE ANDREW AS YOUR ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT. WE’VE NEVER HAD A MALE AS AN
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT IN THIS DEPARTMENT!
Well, gee,
that sure sounds like gender discrimination to me. And what happened next was
disgusting. My Estate Planning Officer, Lloyd Janzen, retired from working and
Roger Heinrich decided to return being an Estate Planning Officer and allow
someone else to be the Director of the Department. Unfortunately for me Roger
took over the Estate Planning Officer position Lloyd had so now Roger, the
person who didn’t like me for being a Male Administrative Assistant, became my
supervisor.
Oh man I
cannot tell you the amount of abuse I took at his hands for no other reason
except that I was a Male serving as an Administrative Assistant.
Yes, people,
I was discriminated against for being a Male in the workplace and at the
Conference Office the discrimination came from another Male.
I hope my
several blogs this month have shown you that I have suffered immensely due to
discrimination for being White, a Male, older than 50 years of age, and
sometimes all three of them at the same time, and yet no Attorney would ever
take my case to file a Discrimination lawsuit against the perpetrators.
But I didn’t
do what some ethnic groups do. I didn’t protest in the streets. I didn’t riot
and loot businesses and homes. I didn’t run to the malls and airports and riot
and disrupt shopping and flights.
Overall I
came through all this discrimination stronger and smarter than those who are
weak and stupid and who caused all the discrimination against me.