The US law has it that the employer can avoid sexual harassment to his employers by putting in place measures to avoid harassment. This is very important since as an employer, one should be able to take care of all that goes on in his organization. This does not mean that he should always be present to keep an eye on all that is going on. It is upon him to assign supervisors and managers that will ensure that there are high moral standards being up held in the work place. If the employer is not very conversant with the  [ Read More ]

You’ve got an anti-harassment policy. All managers and employees have copies and you just completed training on the policy for your entire workforce. Sweet! But is your policy bulletproof? I mean really bulletproof? And if an employee claims that a harasser lurks in your workplace, if sued, will a court agree that the steps you have taken were reasonably designed to end the harassment? Just how confident are you? After the jump, some not so obvious pitfalls from a recent federal-appellate-court decision and six ways (5 from the court; 1 from me) to help you stay legal and out of  [ Read More ]

Worst. advice. ever. Two Denny’s waitresses have filed this complaint in CA Superior Court alleging that their manager sexually harassed them and, when they complained to another Denny’s manager, they wore told, “Pray about the situation.” Details from Erin Sherbert’s Food Blog at SF Weekly: Now, on to the details of the Complaint: Brandy Cachu, a waitress at the Stockton Denny’s, says that in 2009 her manager, Henry Guiaro, asked her if “her boobs were real.” He then asked her if she would ever “participate in a wet t-shirt contest because she would be the winner.” As the comments continued,  [ Read More ]

SunTrust Banks, one of the nation’s largest financial services providers, plans to “vigorously defend” itself against a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by a federal agency in a Florida court last week. The suit alleges that a branch manager in Sarasota subjected female employees to “unwelcome, sexually graphic and vulgar sexual harassment” over three years. Court filings from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission describe an escalating pattern of “sexually offensive comments and conduct” that continued for years despite multiple complaints by employees, who were later fired or left their jobs. The alleged perpetrator, however, still works for SunTrust. He was recently  [ Read More ]

A female shipyard welder who accused her employer of sexual harassment has won a groundbreaking ruling that posting pictures of nude and partly nude women is a form of sexual harassment. While rulings in other cases have found that pornographic pictures may contribute to an atmosphere of sexual harassment, the new decision is thought to be the first finding that such pictures are, in and of themselves, harassment. The judge, Howell Melton, of Federal District Court in Jacksonville, Fla., found on Friday that Jacksonville Shipyards Inc. and two of its employees were directly liable for the harassment. He rejected what  [ Read More ]

Emmett Berg – Reuters8:16 p.m. CST, December 21, 2011 SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A former employee of the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday sued team owners, executives and star guard Monta Ellis for sexual harassment, charging that lurid texts from the National Basketball Association star led to her termination. Oakland resident Erika Smith was hired to work on community relations for the Warriors in 2007 and regularly interacted with team members as part of her duties until her termination in August, according to documents filed in Alameda Superior Court. Her firing came nine days after a local media outlet inquired  [ Read More ]

Sexual harassment occurs when a person is subject to unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature to such an extent that it alters the conditions of the person’s employment and creates an abusive working environment. Sexual harassment may include touching, feeling, groping and/or repeated unpleasant, degrading and/or sexist remarks directed toward an employee, implying that employment status, promotion or favorable treatment depends upon the employee’s assent. Pornography displayed in the workplace or emailed to coworkers may also constitute sexual harassment. What exactly constitutes such an environment is determined on a  [ Read More ]