update: my boss made me verify that I’m really exercising

It’s “where are you now?” month at Ask a Manager, and all December I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past.

Remember the letter-writer whose boss wanted her to verify that she was really exercising? Here’s the update.

I appreciated the validation offered by you and your readers, and apologize I couldn’t be available when it was posted for replies. The executive director’s deadline for my “proof” was just a couple days after I reached out to you, so I had to take action before you had a chance to publish your reply.

I thought about replying to the email from my executive director with the verification documents and including my manager and HR. Because of the specter of sexual harassment (nothing easily actionable, but I think we all know it was there) I instead rang a local employment attorney and visited him for a consultation the next day.

He advised forwarding the email to my manager and HR without the executive director included, and provided language quite similar to that you suggested, with the addition of asking if management of the exercise program has shifted to the executive director. He also advised to ask for responses via email.

I did as he suggested. My manager was upset and HR surprised. They came to my office together and assured me management had not shifted to him, that basing the request on my appearance was inappropriate, and that it would not happen again. I sent an email recap to them, and they replied confirming that is how they recalled the meeting.

That was the end of it, until last month. At our fall all-staff quarterly meeting, the director announced he made the decision to terminate the exercise program with immediate effect.

As you ended your reply to my initial letter: he is an ass.

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