Harassment at work/questions about how it was handled
Location: Pennsylvania
To keep a VERY long story short. My job hired this guy (same level as me) Day 1 of meeting him he had pointed out I was engaged. In comes mandatory small talk about my fiance and wedding planning. Day 2 he proceeds to ask me what I'm doing after work/ if Ill go out with him after. I told him no I'm going home to fiance. Continues to ask me out and when I say no he gets aggressive and goes "I guess I'm just a piece of shit then" and punches something (off camera off course). He then makes a comment to another Co worker in front of me about my body. He then proceeded to scream at another co worker (lower level) in front of all the staff. And when she told him that made him uncomfortable he screamed and threw a fit. We called manager above us. He came in and talked to us all individually but dismissed my and the other (lower) coworkers concerns. I told said co worker if they wanted to go to hr with them I would support them since I was there to see it happen. Contacted hr for a meeting. Meeting happened 4 days later and was with my manager and then hr ( who was on a FaceTime call) manager and hr then proceeded to tell me that I need to "just say no" when he acts like that. Am I crazy for thinking that isnt right? I dont work in hr but surely there was another way to handle it? I get that he was hitting the things off camera so MAYBE you couldn't have a case to fire him but "just say no"?? When I'm telling you I have been saying no and hes getting aggressive? The other manager (lower) ended up quitting because they didnt do anything about the aggressive guy and I shouldn't have told her we could tell hr. My manager then proceeded to tell me that it was my fault I egged her on to quit by telling her if she wanted to talk to hr with her I would. Later the same day the guy ended up making MORE disgusting comments. But he did it in front of a man this time. I told my boss and suddenly he and hr believed the story when I had a guy as a witness. Aggressive guy got fired. Manager then continue to make comments to me telling me it was my fault he had to work more because I complained and we were down 2 managers. Flash forward to my meeting with boss and I tell him I feel uncomfortable with how the situation was handled and I felt like hr didnt handle it correctly. He essentially said. Well its over hes gone get over it. I then went on leave for my wedding and was supposed to return back but they called me and asked about my wedding and then said "were gonna have to seperate you from the company.we know you have frustrations with us and we cant fix that so its best we separate" which I then stated I was frustrated with how they handled it and my hr manager said something along the lines of "you may feel like that but it was handled correctly" I guess what I'm getting at is, is this even okay? I get PA is an at will state but what? Also I guess legal/hr, is "just say no" an honest to god correct answer? I'm looking for genuine input. Ive never worked in hr and I understand theres a line they need to tread but I just feel like that wasnt it. Thank you
tldr: job hired a new guy. He harassed me. I reported it. Got told to "just say no". Guy continued and eventually did get fired. I told manager I felt uncomfortable with how the situation was handled, he tells me get over it. I go on leave for wedding. Got fired before coming back.
Posted Jul 5, 2026, 9:06 PM UTC