Sexual Harassment

Choking a female co-worker and telling her she likes it rough could be sexual harassment

March 3, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

But, faced with those facts, that didn’t stop one employer from moving for summary judgment and asking the court to dismiss a female employee’s claims of sexual harassment.

Could the company have possibly prevailed? Find out after the jump…

Oh wait, before we jump, I left out the part where the plaintiff claimed that her male co-worker also told her, “I’ll have you cum before you get your pants off.”

And then there’s the time when that same co-worker said, “Hey! we got your Christmas present!” whereby he held up a vibrating tool and thrust it towards the plaintiff’s genitals.

And what about the other male co-worker who would routinely come up from behind the plaintiff, lean in and smell her in a sexual fashion while pushing his groin into her?

Or when another male co-worker said to the plaintiff, “I just like fucking with you, why would I want to get you fired? I would miss watching that ass of yours!”

Ok, now we can jump and play did the employer get the case dismissed on summary judgment?

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Employee’s sexual harassment claims advance to trial because boobs

January 30, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Recently, I’ve focused blog posts on some quirky cases that make you think a bit. Yesterday, was the FMLA in Vegas case. Last week, was the EMT who argued that getting fired for groping a co-worker was discriminatory in light of his employer’s decision not fire an employee who hit a patient.

Today is not one of those cases.

This one is some OG sexual harassment.

GUEST POST: What legal rights do unpaid interns have?

January 21, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Today we have a guest blogger at The Employer Handbook. It’s Samantha Hopkins. Samantha is a law student who just received her big break.

She gets to guest blog at The Employer Handbook!

(Want to guest blog on an employment-law topic at The Employer Handbook? Email me).

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Why a single kiss could have one employer in boiling hot legal water

January 17, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

I give a lot of “respect in the workplace” trainings. And I generally tell the audience that, while a single offensive comment or act in the workplace is one incident too many, one instance generally does not create a winning lawsuit. That’s because a plaintiff must show that he/she was subjected to either severe (really, really bad) or pervasive (a lot of bad) behavior to establish a hostile work environment.

Now, there are some exceptions. New Jersey is one of the few states that has held that a single discriminatory comment can create an actionable hostile work environment claim.

But what if, instead of a slur, we have an assault; one which the plaintiff claims was not only unwelcome, but particularly disturbing?

Employee legally fired for complaining on Facebook about the boss’ “creapy hands”

December 2, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

Generally speaking, those who wait five years to complain about perceived sexual harassment in the workplace, don’t win lawsuits if they are eventually fired.

But what happens when the complaint takes the form of a status update on Facebook? Does that offer the employee extra protection?

Find out after the jump…

Woman fired after getting sniffed by men 24 times may have a retaliation claim

November 25, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

Play some Skynyrd, man!

(Just pretend the song is about reckless indulgences in the workplace, rather than drugs and needles and such, k?)

Well, this is a new one for me.

No pants in the office leads to sexual harassment claims, you guys.

November 6, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

i·ro·ny (noun)

/ˈīrənē,ˈiərnē/

1. the expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.

How not to respond when an employee complains about sexual harassment

October 25, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

If true, well then, good gawd, this!

Court destroys my “Ravishing Rick Rude” theory of same-sex harassment

October 7, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

Cut the music.

A little over a year ago, I wrote here about a steel worker named Kerry Woods. Unfortunately for Mr. Woods, he was on the receiving end of a constant barrage of “raw homophobic epithets and lewd gestures” from his supervisor. Notwithstanding, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals tossed out a $500K jury award for Mr. Woods, holding that Mr. Woods’s same-sex sexual harassment claims failed because he failed to satisfy the Supreme Court’s test in Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc..

Oncale was another same-sex harassment case involving employees at an oil rig. In Oncale, the high court held that a jury may infer that same-sex harassment occurred because of sex when the plaintiff can produce:

Body shots + booty shorts + live office sex = no sexual harassment

September 13, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

Sounds like one crazy party. Or just another Thursday at the Pine Woods Apartments.

Kristen Glemser had no idea…

On December 7, 2006, Kristen Glemser, a marketing/leasing agent for Pine Woods showed up for work, just like she would any other day. Except that some of the ladies in the office had planned a small party of one of Ms. Glemser’s female co-workers.