I should note that I do not speak on behalf of my employer. I will not name my employer either as I am bound to a Business code of conduct and cannot speak directly to what is going on in my company. The below is an opinion of mine based on personal experience and isn't what the company states to be true.
This is an age old question. Perhaps I am writing this right now because I can truthfully say that I have asked this question to myself many times in the last three years. There is a lot of sufficient evidence to suggest this. I work in a unionized environment and the job I do is physically laborious. So I am more prone to workplace injuries to my back, legs and other areas of my body that are required for lifting. The worse I am finding is that my back pain is more in line to how strong my hip flexors and hip muscles are (perhaps a different topic for next week). However, as I mentioned I work in a unionized environment and I have maxed out on my pay as well. I am not getting anymore merit raises anytime soon.
The reasons why some might ask why their employer dislikes them could be for the following reasons. I know I have seen some examples of these in the workplace.
1. Getting hurt either at work or outside work.- My employer likes to act like an insurance agent in these scenarios from what I see. They like to ask so many questions as to where the injury was, how it happened and even like to ask what you like to do with your personal time. From what I have experience in a physical labour job, answering the question about what kind of exercises you do on your personal time will get you into trouble. No reasonable employer will ask you to not work out or exercise at the gym because they are "worried it would impact your ability to go to work." The only exception to that might be if you are doing extreme types of training (MMA or Olympic training for example).
But when your employer has the nerve to ask you while you are on a modified duties program at work, ""How much weight can you bench press Mike?" Take heed. Your employer is very likely going to use this information to limit liability and possibly influence any insurance payment you might get down the road. My answer to this question was "I don't worry about the numbers. I worry about optimizing my muscles." Which is truth. I wouldn't recommend worrying about the numbers at the gym. Worry about activating your muscles properly and making sure they get worked out and get stronger. Worry about doing the exercises safely. However, if you are recommended by a doctor or other medical practitioner to limit your weightlifting at work, I would recommend applying this to your workout exercises as well (ie. don't lift more than 50 lbs at the gym if you are told not to lift more than that at work). I don't know for sure how easy it is for such information to come back to haunt you, but with technology and social media being what it is today, I wouldn't take the chance.
2. Missed time/absenteeism- In connection with number one, you will have to be careful about missed days. My employer hates this with a passion it seems. So much so, that even injuries that are beyond your control appear to be pet peeves of his. I have seen instances in many jobs I worked in which urgent care matters (ie. PA day at school for your kid, but babysitter calls in sick leaving you stranded to make a last minute decision for your child's safety) have been held against an employee. Ultimately, the employee has chosen to leave the company in situations which they know arguing will be too costly, or they know the employer just won't listen to reason. I will not speculate on why the employer chooses to do this, but I do know that many employers want to pay less and less to employees these days if they can get away with it.
I like to believe most employers will be reasonable about absenteeism. I like to believe that they will acknowledge doctor notes and special emergency circumstances. However, if a pattern develops, they will likely start disliking you for the pattern of absences you have shown them. They will especially dislike you if you work in a union environment and there is little they can do about your patterns. I find in these situations, you can expect to receive letters of counsel or discipline that will go on your file. The reason behind this is when you eventually choose to file a grievance against your employer, they can argue your patterns of absenteeism, that you don't take discipline well or that you simply have an attitude problem. The letters are going to be on your file, and you can expect them to use these against you under these circumstances.
3. What is and isn't on your employee file- Sometimes an employer has to correct his wrongdoings, and sometimes you have to hand documentation in that will help protect you in your employment. Most reasonable employers will not mess with the information that is on your file. But I do find that in some places I have worked, and depending on who you are, the employer may act like you have never given them certain information before even though you know you have. In these circumstances, you need to protect yourself and always have copies of documents you provide them for your own records. This is where you make sure someone from HR themselves (whether they are on your side or not doesn't matter), receives a copy and stamps a date and time received on your copy of any documents provided. I can assure you they will make sure there is multiple copies of any documents they give you.
In the situation in which you have a grievance hearing and you win and letters are to be taken off your file or re-written, it will be your duty to follow up with HR and look at your file. You will want to do this to make sure that the management team and HR actually comply with the grievance award as the management team may want to see what they can get away with and push again. I have had a letter before in which I was accused of making a false statement in a meeting when minutes recorded from that meeting showed that I never actually made such a statement they accused me of making. They refused to change the letter and I had to push forward with a grievance. They ultimately changed the wording of the letter. A meeting on a similar issue proved to me that they kept the updated letter on their file.
4. Exclusion from certain activities. This tends to happen when an employee challenges the employer on a health and safety issue, or a policy issue at work. Whether the employee does it privately (possible grievance procedure plays out here), or publicly at a staff meeting (happens when private matters go nowhere or keep stalling), the employer will let it be known to you that he didn't appreciate you challenging him. What I have seen, the employer will be pretty subtle in letting you know.
I challenged the employer on a health and safety issue after I got hurt and ended up missing time because of this injury. Because this injury happened outside of work, I had meetings about the issue. I also found a little while later that the employer was also challenged by someone else on the same health and safety issue. Eventually an ergonomic assessment was done on the issue me and the other employee had. But what we found is that the employer excluded us from participating in this assessment. It gave us the opinion that our manager didn't want us to "hurt" the report they expected back from the assessor. These things can and will happen if management will want to run a business a certain way regardless of safety issues.
5. Denying leave for no reason or because they can- You can google the question "Can my employer deny me time off for my own wedding?" and you might be surprised with that result. The answer to that question in my province is "yes, they can." Whether you like it or not, the employers have that much say in either approving or denying leave. Now I have never seen an employer deny leave for that reason in my work experience. I think doing so would be a sign of bad faith. However, I am also finding out based on the patterns of absenteeism rule that they can ask for documentation regardless of how insensitive that sounds. Failure to provide a document would likely result in disciplinary action at it's most extreme punishment. However, the most likely thing to happen would be that you don't get paid vacation (if your company gives you credits) for that day in question. My fellow employees would definitely file a grievance based on that decision by management if it ever happens.
I also find that vacation leave is hard for my employer to cancel on an employee once it is approved as well. They can, however, (to the best of my knowledge) cancel planned emergency leaves at the last minute as I have seen them do it at least twice in the last couple years. Planned emergency leaves usually require the employee to leave for medical visits with a doctor or dentist. This of course though will put a strain on the employees wallet as he or she will likely have to pay the cancellation fee. In my workplace, some employees might choose to grieve such a decision if management refuses to reimburse the cancellation fee.
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These are just one of many things that employer does when he doesn't like a certain employee based on experience. Not all of them will be accurate based on your experience. But I know what I have seen with others in my work experience and what my employers have done to others. None of which I have stated was the worst thing I have ever seen. If anyone here reading this has a story that they want to share, feel free to so in the comments. I would advise to refrain from telling a story that could get them in trouble with their business's code of conduct or conflict of interest policies.
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