40 Year Old Co-worker Made Inappropriate Comments About Me, I’m 17. Management Says That They Can’t Do Anything.

A week ago today, I was told by a female coworker that another coworker had been checking me out and made a comment to her: “even though she’s a minor, she has nice tits.” She immediately told the night shift manager and eventually word spread up the chain and the one assistant store manager wrote a letter to HR.

Every shift I’ve worked this week I had to work around this man, and despite mangers being there, they rarely checked in to make sure that I was okay despite the situation. Thankfully Me and the creep work in different departments, i work in produce and he works in Deli, however the two departments are right next to each other. Because of us being in different departments, they also can’t change the schedule so that we never see each other either.

Today I was just told that because it was a case of his word against hers, and that they had no proof he said anything, They can’t do anything about it. The other assistant store manager said it was something to do with hearsay after speaking with the lead store manager, but I was fairly distraught to really hear everything he had to say.

I feel completely unsafe in the work place, yet to “make me feel safer” they’d rather just switch my department than do anything to him. And apparently this isn’t the first time he has made comments about me, plus he’s been sent home because he came into work drunk at least three times since I’ve been there. There have also been several other instances where he should have at least been written up or other disciplinary action taken. And there have been multiple cases where action was taken.

Can they really not do anything? I’m a minor and I think they’re being super risky. They’re apparently just waiting for something more to happen, but then who’s to say they’ll even do anything then?

My biggest issue isn’t just about what he’s said about me and how he looks at me, I’m more worried about what he’ll say or do to other young women that may come to work in the store. I don’t want to quit because then I know for sure they aren’t going to do anything.

So basically, can legal action be taken in this situation? Obviously I’m waiting for more information to come out about the whole thing as the lead store manager will be in the store tomorrow, but I figured I’d post this to try and see if I should have hope for something being done or if I should put more thought into quitting.