Sexual Harassment

1
Sexual Harassment

• Unwanted or unwelcome behavior that is offensive
  to someone in a sexual or romantic way
• Who decides if behavior is offensive?
• The recipient,
• then a court if necessary (reasonable person
  concept)
• Men and women can be victims
• Most, but not all cases filed involve men
  harassing women

2
Four Categories of Sexual Harassment

• Quid pro quo
• Promotions in exchange for dates
• If you dont , youll be fired
• Hostile environment
• Unwelcome behavior that is repeated and/or
  pervasive (except for touching, once is enough)
• Jokes, language, posters, comments

3
Categories of Sexual Harassment (cont)

• Sexual favoritism (3rd party claim)
• If reward (promotions, key clients) are given to
  those who agree to meet sexual demands, other
  employees are injured
• Harassment by non-employees
• Dornhecker v. Malibu Grand Prix
• Dornhecker was on a business trip traveling with
  a consultant with whom the employer had a longer
  relationship
• Consultant put his hands on Dornheckers hips in
  an airport ticket line, touched her breasts, and
  playfully choked her when she complained.
• Dornhecker promptly told her supervisor
• The president of the company called her 12 hours
  later and told her she does not and would not
  again have to work with the consultant

4
Harassment by non-employees (cont.)

• Lockard v. Pizza Hut
• Two regular customers made lewd comments to her
  on several occasions
• Lockard clearly communicated that she did not
  want to wait on these customers anymore
• The customers came in again and the manager
  insisted that she wait on the customers
• The comments happened again

5
Is the employer responsible?

• Employers can be liable when
• The employer knows or should have known of sexual
  harassment by non-employees, and fails to take
  reasonable steps to stop the harassing behavior
• Guidelines for employers
• Take prompt and reasonable steps to stop the
  harassment

6
Reducing Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

• Organizations
• Publish a policy, communicate the philosophy and
  procedures to all in the organization
• Training and measuring employee knowledge
• Establish and communicate complaint procedures
• Respond immediately
• Zero-tolerance policy

7
Legal System

• Special and compensatory damages
• Punitive damage awards (since 1991)
• To deter others
• Express moral outrage
• What happened to the number of sexual harassment
  claims filed after 1991?

8
Mitsubishi

• Why did this happen at the plant?
• What lessons should be learned?
• What happened with the case?
• 34 million settlement (1998) covering women who
  have worked at the plant since 1987
• Provide mandatory sexual harassment training and
  investigate all claims of sexual harassment
  promptly