Dads facing discrimination in the workplace

Submitted by GaryB on Sun, 2007-04-08 23:31

News.com.au has a story (finally!) on the discrimination that fathers are increasingly facing in the workplace when we try to take advantage of the supposedly equal rights offered to us and women.

QUOTE: In 1995-96, there were eight complaints to the commission. Last year that figure jumped to 17.

Complainants include:

A DAD who left work early once to care for his child and was sacked because the employer believed child care was his wife's responsibility.

Acting Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner Slavka Scott said the number of complaints could be the tip of the iceberg because men were less likely to complain and attitudes had not caught up with the changing times. :QUOTE

I've faced the same issues at work - my wife left me with our three kids and I've worked a full-time professional job ever since (nearly 2 years back), but I've had my fair share of discrimination and exclusion.

Great to see this finally becoming a press-worthy issue.

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Comments

Well, I can certainly say that here in America, its the most anti Father system that one could possibly Immagine. We all hear about how women deal with buys hiting on them, or how this place or that story treated them like they werent there. Well, just stop and think for one moment, what happens we husbands here these things? Yep, we get to pick up the slack of taking care of these things, and you still work a 40+ work week, Imagine then getting told by your department heads and supervisors, (in regards to your education which you need to move up in salary)...Oh sorry you dont get that, it was your choice to have a family....."Is it not correct that the rights regarding choice belong to the woman in the USA?" but yet I being the man, once again take up the slack. Oh yea, i can hear the rest of the comments...you should lower your standard of living if you want to go to colleges, or Your wife should stay home to take care of the kids so that you can work. Let me sum all these comments up: I worked for ten years at Jefferson Lab, Got threatened to be fired if i didnt bring my kids in at two am in the morning (radialogically controled facility, electrical/mechanical hazards, oxygen deficency hazards) and i lost count of how many times, I was threatened. Was threatened to be fired if i did not quite college (was working towards a BS in Electrical Eng) and make myself available for 24/7 oncall, with no additional pay, (i was hourly) when all was said and done, i took a severance package worth only 9k, I had acumulated more than TWENTY THOUSAND hours of ONCALL, the worst case of disruptive sleep disorder, and all my wife could say? was "well, it was a job". Now we're onto new issues like; BIRTH CONTROL...oh yea hubby, im tired of dealing with the child prevention methods so i want you to get your balls clipped, and she choses the worst possible moment in a mans life to say this...right after sex. OH YEA, it wasnt just stated, it was more liked SCREAMING and BITCHING about HER problem...IF YOU CANT TELL FOLKS I HAVE HAD IT WITH THE FIMINAZI's. ITS TIME to change things! oh yea, the government doesnt give a crap about how much time i spent in a condition equivalent to HOUSE ARREST as a result of my employer, thats what happens with "at will" employment!

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Submitted by curtis40 on Wed, 2007-04-11 06:45