First Day Of School Tomorrow

[stephanie44]

I am excited about working with and seeing the kids tomorrow for the first day of school, but for those of you who have been following my posts about unwanted sexual comments at work, I don't feel like dealing with some of those teachers and am feeling a bit anxious about that. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks so much.

 

[cdg]

No advice. But good luck on your 1st day at school!!!

 

[Me Myself and I]

Good luck on your first day :) ... I am not sure of what advice to give, but I belive it is good if you think less of those, and concentrate more on the kids and any activity you are planning on doing within the year, this will get your mind -hopefully- off any other stressing thoughts and probably help. ;)

 

[anthony]

At some point you have to stand-up for yourself, because the chances of someone doing it on your behalf are slim, as others cannot read your mind. If you find something offensive, then you need to say it loud and proud to the person, then and there, and even make a scene to attract attention and scare the person/s into not saying such things.

You need to assert yourself by stating, then and there, that such sexual comments are not appreciated and you find them harassing and threatening in nature. If that doesn't stop it in it's tracks, then you need to take it to superiors, and further again if they don't listen, because you will find someone who can help you stop it.

 

[Candleflames]

Give them your sternest teacher face and say: That is not appropriate talk for school, Johnny!

Talk to them how you would a student as they clearly need to be educated.

 

[Flyaway]

They may hold a bit of a grudge for you shaking things up, but who needs people like that anyway?

At least you can be comforted knowing that there are plenty of parents out there, who appreciate what you have done for their children and the school. :) They care about you. I'm sure you'll get some nice Christmas pressies this year ;)

Good luck!!! Thoughts are with you!

 

[rightkindofme]

I would start carrying my cell phone in my pocket set to record. If these people come up to you, press play fairly obviously and say on the phone, "I am recording this so that we know for sure what date and time we had this conversation. It is not appropriate to have sexual conversations at work and it will never happen again, right? This is sexual harassment and my next step is calling the police."

If you have obvious evidence collection in front of you the person will get scared and back off. I know more than one woman who has tried this for dealing with workplace harassment.

 

[anthony]

I would start carrying my cell phone in my pocket set to record.

You can't do that... as people have a right to privacy at all times and that violates it in most countries today. Video often gets around this when someone has posted it publicly to a video sharing website.

 

[rightkindofme]

If you have it on that setting and take it out and clearly turn it on then it isn't illegal. It is only illegal (in some places) to make secret recordings. I am sorry if I was not clear enough.

 

[anthony]

I think you also forgot to mention the part of telling them that you're recording the discussion and that they agree to it. I say that because it is different today with mobile phones, as people don't put this little cassette recorder down on the table, and instead use their mobile. Just about everyone has a mobile, so putting it out does not tell the person they're recording the conversation.

I have read cases where what you describe are tossed out because the person still didn't know they're being recorded, which breaches their privacy.

I am not making a point about this to argue, but you are giving advice publicly on this website to someone which could be telling them to do something against the law, which is why I am clarifying what's legal in most western countries when it comes to recording a conversation.

This is why when such conversations are recorded by companies via support and such, they must legally tell you, i.e. for training purposes, AND give you the option to not have your conversation recorded but to still receive technical support.

Privacy is privacy nowadays, and privacy laws are very strict. You're actually breaching a persons privacy if you take a picture of something on your phone that has them in it, then publicise that photo online. That breaches their privacy by law in most countries. You need their consent if you wish to publish the photo online, for example, more often than not.

Privacy is my key point here... and unfortunately you can't take your mobile out of your pocket and start recording a conversation with someone without telling them, as that is breaching their privacy. Informed consent is part and parcel of privacy, by law. Entrapment comes to mind.

 

[rightkindofme]

That would by why I said "press play fairly obviously and say on the phone, "I am recording this so that we know for sure what date and time we had this conversation. It is not appropriate to have sexual conversations at work and it will never happen again, right? This is sexual harassment and my next step is calling the police."" in my original post.

If the person is standing there when you say that it is pretty obvious at that point.

 

[anthony]

For those in the US, there is a good page on this at: [DLMURL]http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/recording-phone-calls-and-conversations[/DLMURL]

Reading further documents that lead you away from that page, in regard to actual law, in states that allow use of one party consent, it is still illegal to use the recording for legal matters, as that is still considered an "illegal wiretap" in all states. So if you recorded someone to use that recording against them, which would apply to employment matters (sexual harassment in this case) it would be considered an illegal wiretap when that person takes the employer to court for sacking them, especially as the recording couldn't be used in court and thus the justification to fire a person or take any action against them, would become "he said, she said" pretty much.

It seems to get very interesting with conversations across state lines. Ouch on that one.

Like the page outlines as a disclaimer: In any event, it never hurts to play it safe and get the consent of all parties to a phone call or conversation that you intend to record.

Interestingly, you can record police and Government officials though, without their consent, and it will have legal statue providing you don't interfere with actions they're taking.