Sexual Harassment Journal

A New Address

2005-12-05T18:42:00.000-08:00

The Sexual Harrassment Journal has moved. The new address is www.SexualHarrassmentJournal.com

A new Campus Policy. WSU

2005-11-23T17:41:00.000-08:00

There are clearly harassment issues which have come to a head at Washington State University.

We reported that Professor Bernardo Gallegos was counseled. Now the University announces that "the WSU sexual harassment policy will place a stronger focus on victim's rights and the consequences for guilty faculty". WSU Provost Robert Bates made the campus-wide announcement recently

Two sexual harassment victims, Susan Gardner and graduate student Christina Garcia, have gone public stating they were harassed by separate professors in the College of Education. Gardner's case occurred between October 2003 and mid-2004 and involved WSU ignoring her claims and questions, she said.

Bates statement talks tough. "The goal of actions taken will be to reduce future offenses and this could include terminations of tenured professors that very rarely occur now...In some cases, we may commence termination proceedings, even for tenured faculty...In other cases, faculty will be reprimanded and required to attend training as a means to prevent future offenses"

Two key issues are obvious. Why hasn't this been the standard previously?

Second; as a policy these are easy things to announce. The more critical issue will be the backbone of the University and its Provost as they are tested when another case arises.

Maine has slightly fewer harassment complaints in 2004

2005-11-23T17:31:00.000-08:00

Maine's Human Rights Commission says the number of sexual harassment complaints filed in their 2004 (100) decreased slightly from 2003, but constituted a higher percentage overall of sex discrimination charges filed at nearly 50 percent. The Commission found reasonable grounds to believe that unlawful discrimination had occurred in 40 cases, which was 9 percent of the cases they considered

Iowa Woman complains about BASF

2005-11-23T17:17:00.000-08:00

A rural Iowa woman, Krisitn Bugler, employed by chemical giant BASF for seven months until April 2004 , says her manager spoke to, and touched her, inappropriately. She complained. She says she was passed over for raises and promotions after her complaint. She has sued for wage compensation and punative damages.

Irish Police Officer Investigated

2005-11-14T14:27:00.000-08:00

A Castelbar woman accused the garda (policeman) of sexually harassing her. This followed allegations she made about being raped and sexually abused as a child. The policeman had been assigned to investigate the case. The woman took out an injunction against the policeman. But the Garda Complaints Board dismissed her complaint. A subsequent judicial review began.

Jerry Kelly, the assistant commissioner for the western region, assigned a detective superintendent from Galway to investigate the accusations after the judicial review began.

Seattle School District of Bellevue pays 14yr old 190,000 for harassment

2005-11-14T13:51:00.000-08:00

A 7 yr old girl claimed she had been the victim of sexual harassment in the Bellevue School District. In 1998, the girl failed a hearing test because she is hearing impaired. Boys began taunting her, saying crude sexual comments, drawing nude pictures, pinning her to the school walls and suggesting other boys would have sex with her.

Her mother, Barbara Crittenden complained to the Principal, Marian Peiffer. Peiffer never reported the allegation despite state law, didn't meet with the pupils involved until lawyers were involved, made a counselor handle the case, didn't punish the pupils and only, during the court case, said "she's now aware that sexual harassment can occur amongst kids in elementary school."

The school now has a sexual harassment policy and education program. Peiffer says she's had her eyes opened. The girl, now 14, is doing well academically and socially in a Spokane private school.

South Africa Rugby Boss fends off Harassment charge

2005-11-14T13:44:00.000-08:00

Johan Prinsloo, CEO of the South African Rugby Union, was found not guilty on all charges of sexual harassment at a formal disciplinary hearing held in Cape Town by his employers, the South African Rugby Union.

An official in SA Rugby's human resources division had informed Prinsloo early in September this year that a married male contract worker in the Cape IT division had laid the charge of sexual harassment.

600,000 Sioux City, win for Harassment Duo.

2005-11-09T16:28:00.000-08:00

Aramark Uniform Services in Sioux City Iowa, has lost a 600,000 dollar harassment case after a fedeal jury decided that Anita Lopez and Maricela Villalpando were subjected to a hostile work environment and eventually lost their jobs in retaliation for reporting the actions of their supervisor. Apparently the supervisor repeatedly called their breasts "chi chi's", danced suggestively behind their backs constantly, asked them to wear bikinis on his birthday, made comments etc etc.

Both women refused his advances. Both complained about him to supervisors. Both were fired.
Both feel vindicated by the result.

English Army Spy claims Harassment

2005-11-09T16:14:00.000-08:00

English Army Corporal Leah Mates, who served with the Det, a Northern Ireland surveillance unit, said she was left feeling suicidal because of her treatment by her superiors. She claims "anti-female prejudice permeates the whole Army". She also says 43 individual incidents constituting sexual discrimination have made it impossible for her to continue in the Army and is seeking £686,000 (about a million US dollars) in lost earnings.

Her allegations about time in the Det are surrounded in secrecy and will be heard in secrecy. The rest of her evidence presents the picture of an intensely male dominated society. She claims not sleeping around had her labeled "gay" and she further alleges graphic and sexually offensive behavior by colleague and superiors alike. She is mainly complaining about issues arising in different units between 1997 and 2004. She served in Britain, Kosovo and Northern Ireland.

Red Faces for Soap and Sausage maker Dial Corp.

2005-11-09T11:17:00.000-08:00

Dial Corporation, headquartered in Arizona, recently lost a sex discrimination case brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (see below) for 3.3 million dollars. It was found that in breach of the Civil Rights Act, Dial Corp had instituted an illegal test to weed women out of the sausage making workforce.

There must have been red faces all around.

Dial Corp is hailed by the US Women's Chamber of Commerce as one of their National Corporate Members. The Chamber's mission? "... to develop leaders, accelerate economic growth and provide a community voice for women." It's soap and cleaning products are specifically aimed at women.

So what went wrong at the company?

Dial Corp Strength Test Illegal; 3.3 million awarded

2005-11-09T11:01:00.000-08:00

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has won 3.3 million dollars of compensation for 52 employees of the Dial Corporation in Fort Madison Iowa.

In Jan 2000, Dial Corp, a conglomerate that owned a meat packing company, instituted a strength test in their sausage making factory. The new test required the repeated lifting of 35 pounds to a height of 65 inches.

The EEOC argued the test discriminated against women, since only approximately 40% of female applicants passed the test. Women had previously been successfully working in the sausage area. Dial claimed it was a safety issue.

Paula Lies filed the complaint. She lifted the weight successfully but at 5'2"inches was deemed too short. 51 Other employees shared in the payout. Lies had participated in manual labor all her life. A jury ruled against Dial for discrimination. A judge ruled that the test was illegal under the Civil Rights Act. Job offers have been made by Dial as well as monetary compensation.

The EEOC lawsuit is #3:02-CV-10109

Participate

2005-11-08T23:38:00.000-08:00

Participate.net is a campaign launched by the producers who backed North Country. They have pulled togther a bunch of contributors. The theme is sexual harassment and assault. It's an interesting site. Lots of posts and links. The Participant website/blog may work but it will take perseverance. It may also take some distance from the film, North Country, that spawned it, to really get some traction as a valuable entity in its own right..

Wayne State University, Michigan, embroiled in harassment allegations

2005-11-08T22:51:00.000-08:00

A college institute for Chicano studies at Wayne State University in Michigan, appears to have been fermenting with dislike and problems according to a lawsuit filed by a former assistant Director, Katalina Berdy. Berdy says she and a group of students were harassment and discriminated against by; Dr. Jorge Chinea, now director of CBS; Dr. Jose Cuello, former director, now associate professor for CBS; and Dr. Andre Furtado, former interim director, now assistant professor for CBS. She says inappropriate touching, displaying pornographic material and talking about sex with students.

The mens response to the lawsuit was to attack her. Her lawsuit alleges secret university files on the men, calendar with girls in g strings, nervous breakdowns, inappropriate bumper stickers. The lawyer for the men say she was passed over for promotion and that one investigation found her allegations had no basis.

American Apparel triumphant

2005-11-08T22:47:00.000-08:00

American Apparel issues a press release to claim that a plaintiff had dropped her sexual harassment law suit against the company, saying "The plaintiff elected to permanently dismiss her case without receiving any compensation. Presiding Judge Der-Yeghiyan agreed, ruled that dismissing the case was proper and entered an order which provides that American Apparel pay nothing to the plaintiff. "

Fox News has a case to answer.

2005-11-08T22:41:00.000-08:00

This is an EEOC case. The complaint contends Joe Chillemi, a Fox VP who supervised the advertising and promotions departments, sexually harassed and subjected Kim Weiler and other women to a hostile work environment, routinely using obscenities and vulgarities to describe women or their body parts. Its filed in the Southern District of New York. Bill O'Reilly had some problems with a sexual harassment claim before settling out of court last year with the complainant.

Formal Harassment complaints a 50 million a year problem

2005-11-08T22:21:00.000-08:00

The EEOC has estimated that formal sexual harassment complaints to employers cost 50 million a year. That does not include productivity losses due to harassment problems. The EEOC reports a leveling off of complaints nationally at approx 15,000 per year.

A Louis Harris poll reported that 31 per cent of women and 7 per cent of men have experienced sexual harassment on the job, but 62 per cent of those harassed never reported it to their employers.

California is on the cutting edge. It's the first state to require mandatory sexual harassment prevention training for supervisors. The state legislation mandates all supervisors in companies or organizations with more than 50 employees undergo sexual harassment training by Jan1, 2006.

Minnesota case show laws can take new turns

2005-11-08T22:07:00.000-08:00

Two cases in Minnesota are evidence of a rising number of new style claims under sexual harassment laws. A straight man claiming discrimination by a lesbian boss, and a barista saying she was fired from her coffee shop job because she is transgendered. The Federal EEOC says the number of cases filed by men has risen from 9% in 1992 to 15% last year.

But the vast majority of discrimination cases in Minnesota are still of the traditional variety. The state's human rights department gets 1,200 to 1,400 complaints a year but doesn't break them down by type.

New York Dectective bugs superiors in case.

2005-11-08T22:03:00.000-08:00

Joann Karmel says her career in the elite Queens district attorney's office squad took a nosedive after she complained to bosses about crude comments. She then resorted to bugging her superiors as they made raunchy comments to her. Now she hopes this will bolster her sexual harassment case

The Cayman Islands groups tackle sexual harassment problems

2005-11-08T22:00:00.000-08:00

Groups of concerned citizens mainly young professional women have formed task forces to tackle an otherwise unseen problem in the Cayman islands

Professor accused. WSU

2005-11-08T21:35:00.000-08:00

A distinguished Education Professor at WSU has been accused of sexual harassment after drinking wine and saying he found a student attractive. The college counceled him and made him attend a workshop in Idaho. This wasn't enough for the student, Christina Garcia, who wants monetary compensation and the Professor, Bernardo Gallegos fired. She has filed a sivil lawsuit and a tort claim

Charlotte, NC female police chief in firing line after allegations

2005-11-08T21:26:00.000-08:00

A senior police officer, Major Lisa Shores, the commandeer of the North East Region has been relieved of duties due to sexual harassment allegations. Police accuse Shores of creating a hostile work environment and the reasons are sexual harassment. There will be a Civil Service Board enquiry but the shore's boss has recommended her dismissal.

UK business journal summarizes new law

2005-11-08T16:58:00.000-08:00

UNDER new United Kingdom regulations, which came into force on 1 October 2005, sexual harassment has been enshrined in legislation for the first time. This article summarizes the issues.

Valentino Las Vegas settles for 600,000 with five women.

2005-11-08T16:55:00.000-08:00

One woman complained about treatment at Valentino. But there were others. The women charged that restaurant supervisors repeatedly groped and propositioned them, and made sexual remarks from 2001 to March 2003. Most of the women were in their early 20s, and most of the alleged incidents involved one manager, EEOC attorney Dana Johnson said. Apparently they felt there was no one they could complain about this treatment.

Kenya has a problem

2005-11-08T16:47:00.000-08:00

Lack of job opportunities is the major cause of sexual harassment at work places according to research by Dr. Regina Karega, a Kenyatta University lecturer. She says most bosses regardless of low or high income jobs, have a tendency to use the need for a job as a lever especially when their employees are newly employed. There is a also claim that the Anita Hills case internationalised the issue of sexual harassment.

Ms Julie Omale, Editorial Director, African Women and Child Feature Service, claims that today many organizations in Kenya incorporate sexual harassment policies and it is no longer a hush- hush subject. But she also claims that more work needs to be done because women and girls are not safe in their schools, and in their colleges.

Polygraph leads to sexual harassment suspension

2005-11-08T16:41:00.000-08:00

Confusing facts in a case. A young woman has had her allegations of sexual harassment dismissed after polygraph tests of both complainant and alleged harasser. The complainant is now saying the polygraph test is unfair to her. She also says she is being retaliated against. Deputy Katie Allison is accusing Sgt. Kevin Ray of asking to sleep with her at work and allegedly grabbing her breast during an incident at Sam's Boat in Oak Ridge North, she said. And Constable Tim Holifield suspended Allison with pay on Oct. 25 after she made a formal complaint against Ray for sexual harassment and retaliation.