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help with Harassment at work

Hello sinners,

I'm looking for help with what to do about receiving religious emails at work. I usually just ignore them, but I received one the other day that just really crossed the line.

I don't know how to paste the whole thing here, but the text was the following:

"Hope you score 100
The sentence at the end of this page tells you how to score 100. Enjoy the pictures as you scroll down."
--then there's a series of ugly paintings of a Caucasian christ in various situations--
"I'm not ashamed. He is the only one that can save this
country and they want him removed from the government.
Our great nation will not stand if we delete HIM from all
aspects of our government as the atheists want."
--more images of White Jesus--
"Jesus Test
This is an easy test, you score 100 or zero. It's your
choice. If you aren't ashamed to do this, please follow
the directions. Jesus said, if you are ashamed of me, I
will be ashamed of you before my Father. 'This is the
simplest test. If you Love God, and are not ashamed of
all the marvelous things he has done for you..
Send this to ten people..."

Now, this was forwarded to a group of people (I wasn't singled out) by the HR person of the company I am a temp for. I am not sure if she knows that I'm atheist/agnostic, but she should know how inappropriate the email is for the workplace. Also, the person who sent it to me (nor anybody else I work with, to my knowledge) is a real big fundie freak who is always talking about god and jesus and all that. They are all just the average person who doesn't go to church or read the bible, but just identifies as xian for no real reason. I'm probably not the only person who was offended by the email, but nobody else has said anything.

I'm interested in knowing what sort of legal options there are, so I can know what to do next. What would a Jewish or Muslim person do if they received that and it said "Jews" or "Muslims" instead of "atheists"?

I have saved the email, and can share it but i'd need your email address or instructions on how to get it on here. It has images embedded into it and big crazy font.

Thanks for any help

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by alessandro bornato on September 29, 2010 at 12:45pm

I would like to see a picture of your shirt. Do you care?

Permalink Reply by Ranx on July 22, 2010 at 11:36am

find out the company's policy on spam. chances are if it is a private company, there's probably not much you could do. suggest that you will filter her 'spam' messages and could possibly miss out on important work related email. Of course you are a temp, be prepared to temp somewhere new.

Permalink Reply by Dan DuPree on November 19, 2010 at 2:29pm

Review your companies HR policy on personal emails at work, harrassment and religious proselytizing at work. If they have no HR policies at all, it may be they can just fire you at will. If this supervisor is violating policy, you have her by the short and curlies and should talk to a lawyer. You may get fired but a lawyer might take it on contigency if they think you might get some cash out of the deal.

Permalink Reply by Scott on December 28, 2010 at 6:53am

Do you have the patience to ignore it? I work and live in the Philippines, an extremely superstitious and religious Catholic/Christian country and everyday I get messages like those in my mail, phone and even facebook. There are "Jesus Saves" banners and signboards everywhere you look and preachers toting Bibles inside buses, 'spreading the word of their god', giving out envelopes to everyone and if you don't take it they shove it in between your lap. I say i'm atheist and I don't really give to a church whose activities I'm not sure of. They say it's ok. I donate to a Christian organization which works with children in this place beside a mountain (literally) of garbage/dumpsite by sending them to school, picking the kids up one by one, give them a bus ride to school and back. If not, these kids won't come to school or learn anything at all. The work they do is something I can't. I work for an international aid organization which sometimes partner with religious groups and organizations. They do great things but they never push their beliefs on others.

People know i'm atheist but they don't rub it on my face all the time by being persistently evangelical. Our office meetings start with prayers and I bow, I don't close my eyes, a form of respect to what others believe in. In some ways, I gained their respect. I let them do what they think is good for them. Most of us struggle to live a moral life, atheist or not. They find meaning in their faith, I find meaning in my readings on evolution.

This Christmas, a Christian friend gave me Jared Diamonds "Guns Germs and Steel' as a present. I thought it was the Bible before I unwrapped it. He told me he couldn't find Dawkins. I said I was not very keen on Dawkins.

I thought maybe all of us should learn a bit more of tolerance.

Permalink Reply by Richard Healy on December 28, 2010 at 7:57am

Our office meetings start with prayers and I bow

a) that's messed up.

b) I dunno what I'd do, probably fold my arms, look bored and wear my 'get on with it' frown...

Permalink Reply by Scott on January 1, 2011 at 6:23am

a) I know ha ha! Good thing they don't end the meeting with another prayer. In some offices, they actually do. Then we'd go out for lunch and when we pass by a church everyone makes a sign of the cross. My co-workers say grace at every meal, even at McDonald's.

b) I tried those too. But everyone gave me a look that apparently meant, "Why don't you look for a workplace where everyone's atheist?"

Permalink Reply by Indygrl76 on August 11, 2011 at 4:44pm

Clearly, this is over the line. This is a challenge. As you are a "temp" they are likely to get rid of you than accept reality. These are folks that are out of touch with appropriate realities of the work place. As I live in the South-- I deal with this crap on a regular basis-- but not directly from the HR department or other "official" bosses-- I suggest that you begin a file and keep the e-mails. You could reply that you do not want to receive any of these "personal" emails in a work environment. If it continues-- keep a record and a copy of all of these on a personal flash drive so they cannot get into your computer and deleat it before you take any action. If the problem continues, repeat the polite request for them to quit or "leave you out" of such communications. If it still continues, submit an official complaint. Be concise, polite and professional. (Yes, we always need to be the grownups in this!) If it still continues, then get in touch with the ACLU in your state. Be prepared to be fired in the process and to get a lot of nasty looks. I know, I get them all the time (but they cannot fire me!). If you are willing to make a point of this-- you can. They are clearly violating the law. The problem is, that to get it redressed legally-- you will have to go through the court system which may take a long time. This is a hard thing to do in an economy where ready employment opportunities are lacking. It is, of course, unfair to put you and everyone in such a position. That's what pioneers have to do. Good luck!