Sexual Harassment

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

October 7, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

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.

Paula Deen discrimination lawsuit dismissed after parties settle

August 26, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

On Friday, a federal court in Georgia dismissed all of the remaining discrimination counts against Paula Deen and her brother, Bubba, after the parties reported to the court that the two sides had settled.

The settlement terms are undisclosed.

In a statement emailed to The Associated Press, Ms. Deen’s publicist wrote:

A woman sharing topless photos at work prolly isn’t an invitation to grope her

August 14, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

[Click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click]

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Dear Google User Who Got Five Words Into The Lede And Clicked:

The one about the porta-potty harassment

July 5, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

Hey, they can’t all be about Brazilian waxes and irresistible attraction. After the jump, we get down and dirty.

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YYYOUCH! Employee fired for refusing Brazilian wax claims sex discrimination.

July 3, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

You know, maybe I should have gone with the porta-potty-harassment post that I originally had planned for today. Nah. My analytics tell me that my best-received posts have a common theme: crotch and Brazil. Besides, everyone knows that nothing says Friday like a porta-potty post. Just wait ’til Friday.

So today, after the jump, let’s wax poetic, shall we?

(Ouch, again).

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Employee teased with small penis jokes has a viable sexual harassment claim

June 26, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

[Whichever one of you had the voodoo doll positioned in such a way that wouldn’t allow me to pun this lede, I’m gonna git you sucka!]

In Hayes v. Erickson Air-Crane, Co. (opinion here), a male plaintiff was constantly barraged with small penis nicknames from his male co-workers ranging from “little jimi” to “tiny tim” to “dodgeball” (based on Ben Stiller’s White Goodman character). He didn’t like it, and sued.

The Court found that, based on this behavior, a jury could find that the plaintiff could potentially prevail on his sexual harassment claims because a jury may find that he was subjected to unwelcome sexual comments that were pervasive enough to create a hostile work environment.

Grab-ass in the workplace may be sexual harassment, you guys

June 17, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

Biting the staff doesn’t help either; even if it doesn’t leave a mark.

You see, I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried.

Ha Ha! You pulled my pants down! Now I’m suing you for sexual harassment.

May 22, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

When offering respect in the workplace training for employees and supervisors, I emphasize that an employee who laughs at sex jokes in the workplace is the same employee who may later sue for sexual harassment.

Like Little Ladner did.

(Yes, Little Ladner)

More after the jump…

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Horniest boss ever? His employee still can’t prove sexual harassment.

May 13, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

I’ve been searching for gold recently. So, I knew I was on to something good when I started reading this opinion last week, and wasn’t sure whether what I was reading was a sexual harassment case or a porno script.

~~What can I say? I like the plots.~~

Folks, if you click through, I promise you a great read after the jump…

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