Articles Posted in Workplace Harassment/Sex Discrimination

The act of sexual harassment should not be taken lightly. Instead, one should take immediate steps in order to nip the bad behavior in the bud. This means this type of harassment can be very damaging to the reputation of a company or institute. That is why it is considered a serious topic. Aside from reputation loss, harassment can also reduce the productivity of your employees. In some cases, you will have to face lawsuits in order to settle the matter. Lawsuits cause even more damage to the public image of your organization. So, it is recommended for you to take preventive measures to avoid all the hazards that occur after the harassment.

Training is one of the most effective things to prevent this problem. This type of training causes discomfort to most employers. Employers commonly do not want to discuss this topic. Giving training requires them to bear the serious of topic in mind in combination with bearing the discomfort caused by the subject.

You need to set a date for training. Once you have set the date, your next step is to send an invitation explaining things that are going to be covered in the training. It is your responsibility to let the employees know particulars of the training. Aside from these, you should send survey forums in order to fill before taking training. The nature of the survey should be synonymous in order to take true answers. You can easily find these kinds of surveys in almost any harassment-training program.

Companies have to invest in different types of projects in order to grow their customer base and make more revenue. Companies, nowadays, also make investments in order to prevent sexual harassment incidents in the workplace. In an organization, everyone should try to learn about harassment in order to help organizations prevent it. This is important because harassment is one of the factors that destroy peace in the workplace. Despite the preventive measures, such as training, employees still commit this evil and disturb other employees. Some employees even do not know what harassment is and therefore do not take steps to get rid of it. You need to keep in mind that you can file a case against a company in California if it does not try to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. The company should formulate a strict policy against this problem.

In the training against sexual harassment, the definition of sexual harassment should be clearly described. No employee should find any difficulty understanding any point regarding it. Some companies even create videos in order to spell out the harassment. The thing is that companies should do anything possible in order to make employees aware of this issue. There are several types of harassment. Apart from that, each employee should be given a form to sign that they have been given training. In this way, no employee can claim against you that you did not offer any training to them, so they could not understand and take steps to prevent these types of incidents in the workplace.

The training should also include introduction to quid pro quo sexual harassment. This involves the promise or rejection of employment benefits like hiring, performance review, promotion, termination, work assignments, workload and other work related negative and positive consequences.

Sexual harassment victims, for the most part, go through a great deal of psychological and emotional pain even after they their claim has been settled. The fact is that the victim is ostracized from friends and employees. At times, people sympathize with the accused but they believe that the accused were responsible for the sexual harassment. In this post, we are going to talk about post harassment syndrome. So, read on to find out more about this topic.

The truth is that the victim sometimes have a feeling of guilt since she may feel that she did something wrong that caused the harasser to commit sexual harassment. Aside from this, she may also feel that her aim behind complaining was just to prevent the harasser from irritating her, but she did not intend to “trouble anyone”. In addition, she feels uncomfortable every time she comes across the accused in the work place. In such a situation, it becomes close to impossible for her to work in the place where she comes across the accused many times in a day.

Most victims of post harassment syndrome gradually become marginal employees and do not remain in the list of good employees anymore. Absenteeism and tardiness are other common problems. Moreover, the productivity of the victim goes down significantly and she may be more prone to deadly accidents. This happens on account of depression.

The workplace should be a harassment free zone where everyone can work in a safe and comfortable environment. The productivity of your employees will remain high and it’s just the right thing to do.

Nowadays, verbal sexual harassment cases are common in the workplace. Therefore, everyone is aware of the severity of sexual harassment, especially in the working environment. Despite strict rules and regulations, sexual harassment incidents can occur in the workplace. As a result, complaints are made and cases are filed against the harasser. Verbal sexual harassment effects the productively of the employees. As a result, they fail to work at their full capacity.

Verbal sexual harassment consists of many actions, for example, imitation of the voice of a male or female in a derogatory way, catcalling or whistling, crude remarks or jokes, speaking in a homosexual voice and so on. In a work environment, both men and women can commit such actions that can offend another employee. The other employee has a right to file a claim against the harassers.

Employers can play a very important role in the prevention of sexual harassment. The law requires an employer to make sure their staff are completely safe from sexual harassment in the workplace. So, employers should pay special attention to the behavior and actions of the workers and employees in the workplace.

If such an incident takes place in spite of all the preventive measures, it can have bad impact on employee morale. As a result, their productively will decline. Such incidents may also lead to lawsuits.

According to the legal definition of sexual harassment, this is an unwelcome sexual conduct in the workplace creating a hostile, intimidating or offensive environment. Sexual harassment is considered an offense that affects men and women alike.

The management of any organization has numbers of responsibilities to fulfill. The management has to ensure that wages and salaries are paid out and employees are safe from all dangers including sexual harassment. A good leader always tries his best to meet his responsibilities. A single sexual harassment case can destroy a small enterprise or even cripple a bigger one.

When it comes to sexual harassment, an entrepreneur is responsible for everything they know and have to know. If an employee tries to sexually harass another employee and a strong claim is filed, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) looks into the situation and figure it out. For example, what is the problem? Did the employee try to harass them over and over again? What did the management do about it? Did the management succeed in stopping the harassment?

So, if a sexual harassment incident takes place and management does nothing, it can be held liable. On the other hand, if the management becomes harsh and terminates the employee, they may be held liable for discharging the employee wrongfully. So, the leader should not take any action blindly without conducting research or investigation.

The following blog entry is written to illustrate an example of a sexual harassment case. Reviewing this kind of lawsuit should help potential plaintiffs and clients better understand how parties in personal injury cases present such issues to the court.

(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this sexual harassment case and its proceedings.)

INJURIES: Dale sought recovery of damages for emotional distress and past lost earnings. She contended that she often lost sleep over the incidents, and suffered emotionally and in her home life because of the stress.

Facts:

In December 2004, plaintiff Sharon Dale, 38, a minimum-wage card dealer at The ABC Casino in Sacramento, CA, alleged that her work supervisor, Ben Bing, began sexually harassing her.

Dale claimed that she began receiving unwanted sexual comments from Bing a few months after she started working at the casino and that it continued after she reported the offensive behavior to the human resources manager in 2005. After she reported the behavior, Dale claimed that Bing and upper management began retaliating against her and disciplining her for minor or sometimes fabricated problems. She claimed she was ultimately terminated in July 2006, when The ABC Casino management found out she was exploring legal action.

For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.

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The following blog entry is written to illustrate an example of a sexual harassment case. Reviewing this kind of lawsuit should help potential plaintiffs and clients better understand how parties in personal injury cases present such issues to the court.

(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this sexual harassment case and its proceedings.)

Darroll sued Hirsch and his personal assistant, Wendy Linares. She brought causes of action for sexual harassment, wrongful termination, stalking, defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress against Hirsch; and causes of action for stalking, intentional infliction of emotional distress and conspiracy against Linares.

Darroll contended that after breaking up with Hirsch, he attempted several times to reconcile and took retaliatory actions when Darroll refused. She claimed that Hirsch wrongfully terminated her from her job at the salon, and that his ongoing campaign that ensued served as sexual harassment, stalking, defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. She claimed Hirsch continued to send letters about getting back together, which coincided with the incidents and acts taken against her.

For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.

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(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this workplace harassment/personal injury case and its proceedings.)

Showing the Defendants’ intent and motive is difficult. All courts have recognized that the question facing triers of fact in discrimination cases is both sensitive and difficult. There will seldom be eyewitness testimony as to the employer’s mental process U.S. Postal Service Bd. Of Govs. v. Aikens (1983) 460 U.S. 711, 716. Much of the time the employer’s intent must be extracted through a complicated process of panning and sifting. O’Mary v. Mitsubishi Electronics America (1997) 59 Cal.App. 3th 576,575. Plaintiff has provided sufficient disputed facts to warrant an analysis of his claims at trial.

The objective severity of harassment should be judged from the perspective of a reasonable person in the Plaintiffs position, considering all the circumstances. In harassment cases, that inquiry requires careful consideration of the social context in which particular behavior occurs and is experienced by its target. Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc. (1998) 118 S.Ct. 998, 1003. The total circumstances of Plaintiffs work environment as shown by the facts and evidence presented could clearly be considered by a reasonable person to constitute severe and pervasive harassing conduct. Proof of discriminatory intent may be direct, circumstantial, or may be inferred from statistical evidence. All evidence that a plaintiff presents can contribute to this inference, and should therefore be considered as cumulative. Stender v. Lucky Stores (N.D. Cal. 1992) 803 F. Supp. 259, 319.

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(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this workplace harassment/personal injury case and its proceedings.)

Defendants’ Harassment and Discriminatory Conduct Toward Plaintiff was Severe and Pervasive

When taken as a whole and analyzed in context, Defendant’s blatant racist and anti-homosexual comments combined with his inappropriate questioning and innuendo regarding Plaintiff’s sexuality clearly show that Defendant Green had a problem with Plaintiff based on race, religion and perceived sexual preference. Defendant Green acted on his perceptions against Plaintiff by consistently intimidating and harassing him through micro management of his department, derogatory remarks about Plaintiff to other staff, intimidation of students on Plaintiff’s team, attempting to create violations of policy and then discipline Plaintiff for such violations, over penalizing Plaintiff with unreasonably harsh punishments, initiating an unwarranted NCAA investigation of Plaintiff, and waging an overall campaign to get Plaintiff fired.

When the workplace is permeated with discriminatory intimidation, ridicule and insult that is “sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of the victim’s employment and create an abusive working environment,” the law is violated. Kelly-Zurian v. Wohl Shoe Co. (1994) 22 Cal.App.4th 397, quoting Harris v. Forklift Systems, Inc. (1993) 510 U.S. 17, 21. Defendants’ actions continued nonstop from August 2005 through July 2007.

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