Sexual Harassment Legal Questions

Human resources may and often will conduct an investigation. The purpose would be to determine whether there is a problem in the workplace. Sometimes the problem an employee complains about is not the real problem or there's no problem at all. Even under the new more protective state Human Rights Law petty slights or  trivial inconveniences are not actionable. That does not mean that more training might be a good idea for everyone. Good luck. During COVID more employees have complained about everything because everyone is stressed. We all believed modern medicine could cure anything and now most of us who are paying attention know better. Stay safe.... Read More

If reporting indiscretions and violations to HR or management has done nothing and assuming you have maintained a paper trail and documented your complaints, your next step is to consult with an experienced employment attorney and/or to file a complaint with CHRO.  You must exhaust your administrative remedies.  If you need further assistance or answers, please feel free to contact us 203.870.6700.... Read More

You want compensation, and for the employee to get fired, but you don't want to relive all the trauma this event triggered for you. You can't have it both ways. While for you what happened was a serious trigger event, a jury is unlikely to see it that way. Even if a jury found liability, you could still go through extensive litigation and end up with nothing. Pursue a psychiatric, therapeutic, and/or medication-based remedy, not a legal one.  ... Read More

These cases are fact sensitive. The court will want to know what happened and how you were hurt and what treatment you have received. How old were you ? How old was the teacher ? What were the circumstances ? What was the behavior ? How were you damaged ? What nest treatment are you receiving ? Will the treatment doctor opine that the medical condition is linked to the behavior with the teacher ? Please call to discuss. Ed Dimon, Esq. 732-797-1600... Read More

The answer depends upon the circumstances. Normally, the five year difference in ages, with the younger person being under the age of consent, would create issues. If there were a supervisory role of the 19 year old with regard to the 13 year old, the situatuion would worsen. If the kiss was part of the TIK TOK 'act' and done with adult supervision, the situation would be different and not criminal in nature. One would need to review the underlying circumstances. Ed Dimon, Esq. 732-797-1600... Read More

Good afternoon, First and foremost, there is only one correct statement that the shool has made and that is "the touching was intentional".  Of course it was, since your son was trying to help his friend, it intended to swat the bee.  That does not mean that your son intended to touch his friend sexually.  Intent to bring about sexual conduct differs from intent to swat the bee, same intent but two different reasons.  "Acquiring an understanding of intention is an important development for children for at least four reasons (cf. Flavell, Miller, & Miller, 1993). First, it helps them understand how people and other animates differ from objects. Unlike the case with objects, much of the behavior of persons is caused by their intentions. Many of their actions are voluntary and willed, generated and impelled by their intentions. Second, an understanding of intentions is necessary for understanding morality and responsibility (Shantz, 1983). Children must learn that people merit praise or blame in good part as a function of whether what they did was intentional or unintentional. Third, some understanding of intention would appear necessary for an understanding of plans and planning, because plans consist of intentions (Bratman, 1987); such understanding may also help children formulate and carry out plans.  Finally, learning about intentions and how they are causally related to other mental states and to behavior is a significant part of their general theory-of-mind development, an area of cognitive development that is currently of great interest to developmental psychologists, philosophers of mind, and others; for reviews of work in this area, see, for example, Astington (1993), Flavell and Miller (1998), Lewis and Mitchell (1994), Moses and Chandler (1992), Perner (1991), Wellman (1990), and Wellman and Gelman (1992). The purpose of the studies reported in this article was to find out when children begin to acquire this understanding."  [Young Children's Understanding of Intention, Cognative Development, 14, 463-489 (1999) ISSN 0885-2014, 1999 Elsevier Sicence Inc. It would be at best very difficult for the School District to substantiate Intent on the part of your 6 year old son.  I am wondering if you were ever contacted by the district, interviewed by any of the school personel, or perhaps a school police officer.  Never-the-less, you should strive to remove the reference to the incident from his file sooner than later and do not want to have this in his educational records.  they may be resolved by a letter from your attorney, or may take a bit of work, but should be done. I hope this was helpful to you.... Read More

You have several issues to address. If you did not allege sexual harassment while quitting how did you recover unemployment benefits? If you were harassed why did you not report that? If you moved you certainly notified DOL so your employer presumably knew you moved also. Go to a hearing and if the judge believes you had just cause to act as you did you should be fine. But there are a few loose ends that dont quite add up here so be sure to address them honestly at the hearing.... Read More

Truly sorry you are dealing with this. Whether you have a case depends upon many things: what happened, how many times the harassment happened, what was your title, what was the harasser's title, whether or not HR did an adequate investigation, whether the harasser has done this before to you or others, whether there is audio, video or email evidence of the harassment, whether the company you work for has insurance to cover these types of situations.  In the end, a strongly worded demand letter from an attorney might encourage the company's insurance carrier and the company to pay you out to make this case go away.  Feel free to call me at 929-262-1101 to discuss further as I can help you with that demand letter if it makes sense to send it.... Read More

Once a victim of sexual harassment puts the company on notice of the inappropriate conduct by the perpetrator, the company must not allow the victim and her harasser to work together. Is your perpetrator still working along side you? Also it appears that you were the victim of retaliation for complaining about the behavior which would be another violation. Discuss your case with counsel here in Florida for a full review of the facts of your case. Also does the company have more than 15 employees? Can you corroborate the fondling allegations through third party eyewitness, or was there any verbal harassment that can be documented through text messages she sent you? or is it a he said she said?... Read More

It sounds like you have a case for sexual harassment and sexual assault. You should retain counsel here in Central Florida on contingency fee, which means you dont pay anything unless you win.  PS. David...Lawyers.com prohibits us from soliciting your case but you can reach out to one of us through the search button and select counsel of your choice.... Read More

Sexual assaults by passengers aboard commercial aircraft are prevalent.  In March 2018, Congress directed the Department of Transportation to develop rules to deal with sexual assaults aboard aircraft. In May 2018, Congressman Peter DeFazio introduced the "Stop Sexual Assault and Harassment in Transportation Act." In June 2018, the FBI noted an "alarming" increase in the incidents of sexual assault aboard aircraft. In October 2018, the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) released results of a survey of over 1,900 flight attendants regarding passenger-passenger sexual assault.  The results are here.  I would recommend that you take a look at AFA's list of articles on this issue. You have a case of sexual assault/battery against the assaulter.  But, he may not have sufficient assets. I would be curious to know if he was traveling for work or personal reasons or has history of assaults.  The airline may also be liable as a "common carrier;" i.e., a business that transports people or goods from one place to another for a fee.  In California, common carriers owe passengers the "utmost care." To prevail, your wife would have to show the airline knew or should have known the man was reasonably likely to commit assault, and the airline could have prevented or reduced the harm caused by the assault.   I would like to know whether the man was visibly intoxicated? Loud, slurring words, etc.?  Was he intoxicated when he boarded?  Was he served alcoholic drinks? How many? Did the flight crew say/do anything showing they knew he was intoxicated/problem prior to your wife's assault?  Did you or your wife complain about him prior to the assault?  Did you complain or ask to change seats before/after your wife was first groped? Were you seated together? Did anyone else complain about him prior to your wife's assault or warn the flight crew about him? Red-eye flight? Over what period of time did the groping occur? Which airline?... Read More

You as an employee, have the right to file with HR a sexual harassment report. If your employer doesnt fix the problem, or worse , if your employer retaliates against you because of your report (ie firing or demoting you etc) , then your employer is in violation of the law and can be sued under the Civil Rights Statutes. That all said, You need to discuss this matter, in private, with counsel in your state before you take legal action, as laws can vary from state to state. Good luck and dont delay. ... Read More

You should inquire of an attorney licensed to practice law in Costa Rica. Regardless of whether there was a tort, possibly a crime, Costa Rica law applies. If you were an employee of Uber working in Costa Rica maybe U.S. laws might apply but you were apparently not. If you claimed FMLA benefits as an Uber employee in Costa Rica you would not get them. FMLA does not apply to anyone no matter who they work for outside the USA. Good luck.... Read More