Sexual Harassment

3 complaints and an investigation with discipline, how could an employer not know about possible harassment?!?

September 18, 2017 | by Eric B. Meyer

photofunia.com

I’m not sure what kind of evidence a federal jury was expecting when it concluded that two plaintiff-intervenors (i.e., the alleged victims of sexual harassment on whose behalf the EEOC pursued claims) did not do enough to notify the employer-defendant about possible harassment in the workplace.

And neither did a federal judge when he concluded that a federal jury plainly overlooked evidence that the employer-defendant should have known about possible sexual harassment.

What in the holy hell might this employer have been thinking? (And how you can do better…)

August 4, 2017 | by Eric B. Meyer

As an employment lawyer nearly 20 years under my belt, I’m fairly jaded. Or maybe, I’m just numb.

Either way, I have plenty of stories for a cocktail hour. Continue reading

Fact or Fiction: If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

July 18, 2017 | by Eric B. Meyer

I’m dusting one off today.

It’s time for another edition of “Fact or Fiction” a/k/a “Quick Answers to Quick Questions” a/k/a QATQQ f/k/a “I don’t feel like writing a long blog post.” Continue reading

HELP WANTED: CEO, especially one who isn’t a damn knuckledragger!

July 5, 2017 | by Eric B. Meyer

In February, a female Uber employee blogging under the pseudonym Amy Vertino blew the lid off of what she alleged to be a corporate culture of misogyny and other rampant discrimination. Recently, there have been several additional high-profile stories of alleged sex discrimination and harassment at the very top of the ladder. Here’s a recent example reported on Monday.

But, allegations of sexism in the C-Suite have been around long before Uber, Fox News, and Mad Men.

So why is it now that the chickens are coming home to roost? And what can your business do to try to avoid these issues? Continue reading

Bloomberg’s in depth coverage of social media sex shenanigans at work is too good not to share

June 15, 2017 | by Eric B. Meyer

Pixabay.com

I know good clickbait when I see it.
Continue reading

Lawsuit: P. Diddy did it (sexual harassment) right after he and his house guests did it (sex).

May 11, 2017 | by Eric B. Meyer

When others go high, I go low.

Wait a minute! I got that backwards didn’t I? Dammit! That explains why I didn’t come up with “In Firing Employees, A Bit of Humanity Still Helps.” It’s a pragmatic post inspired by recent events from employment lawyer and blogger, Daniel Schwartz.

Instead, I get my HR-compliance news from a TMZ story entitled, “I HAD TO SERVE HIS POST-SEX MEALS… He Served Up His Junk.” Welp, there’s only one thing left to do, I guess.

Yes, I’d better double down. Continue reading

New Year’s Resolution for 2017: Stay classy at The Employer Handbook

January 3, 2017 | by Eric B. Meyer

Starting tomorrow.

Today, let’s talk about the employee who claimed sexual harassment because her male co-worker constantly stared at her with an erection — which she subsequently photographed and showed to other co-workers, and all of that morphed into a retaliation claim.

So, basically, this post will be like a sophisticated bar exam question.

Sex on the beach becomes a sexual harassment lawsuit.

December 22, 2016 | by Eric B. Meyer

Actually, I’m not talking about the drink.

No, the case I’m addressing today has actual sex on the beach. And allegations of sexual harassment and disparate treatment.

It involves an outside sales representative — let’s call her “Plaintiff” — and the son of the company President, during a boat trip in Mallorca, Spain.

Hey, if you ever want to hear some good stories at a lawyer cocktail party, seek out the employment folks. Just sayin’.

File the “blue collar workplace” defense to a hostile work environment in the trash can

December 6, 2016 | by Eric B. Meyer

When defending against a woman’s sexual harassment claim, I’ve found that “she was asking for it” is generally a bad defense. So bad, in fact, that you may just want to whip out the old checkbook instead.

Another crappy one, apparently, is trying to convince a judge that an industrial workplace setting is carte blanche to knuckle drag and generally act like pigs.

Also known as the “blue collar” defense.

HR-101: Did an NFL fan create a hostile work environment by throwing a sex toy on the field?

October 31, 2016 | by Eric B. Meyer

At halftime of my seven-year-old’s soccer game, I was perusing my slow weekend RSS feed. Of the seven Feedly items, one stood out: a “news” from Deadspin (NSFW) about a fan who hit the five yard line with a phallus toss (video is NSFW) during the third quarter of the National Football League between the Buffalo Bills and the New England Patriots. Here’s another angle. (Still NSFW).

And, it got me thinking…

This could make for a good HR compliance lesson. Trust me.