EEOC sues on behalf of harassed Catholic employee

Religion a funny thing. Throughout the history of mankind it's fueled so much hate, war, and death. And yet, it brings so much peace, comfort, and love to so many people.

My philosophy is live and let live. You believe what you want, and I'll believe what I want. Your religion is none of my business, just as mine is none of yours.

The world we be a better place is everyone lived this message. But not everyone does.

Despite what one court held, workplace discrimination laws DO protect employees from non-employees

Pop quiz: Can an employer ignore harassment or other discriminatory behavior directed at employees by non-employees?

If your answer is "yes," you'd be in agreement with the court in Shaw v. Access Ohio (Ohio Ct. App. 7/27/18).

You'd also be dead wrong.

John Oliver and Anita Hill on fixing our workplace sexual harassment problem

When Anita Hill testified during Justice Clarence Thomas's confirmation hearing almost 27 years ago, the thought was that her story might be the beginning of the end of sexual harassment as a workplace problem. That clearly did not happen.

The #MeToo movement has now, once again, brought sexual harassment to forefront.

Last night, John Oliver tackled the issue on his HBO show.

EEOC sees no #MeToo uptick in harassment filings, but…

Earlier this month, the EEOC reconvened its Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace. One fact that came out of the agency’s meeting is that, according to Acting EEOC Chair Victoria Lipnic, the EEOC has yet to see an increase in sexual harassment charges in response to the #MeToo movement.

I do want to mention one other point that we have been frequently asked here at the EEOC - and that is - “have you seen an uptick in charges filed alleging harassment?” - sometimes, people ask, specifically about sexual harassment charges being filed with the agency?

Who is Otis Burke?

By now you’ve almost certainly heard about ABC’s cancellation of Roseanne, after Roseanne Barr posted a racist tweet about Valerie Jarrett, President Obama’s former senior advisor.

Today, a lot of internet ink will be spilled about ABC’s swift and decisive reaction to cut the head off any potential controversy, how private-sector employees lack free speech rights at work, and why Roseanne’s after-the-fact excuse that she was Ambien-tweeting is irrelevant.

I’d like to come at this from a different angle—all of the individuals who are now unemployed because Roseanne Barr said something racist and offensive and stupid.

Including Otis Burke.

Court says that discretionary bonus cannot be the “quo” for the sexual harassment “quid”

Quid pro quo is Latin for “something for something.” In employment law, it’s a specific theory of sexual harassment—“If you do this ‘thing’ for me, I’ll do something for your job.”

In Davenport v. Edward Jones & Co., the 5th Circuit held that a allegation of an unpaid bonus might not be enough to support an ex-employee’s sexual harassment claim under a quid pro pro theory.

Harassment prevention MUST start at the top

If you did not watch 60 Minutes last night, you should. The last segment detailed pervasive and rampant sexual harassment by famed chef and tv personality Mario Batali.

And it laid much of the blame at the feet of the CEO of one of the restaurants in which Batali invested, The Spotted Pig, and its owners, Ken Friedman and April Bloomfield. The segment argues that Friedman and Bloomfield turned a blind eye to years of Batali’s sexual harassment of the female employees of their restaurant, and knowingly allowed it to continue.

NBC News takes the unprecedented step to release its internal Matt Lauer harassment report

Image by Max Goldberg via Wiki Commons

Yesterday morning, NBC News released the complete report into its months long investigation of Matt Lauer.

I was astounded by NBC’s transparency. It is extraordinarily rare for a private company to release an internal investigative report of one of its employees. In fact, it runs counter to conventional wisdom that harassment investigations should be kept as confidential as possible under the circumstances. Perhaps the combination of NBC’s status as a news agency and the high profile nature of the allegations spurred its decision.

Nearly half of American workers admit to engaging in workplace revenge

Photo by Avalon_Mists on Pixabay

And every time I scratch my nails
Down someone else’s back I hope you feel it

Alanis Morisette 

Revenge. So natural, and yet so wrong. “Turn the other cheek” is always the preferred practice, and, yet, often life is more “smack you in the cheek” as you turn away.

Even at work.

According to a recent study, 44 percent of workers admit to partaking in some type of workplace revenge.

Anti-harassment anthems

Yesterday, I came across the very cool video for a new Speedy Ortiz song, “Villain.”

The song tackles issue of harassment, assault, and consent.

Rock music has always tackled the important social issues of the times, and #MeToo should be no exception.

#Me(n)Too

According to the Washington Post, nearly one in five — about 17 percent — of harassment complaints filed with the EEOC come from men.

And many involve same-sex harassment.

Some examples:

In the era of #metoo, let’s not lose focus on the “me”s other than sex

Photo by Luke Braswell on Unsplash

We’ve all done a lot of talking over the past six months about sexual harassment. We should not forget, however, that our laws make harassment unlawful if it’s based on membership in any protected class.

A federal jury in Detroit just provided employers a very real reminder of this fact.

It tagged Ford Motor Co. with a $16.8 million verdict. The plaintiff, a former Ford engineer, proved that the automaker created a hostile work environment based his Arab background.

Harassment training is about creating a culture, not checking a box

Bloomberg reports that demand for anti-harassment training videos has surged in the #MeToo era.

Here’s the problem, however. The Bloomberg article talks about training videos, the absolute worst kind of training.

Anti-harassment training is all about creating an anti-harassment culture in your workplace—about employees understanding what harassment is, how to complain about it, and that your company does not ever accept it.

“Measure twice, cut once," and, for the love of God, don’t email porn to everyone on your company’s contact list

Photo by Wes Hicks on Unsplash

In what may be the greatest (or, depending on your perspective, worst) employee mistake of all time, the Utah State Bar emailed a photo of a topless woman to more than 11,000 of its members.

For its part, the Bar has apologized, and has said it is investigating how the incident occurred and will publicize its findings.

Speculation on the cause of the unfortunate email ranges from hackers to a disgruntled employee.

It’s neither.

Readers, let me break this case for you.

Two recent issues of confidentiality of harassment allegations

The confidentiality of harassment allegations has been a hot topic of debate in the #MeToo and #TimesUp era.

Consider, then, each of the following two pronouncements on the issue by two different branches of the federal government—one by the NLRB and one by Congress.

Love and work aren’t always peanut butter and chocolate

I listened with great interest to the latest episode of the Hostile Work Environment podcast, which featured as its guest my good friend, Dan Schwartz, talking about the pitfalls of Valentine’s Day at work.

Dan cited CareerBuilder’s annual V-Day survey, which offers some interesting stats about the current state of office romances:

• 22 percent of workers have dated their boss (up 7 percent from last year)
• 31 percent of workers who started dating at work ultimately married each other
• Almost one in ten female workers whose work romance soured left their job
• 41 percent of workers had to keep their romance a secret

Yet, love and work do not always go well together, especially on Valentine’s Day.

Sexual harassment is the hiring scarlet letter

Dear Jon, 

I resigned from my last job amid allegations of sexually inappropriate misconduct. The allegations became public. Even though the women are all liars, no one will hire me. What can I do? 

Sincerely,
Steve W.

This example has played out (sort of) at my alma mater, Case Western Reserve School of Law.

What is your profession doing to combat harassment? Mine appears to doing a lot, as ABA adopts new anti-harassment policy

The policy-making body of the American Bar Association has adopted a formal resolution that urges legal employers to prohibit, prevent, and promptly redress sexual harassment and retaliation claims.

Moreover, to make sure that law-firm leaders are paying close enough attention, Resolution 302 [pdf] also urges that firms adopt measures to ensure that the heads of law firms are informed of the financial settlements of such claims.

The resolution contains the following key measures:

SNL tackles #MeToo, but what should you do when employees discuss #MeToo at work?

How do you discuss sexual harassment and other sexual misconduct with your friends and colleagues?

Saturday Night Live, in one of its most brilliant sketches in a long time, offers a suggestion.


Or, rather, a suggestion not to have the conversation at all.

How likely are you to sexually harass?

Are you tired of seeing your Facebook feed littered with the results of your friends’ quizzes, with titles such as, “Which Game of Thrones Character are You?” or “Which Disney Couple Defines You?”

Well, I have one more quiz for you to take, and this one may just pique your interest.

It’s the Likelihood to Sexually Harass quiz.