Harassment Report

Paige A. Martin Co. L.P.A. 77 Outerbelt Street Columbus, Ohio 43213-1548 (614) 557-0488 (614) 577-1048 Internet Email: pamlpa@paigeamartin.com

The roots of discrimination go deep.

Life time job security doesn't always look that different from indentured servitude. Slavery, at one end of the contimuum, commands one person to be the property of another. Job security commands that one person be at the total directive of the other. Both states can develop class status which leads to differential treatment. Both states represent a departure from the natural state of being Human, one who is born and lives free.

We have clothed ourselves with the illusion of freedom in America - yet we will sacrifice every principle of truth and integrity in order to keep our "jobs". So we harbor the seeds of division which express themselves as racism, or racial hatred, class antagonism, or ethnic spite. Cultural diversity is the opiate to solve these problems, made the focus of the human relations managers' best efforts. And when it requires taking a stand to stop the abusive treatment, most folks look the other way.

Sexual harassment has its roots in the authority of the king to claim the first marital night with every woman, an old European feudal tradition. Primus noctus tied the notion of ownership, control and authority to the experience of sexual pleasure. Women especially were vulnerable to this rule. For a modern depiction of this ancient ritual, see the movie, "Braveheart". The corporate board room has replaced the king's council in modern society, but the assumption of the right of access to sexual privilege as a condition of one's employment lives on in the unwritten and understated conduct of tycoons and executives. One does not need to look far for examples of our politicians and corporate leaders taking sexual privilege as their rite of passage.

Strategies for Dealing with Discrimination in the Workplace
1. Handle it immediately. This advice comes from one of the first African American females to serve on the bench. She taught a younger generation of women, that when someone sets up a scene in the workplace which plays on the male/female superiority or black/white superiority, you need to handle it at the time. She gave an example of how a man had purposely thrown a piece of paper on the floor as she was walking past a desk, expecting her to bend over and pick it up. Instead, she stopped and told him to pick it up. Simple yet effective.

Then there's Mary Kennedy, a feisty Irish lady, who handled a man that ran his hand up the back of her leg at the water fountain by jabbing him in the belly with her elbow the next time he came up behind her to get a drink. She mirrored his pretense of "Oh, I didn't know you were there" and got her message through. He never bothered her again.

2. Make sure managers, supervisors and company officers know about the conduct you dislike. Legally a company is on the hook for the behavior of its officers and managers' behavior, because they have a duty and the capability of controlling the behavior. Again, Mary Kennedy's story illustrates the point. She had worked for a shipping company that had been in business for over a hundred years. She was transferred into the dispatch department, which had been staffed entirely with men. The day before she went into the department, the supervisor called all the men together and told them a woman was joining their ranks the next day. He told them to keep the toilet seat down and their mouths shut. One smart mouth said to him, "Yeah, and what if we don't?" The immediate response was effective. "You'll be getting a pink slip." Mary never had a problem with those men, because they knew management meant it.

3. Document every conversation you have with any representative of the company, whether it's the HR officer, your boss, the perpetrator of the inappropriate behavior, or anyone else. Copy everyone on the memorandum and invite correction to your summary. Keep copies of everything. Document your performance in between evaluations by keeping copies of income it generates, positive statements made, or any other objective indications of your excellence.

If you become subjected to work related criticism only after you have reported instances of sexual harassment, or if you suffer demotion, a reprimand, a downgrade in job performance, or a negative performance evaluation after you have reported sexual harassment, then you may be the object of illegal retaliation. In cases where you were mistaken that you were actually being sexually harassed, but you reported the activity which you believed was harassment, and then you suffer from retaliation, the retaliatory conduct is illegal.

Illegal conduct gives you a right to sue the company and the individuals who have discriminated against you.

You have a remedy for discrimination. You can sue for money damages, both the company and the harasser. Your case will be better when the person who harassed you is a supervisor, a manager, or other individual with authority to promote, demote, hire or reward you for work related performance. Your case based on co-worker harassment will depend on whether any levels of management knew or should have known of the conduct, and whether there were any actions taken to remedy or to prevent the conduct, such as implementing an effective sexual harassment policy; conducting proper investigations for allegations of sexual harassment and effectively dealing with those who sexually harass co-workers.

If you think you have been discriminated against, or want to consult with a qualified attorney to see if you need legal representation, you can submit a confidential questionnaire for assistance at no charge for the initial evaluation.

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