Surprise! Surprise! She brought with her "Loony". Well, he stayed at the reception and i have no intention of talking to him. But i am still upset after all those SMS threats and harassments he subjected my team leader to. And i don't understand why my female staff has to bring with her this guy?
Anyway, i spoke to female staff and after explaining to her that she needs to go back to the shop and make the team leader sign her clearance before we give her her last pay, thirteenth month, etc. She said her goodbye.
But she said something to our HR staff which gave a complete turnaround of the "harassment" issue i've been dealing with. She said it is her who is being harassed by our team leader. I immediately called her back and asked the HR staff and another officer to have a private meeting with female staff.
There i asked her what truly happened. She gave details about the sexual advances made by team leader towards her, the panliligaws and all. I told her that that is a serious accusation and unless she have evidence, we will only take it as simple, baseless accusations. It will be a case of her word against that of team leader.
I can sense that female staff is worried and a bit afraid. I told her also that if it is indeed true, she should have told these things to me before. She said that she doesn't know what to do and instead told "Loony" about it. I told her she should not be afraid because it is her right to protect herself and we can never help her if she will not tell.
I asked her if there are other staff who knows about what's going on and she said nobody else knows. When i asked her if she have received and save any malicious text message from team leader, she immediately took out her phone and started scanning her inbox.
And then she handed me her phone. I read the message, checked the number with my phone book. It was indeed true. The message confirms her accusations. I felt sad and disappointed with my team leader. How can he be so stupid! He has a live-in partner and two kids. And he is willing to throw everything for this? Female staff was emotional. She said "Natatakot po ako sir kaya hindi ako makapag sumbong. Malapit lang po ang bahay nya sa amin. Baka po sugurin nya ako."
I told her we need to confront the situation or else walang mangyayari sa takot nya. She said that if she could get her last pay, she will just go back to the province. She also mentioned that "Loony" - her boyfriend, never harassed my team leader or any of our staff because he doesn't own a phone. I asked her if we could talk to her boyfriend without her and she said yes.
Loony walked in. He greeted us. He doesn't look like a basagulero and he seems shy. But i was not to judge him on first impression. I asked him all the accusations made by our team leader against him and he only admitted one.
He said he indeed went in our shop once and that he had a beer before going but he said he is not drunk and that he didn't go there para manggulo but to ask team leader to stop harassing her girlfriend. He said "Ok lang naman po sa akin na ligawan nya, pero 'wag po nyang babastusin."
He added, "Hindi ko po magagawa na sumugod don at manggulo kasi takot ko lang po kay madam (my boss)". When i confronted him about the threats and all, he said "Wala po akong cellphone sir. Kung kailangan po, nakiki text lang ako pero hindi ko po sya o yung pamilya nya tinatakot sa text." I showed him the number of the "harasser" forwarded to me by team leader and he denied knowing that number as his or anybody he knows. Lastly, he said "Sinamahan ko lang po sya (female staff) kasi gusto ko po na sabihin nya sa inyo lahat ng gingagawa ni (team leader) sa kanya. Natatakot po kasi sya."
Well, Loony sounds sane to me. But i told him that what he did (going to the shop smelling beer) is wrong. And he acknowledged that mistake.
Now i have to investigate further. I cannot ignore this matter because if it is indeed true, how can i trust team leader anymore? But, the text messages sent by team leader to female staff is a very strong evidence.
Afterwards, i consulted our lawyer and my boss. They both said that it is a serious offense and if it is indeed true, i have to terminate team leader. Lawyer talked to female staff and they prepared the "Sinumpaang Salaysay" of female staff. Now, i am holding Lawyer's Notice of investigation addressed to team leader. Upon female staff's request, i decided to delay for a few days serving the notice to team leader. Female staff wants to get to the province first. But she agreed to stay in contact just in case this matter turns ugly. Haaayyy!!!!
Note: Because of the situation, I told female staff not to get her clearance na from team leader and i'll just sign it and t pay her whatever we owe her. She got her cheque and hopefully she'll be at the province tomorrow morning.
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