Sexual Harassment is a Crime

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

Some sexually harassing behaviors are violations of criminal law. These can be made up of criminal stalking, attempted assault or assault, and criminal sexual conduct.

It would be good if the victim clearly articulates displeasure over another’s behavior. However, they don’t need to do that. Harassed individuals only need to report the harassment to their employer or police, trigger an investigation, and file a case if they want to press charges against their offender.

Also, take note that even distributing sexually explicit materials including jokes via e-mail or internet websites may constitute sexual harassment. But even if it doesn’t, these are so disruptive and unprofessional. They should warrant discipline from the employer.

In sexual harassment litigation issues, jurors often have strong views about these issues and they have certain expectations from the employers such as:

*Procedures must be in place and it should be in writing
*Such procedures must be followed
*Upon the victim’s complaint, adequate investigation should have been done
*There should be no retaliation to the victim
*The company should exercise fair and consistent treatment to all its employees.

Furthermore, the trial lawyer’s ability to prove or disprove harassment may be dependent on the following factors:

*Credibility of company witnesses
*Credibility of Plaintiff
*Timelines of complaint
*Ulterior motives
*Common sense
*Consistency
*Adequacy of company response
*External validation of behavior (such as when the plaintiff told others about the incident).

Tags: crime, Criminal, criminal law, sexual harassment, trial lawyer
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California Sexual Harassment Attorneys are here to the Rescue

Friday, April 17th, 2009

Sex discrimination is a form of sexual harassment. Under California State Law, it violates the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). Also included are requests for sexual favors, unwelcome sexual advances, or other physical and verbal sexual conduct. These actions will be considered as sexual harassment only when its rejection or submission directly affects a person’s class standing in school or work performance in employment. Also, these sexual actions should not create an offensive, hostile, intimidating, or abusive environment.

California attorneys have to examine the context of the incident, the nature of sexual advances, and the entirety of the surrounding circumstances. Allegations should be based on facts and made on a case-to-case basis.

This type of harassment may be found in many circumstances. Federal law includes the following:

• - The harasser and the victim may belong to the opposite or the same sex.
• - The victim could be anyone offended by the harasser’s conduct.
• - The harasser could be the victim’s teacher, co-worker, supervisor, or employer’s agent. His or her conduct should be unwelcome.
• - Even without discharge or economic injury of the victim, unlawful harassment may occur.

More specifically under California State Law, FEHA does not only include sexual and gender harassment. It also embraces harassment based on medical conditions, pregnancy, and childbirth. Here are some examples:

• - Physical conduct like assault, touching, or blocking movements.
• - Mistreating a person just because she is female (or he is male).
• - Using sexually degrading words to describe a person or writing obscene notes or letters.

Tags: California attorneys, California State Law, FEHA, sexual harassment
Posted in Attorneys in every State | No Comments »