A wave of protests has rocked the US since the 2016 election…and, in many cases, they seem to be working. Following a massive, worldwide employee walkout at Google earlier this month, the search engine giant has announced improved policies regarding diversity and sexual harassment, company-wide. The new policies include some…
A new study conducted by the Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM) revealed that only 17 percent of employees admit to having witnessed sexual harassment, and only 11 percent say they were targets of sexual harassment. According to researchers, these low figures are common in surveys related to sexual misconduct.…
Sexual harassment in the workplace is a form of gender discrimination. As such, it is illegal. Discrimination, including sexual harassment, can create an environment that is hostile, intimidating, or offensive. The situation can be even worse when the person doing the harassing is your boss. In the workplace, a supervisor…
Employers are required – by federal law – to provide a safe workplace. If you are concerned that your workplace is unsafe or unhealthy, you have rights. In most cases, the first course of action is to report the hazard to your employer. If the employer is unable, or unwilling,…
According to a lawsuit filed earlier this week, female workers at Boston’s McCormick & Schmick’s seafood restaurant have been routinely subjected to sexual harassment from male co-workers and supervisors. The five women involved in the lawsuit allege that their complaints about ongoing groping and lewd comments were consistently ignored by…
Sexual harassment has been a major topic of discussion in recent months. This should be no surprise, considering how widespread the problem has been for decades, centuries, probably since the beginning of time. The modern concept of sexual harassment is relatively new, however, dating from the 1970s onwards. And women’s…
According to advocates who help undocumented immigrant workers and low-wage women, the more vulnerable the woman, the worse the sexual harassment tends to be. One recent case in Massachusetts involved a Honduran woman who would be beckoned to a supervisor’s office via the PA system, signaling to her that it…
Sexual harassment and assault typically involve an imbalance of power: boss and employee, teacher and student, adult and child, police officer and civilian. The person with power takes advantage of the victim’s vulnerability. Very few people are more vulnerable than an undocumented immigrant living in the United States. Most undocumented…
Barry Coleman was hired as HR director at Netflix in early 2016. The streaming giant offered Coleman the job after seeing his presentation on doing business in China, in 2015. Shortly after receiving the offer, Coleman learned that his son had been murdered. Distraught over the tragic loss of his…
Film producer Harvey Weinstein was fired from the company he co-founded, the Weinstein Company, following accusations of sexual harassment by at least 30 women. Among them are several well-known actresses including Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Rosanna Arquette. Their stories are all quite similar. Mr. Weinstein met them in his…