Transperfect Co-CEO's File Lawsuit Against One Another. Here are some of the Ugliest Emails on the Matter
A great portion of Ms. Eltings case aginst Mr. Shawe, as seen here is in regards to the harassment of the company Treasurer.
On repeated occasions he has locked her from her office, had her network access removed, and kept her from coming to work to perform her duties--even at the risk of missing the payroll and endangering the timely payment of the company's employees. As exemplified by this 2013 Blogger, there is a culture of blame brewing within Transperfect. Here are some emails to prove it.
Ms. Elting wrote to HR that the Treasurer:
"says she has nothing left to say on the matter. She already told Phil [that] he has made her feel suicidal recently and that she wanted to jump out of her office window because of Phil's actions. She also said that her neurologist just told her last week that her blood pressure is very high. Please remember that she had a stroke in the office ten years ago. "
The abuse got so bad that the company's head of HR had this to say:
"I cannot be complicit in this pervasive and continuous hostile environment where inappropriate behavior impacts the morale, health and well-being of myself and the staff continues. My continued counsel concerning this behavior has had no effect to remedy the situation.
Therefore we need to address what, if any role I will continue to play and in what capacity, with this organization."
He resigned soon after. Nevermind that the treasurer had survived a stroke and has to frequently seek professional assistance. That doesn't stop the Co-Owner of the company from emailing her:
"You know you were not supposed to do this...and you intentionally fucking did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DO YOU UNDERSTAND THIS YOU CRAZY PERSON.
THIS IS MY GODDAMN MONEY, MY COMPANY, AND YOU REPORT HALF TO ME...
Perhaps your shrink will have a position for you, because TransPerfect isn't going to.
This payroll fuck up is the last straw."
In case you were wondering, what's the company policy on angry emails?
The Employee Handbook includes a "Statement of Respect," which states:
"TransPerfect strives to provide a work environment that is conducive to quality client service, good morale and a high level of productivity. We are expected to treat fellow employees ... with courtesy and to resolve any differences in a professional, non abusive, and non-threatening manner.
Disruptive, unruly, or abusive behavior/language by employees in the workplace will not be tolerated. Inappropriate conduct includes verbal or physical threats, fights, and obscene or intimidating behavior, as well as any other abusive conduct."
In fact their termination policy says:
"Grounds for termination for cause include but are not limited to: ... dishonesty, poor performance, deliberate infraction of TransPerfect policy, . . . inappropriate/excessive use of E-mail/Internet access, insubordination, intoxication, . . . physical violence, theft, illegal acts and other offenses of a similar nature...."
Stay classy, Phil.