12.07.10
Follow Felicia’s Blog and Sexual Harassment Story
http://sexualharassmentsupport.org/speakupse/2010/01/30/supervisor-was-eager-to-support-me/
08.29.10
Did David Letterman commit sexual harassment?
Now don’t get me wrong — I’m a huge Letterman fan. But I’m asking readers, lawyers, and HR practitioners to give their answers to the question based on what they’ve read about the case.
06.16.09
What is Bullying?
There’s been a lot of activity and proposed legislation in numerous states, California included, about new bullying laws. So what exactly is bullying and how does it affect both employees and employers in 2009?
Bullying is the repeated use of aggressive or unreasonable behavior against employees. It can come in the form of verbal, physical or even psychological formats. Several states are seeking new legislation to fight this form of harassment, and some have made significant progress. I reported on Massachusetts recently on my website, and the work they’ve been doing. California has a number of efforts underway as well. As I reported last Month following my article on Massachusetts, this type of abuse is four times more prevalent than sexual harassment alone.
This is clearly a growing problem for a violation of people’s rights that aren’t protected by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The Massachusetts targets workplace harassment, bullying, and mobbing without regard to protected class status.
In my efforts to promote education and awareness of workplace harassment, I met a documentary producer out of New York, a hardworking, creative and dedicated woman named Beverly Peterson. She works with a group called No Job Is Worth This. I’ve promoted her videos dealing with workplace bullying on my website, and I’ll reference her website below. I welcome your comments or help introducing other related groups you’d like us to contact and promote in this site. I’m very interested in sharing information for a worthy cause, and to improve the workplace experience for everyone.
Please visit www.nojobisworththis.com and view all of Ms. Peterson’s documentaries on bullying and workplace harassment. After you’ve viewed her documentaries, I welcome an exchange of opinions and dialogue on this important subject, so please write to me to express your views.
Please write to me at this address or my private email at normarae2008@gmail.com to give me your ideas, insights, or other topics you’d like us to consider.
04.20.09
Women Helping Women
WELCOME TO MY WEBSITE: WRITE TO THIS BLOG OR E-MAIL ME AT normarae2008@gmail.com This website is designed for women who have been harassed in the workplace. We’re hoping to create an intelligent, sensitive dialogue with women where we can share information, resources, answer questions, and compile trends in the workplace that will be used to help focus attention on the needs to improve harassment and discrimination laws. In 1964, Title VII was enacted into law as part of the Civil Rights Act. Title VII prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. With the enactment of Title VII the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC, was formally launched to respond to and investigate harassment complaints in the workplace. The EEOC has investigated thousands of complaints since its inception, and it now reports that approximately 15,000 complaints are filed each year. Those filings are merely the reports that are filed. It is difficult to determine how many cases are underreported, or are reported and never receive a proper hearing. Many women fear filing a complaint due to the threat of retaliation, job loss, personal injury, ridicule, intimidation, stalled career growth, or other financial or job related problems. Many women who have been harassed experience emotional and physical problems because of the harassment, such as stress, loss of sleep, depression, loss of self esteem or self confidence, post traumatic stress syndrome, alcoholism, and other physical or emotional symptoms. This web site is for the women who have been harassed or abused in the workplace. My goal is to reach out to as many of you as possible, to hear your stories and offer candid, honest, sensitive information on where you can go for help, how the law works, where you can get information from the EEOC, education on how to file a claim, and where you can find resources for support and therapy to help you recover from your experiences. Please write to me on this site. Share your story. I guarantee that I will respond to each and every person who reaches out to me. Together, we’ll find a way to make a better future if not for ourselves, for our daughters.
EEOC Information
Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitutes sexual harassment when submission to or rejection of this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual’s employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.
The victim as well as the harasser may be a man or a woman. The victim does not have to be of the opposite sex.
The harasser can be the victim’s supervisor, an agent of the employer, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or a non-employee.
The victim does not have to be the person harassed, but could be anyone affected by the offensive conduct.
Unlawful sexual harassment may occur without economic injury to or discharge of the victim.
The harasser’s conduct must be unwelcome.
It is helpful for the victim to directly inform the harasser that the conduct is unwelcome and must stop. The victim should try to use an employee grievance or complaint mechanism if available.
When investigating an allegation of sexual harassment, the EEOC will look at the whole record: the nature of the sexual advances, and the context under which the alleged incidents occurred, before a determination on the allegations from the facts are made.
Prevention is always the best tool to eliminate workplace sexual harassment.
This information was referenced from the EEOC. For more detailed information go to eeoc.gov/
The Supreme Court’s Definition of Sexual Harassment
The statutory basis for the prohibition against sexual harassment is Title VII, which prohibits employers from hiring, firing, or otherwise discriminating in terms and conditions of employment on the basis of an individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Sexual harassment claims are divided into two categories: quid pro quo and hostile workplace environment. Quid pro quo harassment occurs when an employer or supervisor takes tangible employment action against an employee because of the employee’s unwillingness to provide sexual favors. The more controversial hostile workplace environment claims were initially recognized by the Supreme Court in Meritor Savings Bank, SFB v. Vinson (1986). In that case, the Supreme Court interpreted an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) regulation, 29 CFR 1604.11(a) (1985), which defined sexual harassment as “unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature.” The court ruled that to be actionable, the harassment must be severe enough to alter the employee’s conditions of employment, creating what has become known as a “hostile environment.” Subsequently, in Teresa Harris v. Forklift Systems, Inc. (1994), the Court clarified the previous ruling by explaining that the existence of a hostile environment can be determined “only by looking at all the circumstances, including the frequency of the discriminatory conduct; its severity; whether it is physically threatening or humiliating, or a mere offensive utterance; and whether it unreasonably interferes with an employee’s work performance” (p. 369). One issue that initially caused confusion was whether an employer could be held liable for sexual harassment by a supervisor when the employee suffered no tangible economic loss. In companion decisions in Ellerth v. Burlington and Faragher v. City of Boca Raton (1998), the high court ruled that an employer is subject to vicarious liability to a victimized employee for an actionable hostile environment created by a supervisor with immediate (or successively higher) authority over the employee. However, when no tangible employment action is taken, a defending employer may raise an affirmative defense to liability by showing that (a) the employer exercised reasonable care to prevent and correct promptly any sexually harassing behavior and (b) the plaintiff employee unreasonably failed to take advantage of any preventative or corrective opportunities provided by the employer or to avoid harm otherwise. No affirmative defense is available, however, when the supervisor’s harassment culminates in a tangible employment action. One final controversial matter the Supreme Court had to resolve was whether one could sexually harass someone of the same sex. Initially, same‐sex harassment was not considered sexual harassment, but, in the case of Joseph Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Service (1998), the Supreme Court broadened the interpretation of the law and held that nothing in the act bars a cause simply because the plaintiff and defendant are members of the same sex. The critical issue, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote, was “whether members of one sex are exposed to disadvantageous terms or conditions of employment to which members of the other sex are not exposed” (p. 78). Referenced by Nancy K. Kubasek of Answers.com
A Reader’s Story
I want to share a recent inquiry I received from a reader without violating her rights to privacy and anonymity. I’ll try to briefly review some of her story’s headlines while protecting her confidentiality, because I think her story is replicated in many offices around the country each year.
In essence, she suffered unwelcome sexual “touching” by a co-worker while working. She asked him to stop. Later she had to travel to another part of her office building with the offending employee and asked that a third employee travel with them, as she did not want to be alone with the harasser. She mentioned the unfortunate incident to the third individual.
Before our reader had a chance to take any sort of action on her own, the third individual reported the incident to the reader’s Department Manager, who in turn made arrangements to report the entire incident to Human Resources. Our reader wrote to me and asked what her rights were, as she wanted to talk with the original harasser independently and handle the situation on her own.
My comments: First of all, I’m not a lawyer, but I have over 20 years of HR experience. I suggested to the reader that she work with her department manager and the HR department to resolve the matter together. I also told her that once her management and HR are notified of an alleged sexual harassment incident, they are obligated by law and by company policy to act quickly to respond to and investigate the complaint. It’s important that she fully cooperate with their investigation, but she can also notify them that she’d like to play a role in meeting with the alleged harasser to explain her disappointment in his actions and that she’d like him to discontinue such actions in the future. The EEOC encourages victims to take those steps when such actions are at all possible without further complicating the matter.
Secondly, it’s important that victims of alleged harassment keep such incidents confidential. Disclosing such incidents to co-workers runs the high risk of being shared with other workers, and soon you lose control of the confidentiality factor completely. My best advise is to keep these matters quiet. Discuss them only with your management and Human Resources — this is for your own protection.
My last e-mail from the reader was quite positive — she was going to meet with her HR department and express her desires on how she’d like to work closely with them to resolve this case. Hopefully things will go well. I will report back on her progress and how this case resolves.
For further reading consult eeoc.gov/
Normarae
Think You’ve Been Harassed? Good Record Keeping is Key
If you think you’ve been harassed, start preparing your records and documentation. Even if you decide not to file a complaint, you need to document every incident while your memory is fresh. You never know what the future may bring, so take the time to start a notebook or journal and include every detail you can recall. Your records should include the following:
A detailed account of each incident that occurred. Include the name(s) of the individual(s) involved, location, date and time of the incidents, and list any potential witnesses.
Provide details covering exactly what occurred. Do not summarize. It’s important that you allow your memory to take you back through each incident and relive the experience, no matter how difficult it may be, in order to capture exactly what happened. Describe what you were wearing, along with the harasser(s) and any other witnesses as best as you can recall. Also, describe the location in as much detail as possible.
Capture the statements made during the incident(s). What was said to you? Who said it? What tone was used? Was foul or offensive language used? Write it down. Describe the statements to the fullest extent of your ability to remember.
Was unwanted touching involved? Describe it. I know this is painful to recall, but if you file a complaint you’ll need to walk a third party through your story, and you need to be prepared. The more time you dedicate to thorough documentation, the easier it will be to present your experience. And the more prepared you are, the more credible you may be as a direct witness.
After you’ve written down any and all incidents of harassment in minute detail, gather your performance reviews dating back at least 2-3 years. Also, if you have copies of any commendations for a job well-done on any special projects or events make copies of those as well. Secure promotion or merit increase data going back 2-3 years as well.
If you’ve made any complaints about any individuals and/or your superiors make a record of those complaints.
If you have any e-mails, memos, or voice mails from the alleged harassers or other written communications that support your harassment complaint make copies immediately and place them with these other documents in a confidential and secure location, preferably at home. Do not keep these confidential records at your workplace.
If for any reason you feel the need to see a therapist or doctor regarding the alleged harassment maintain copies of your medical records and any medical bills you were required to pay for those services.
To support your privacy and confidentiality, it is strongly advised that you do not discuss or disclose your complaint with any coworkers other than the Human Resources department or other Grievance Organization in your company. These types of complaints create a life of their own in the rumor mill and you can become the subject of rumors that can be highly destructive. For your sake, you are encouraged to keep this problem close to your vest until you can properly file a complaint using Company procedures.
If you have further questions on Record Keeping and preparing your documentation, please write to me at Normarae2008@gmail.com, or leave a post on this blog.
Harassment Starts Early Published 3-03-09
I received an e-mail from a young reader last night. I’ll protect her confidentiality and not mention her name, but her story is an important one. She’s a teenager, and met a man on the internet who began saying and doing things that made her uncomfortable. While looking for guidance she found my website, and wrote me an email. I gave her some immediate advice — talk to her parents, inform her school authorities, and contact the police. She also shut down all internet contact with the man, and said she was going to notify the proper authorities about the incident. Her e-mail to me took courage, and her experience is a further sign that we have to be careful in all of our dealings on the internet. We never know who we are communicating with. Teenagers: you shouldn’t feel ashamed or embarrassed if someone tries to take advantage of you — it’s not your fault. But listen to your instincts. If something doesn’t feel right, or sound right, report your experience to your parents, or your clergy, school or police. And pay attention to those school safety assemblies, because they offer up great tips on internet safety and security. I checked in on my young reader today to see how she’s doing, and to make sure she’s reported her experience to the proper authorities. Thanks to her courageous steps, hopefully she’ll help stop one bad guy from stalking young women. To all young readers, and to everyone using the internet, be smart users. It’s a wonderful tool, but be mindful of your safety at all times. If you have similar experiences you’d like to share, or if you have questions about this topic, please write to me. Thanks. Thanks to our readers who have written to my email address, Normarae2008@gmail.com. I try to get back to you as promptly as possible. I encourage anyone with questions, thoughts, concerns or experiences you’d wish to share to write to my email address or register at this website and leave a public comment.
02.03.09
Thanks To Our Readers
dierdref said,
April 10, 2009 at 5:43 am · Edit
I have worked for a commercial landscaping company now for 6 months, as of 04/13/09. The Senior Field Supervisor has made lewd comments to me, stroked my hair, put his hand under my top, and has asked me to be alone with him in certain areas of the company property. There was another female employee, who had reported inappropriate behavior, primarily against a different employee with whom she worked in the field, but also made comment about the Senior Field Supervisor I am referring to. She was terminated shortly after, under the guise of her unwillingness to sign the company’s Arbitration Agreement. Not all signed this under “the gun” as she was pressured to. Prior to her firing, the owner and acting HR person, at the time, were overheard saying that she needed to be fired because she was a “problem starter” and that this would be done by cutting back her hours and forcing her out. There is a prevasive culture dictating a necessity to get along with three people at this organization in order to sustain one’s employment, and the Senior Field Supervisor is one of the three. I am more than concerned about reporting any kind of complaint, as I need this job/income and though I have been actively job hunting ever since the incidents first started, I have not been contacted for a single other job opportunity.
normarae2008 said,
April 17, 2009 at 4:53 pm · Edit
Thank you for writing to me. I apologize for not responding to you sooner but I was tied up on another project for a few days. Your message has gotten my full attention, however. I’ll try to give you some information that might be helpful, based on 28 years of practicing as a Human Resources executive. I’m not a lawyer and I can’t give you legal advice, but I can give you some basic information that might answer some of your questions and help you sort out the situation you find yourself in.
First of all, unlawful harassment is a form of discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other federal authority. Unwelcome verbal or physical conduct based on race, color, religion, sex, (whether or not of a sexual nature and including same-gender harassment and gender identity harassment) national origin, age (40 and over) disability (physical or mental), sexual orientation, or retaliation constitutes harassment when: the conduct is sufficiently severe or pervasive to create a hostile work environment; or a supervisor’s harassing conduct results in a tangible change in an employee’s employment status or benefits (such as demotion, termination, failure to promote, etc).
Examples of actions that create a sexual hostile work environment include leering, making offensive remarks about looks, clothing or body parts, touching in a way that makes an employee feel uncomfortable such as patting, pinching, or intentional brushing up against another’s body. Telling sexual or lewd jokes, making sexual gestures or hanging sexual posters, or sending sexually soliciting letters, notes, emails or other images.
Judging by your message, your Senior Field Supervisor may be guilty of inappropriate conduct that could be unlawful with respect to workplace harassment. Further, employers cannot retaliate against employees for bringing complaints forward about potential unlawful conduct by coworkers. If this is in fact occurring, and you cannot approach your employer without fear of retaliation, you have other avenues you may pursue. It’s important that you know that no one should tolerate workplace harassment of any type or form. I respect that you need your job, but you should not have to pay a painful price to keep it. You can always consult a local labor attorney who specializes in sexual harassment, or you can contact the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. You can find the EEOC on the internet. I understand that we’re living in tough economic times, but some lawyers will take on a case on not seek compensation until the case settles.
Your allegations are quite serious and should be taken up with the proper authorities. Time is of the essence. I encourage you to record carefully all of the incidents that have occurred by date and time, including as much accurate information as you can recall. Please refer to my blog on Record Keeping. You, the previous woman terminated and any other individuals harassed by The Senior Field Supervisor may have a legitimate claim against this individual. I can’t say whether or not your claim will prevail, but these types of behaviors are the reasons why Title VII and unlawful harassment laws were written in the first place. To prevent women like you and me from suffering unlawful treatment in the workplace, and to ensure that the workplace is just that — a place where we can work and be productive and enjoy welcome relationships with our coworkers.
I wish you luck with your case. Please write back to me and let me know what you plan on doing to resolve your matter. I wish you luck, patience, and perseverance. Don’t let anyone take your civil rights away from you. Ever.