I Was Discriminated Against at Vane Brothers and Fired Because I was a Woman. They Never Gave Me a Fair Chance, And When I Complained to HR, I Was Told They Didn’t Care.

* This story was submitted to MLAA by the victim *

My story isn’t that crazy, but I did lose a job on a tug over one guy that had it out against women in the industry, so I thought I would share it.

I got a job with Vane Brothers, and then went down to Baltimore for an employee orientation.  I showed up to the Vane Brothers office wearing what I thought was professional attire, like what I would wear for an interview.  I had on black dress pants and a blouse. 

As soon as I arrived the hiring manager pulled me into his office and told me that what I was wearing was inappropriate and that I was not allowed to dress like that if I expected to work on tugs. 

I wasn’t even joining the tug that day as we were just in the office for the day doing paperwork.

Once I got out to my tug the problems continued.  During one of my hitches the Captain called me up to the bridge and told me that women don’t belong on tugs.  We worked in the harbor making and breaking tows, and he said that the work is too hard for a “girl.”

But the male deckhand that I was working and training with said that I was picking up throwing line better than most of the men he had worked with and trained, and he told me he was very impressed with my work. 

The captain really never saw me work, so he had no idea what I was capable of doing. He just didn’t want a woman on his boat.

After that hitch the Captain called Vane Brothers HR, and then I got a call from them and they fired me.  I was still in my training period, so even if I wasn’t picking the job up quickly enough I should have at least been given a chance to learn and improve.  

When I told HR that the Captain told me to my face that women don’t belong on tugs the HR person said that they didn’t care, and that they took his word over mine.