Employment Law Series: Sexual Harassment – What To Do To Protect Your Rights (Nathan Robbins)

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Sexual harassment in the workplace is illegal, yet many employees experience it and feel unsure about how to respond. In this essential discussion, employment attorneys Tad Roumayah and Nathan Robbins from Sommers Schwartz, P.C., break down what you can do to protect yourself and hold your employer accountable.

Key topics covered in this video:

• What legally constitutes sexual harassment?
• Steps to document and report harassment.
• Legal protections against retaliation.
• Remedies and damages available to victims.

If you or someone you know is facing workplace harassment, it is crucial to understand your rights. Contact Sommers Schwartz, P.C., today for a consultation.

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Transcript

[00:00:11] Tad Roumayah: Hello everyone. I’m Tad Roumayah and I am the chair of the Employment Law Department at Sommers Schwartz pc. Um, one of the more, most, um, disturbing types of cases with the most shocking fact patterns that we deal with in the employment law department are sexual harassment cases. Um, oftentimes these are . Um, sad situations where employees are, um, forced to endure, um, really egregious, uh, conduct by a supervisor, a coworker, uh, sometimes even a customer or a client of the employer where there’s constant, um, physical, uh, harassment, verbal harassment, sometimes even in writing.

Um, and, and of a sexual nature and it’s unwelcome and it’s, um. Some of the, uh, most gratifying cases that, uh, we have is when we are able to represent an employee who has been put in such an isolated and, um, unfortunate situation of being sexually harassed and we’re able to write the ship for that employee and hold their employer accountable.

Um, with me today is, uh, one of our up and coming, uh, associate attorneys in the employment law department, Nathan Robbins. Hi Nathan.

[00:01:34] Nathan Robbins: Hi, Ted. How are you?

[00:01:36] Tad Roumayah: Good. How are you?

[00:01:36] Nathan Robbins: well, thanks.

[00:01:37] Tad Roumayah: Thanks for being here.

[00:01:39] Nathan Robbins: thank you.

[00:01:39] Tad Roumayah: Um, Nathan, uh, is going to talk to us today about what you can do to protect your rights if you find yourself to be in the unfortunate, uh, and harrowing situation of being a victim of sexual harassment in the workplace.

Um, so Nathan, I guess one thing I wanted to ask you about, um, is why is it important? For employees to be aware of their rights, uh, if they experience sexual harassment.

[00:02:07] Nathan Robbins: Yeah, so I, I think for anyone who. Does or will or has experienced sexual harassment in the workplace. That experience, um, obviously will be uncomfortable. It can be humiliating, but um, it can also be incredibly traumatic in degrading, uh. Uh, above all. At the same time, it’s also illegal. Um, federal and state laws prohibit workplace sexual harassment, and those laws specifically provide, you know, protections for employees to prevent harassment.

At the same time, they also provide remedies for employees who are subjected to harassment and for, you know, an employer that fails to . To fix that for them. So regardless of which specific law might be relevant, um, in any given situation, an employee who experiences sexually inappropriate behavior, um, they should have an understanding of, you know, what they can do to protect themselves and what laws exist to protect them.

[00:03:00] Tad Roumayah: Okay, so what steps should a sexually harassed employee take to protect their rights in the workplace?

[00:03:08] Nathan Robbins: Yeah, so I think sort of a threshold question, or maybe a first step that’s important for this is having an understanding of what constitutes, um, you know, prohibited or unlawful sexual harassment in the work. Place. Um, the definition is kind of inherently broad. With that being said, there are some examples.

So things like unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, um, and just more generally physical or verbal conduct of a sexual nature. Um, these other examples might be something like a offensive joke, an inappropriate comment, a coworker repeatedly. Um, you know, asking another coworker out thing, things of that nature.

But very, basically, if you feel like a coworker or a supervisor, some other employee is behaving in a sexually inappropriate manner or you’re made uncomfortable by, by their sexual conduct, um, there’s a fair chance that could be considered sexual harassment under the law.

[00:04:06] Tad Roumayah: So what, what should that, um, employee do if they determine that they’re being, um, harassed or they’re being placed in a sexually harassing work environment? I.

[00:04:18] Nathan Robbins: Yeah. So one really important step, um, is that an individual can take is making a record of the misconduct. So whether it’s a single incident or whether it’s a repeated number of incidents happening, you know. Over an extended period of time, having a contemporaneous record of the conduct you’ve experienced can be an incredibly useful tool.

One for validating your own claims and then sort of secondarily, um, that. Record can then be used as evidence by an attorney or by an agency like the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Um, so we typically recommend that you write down dates, times, um, locations, individuals involved in any specific conduct that you know, you recall or that made you uncomfortable recording other things like potentially witnesses, noting their names might be useful.

And then once you have that record. Storing it somewhere separate from your employer, like a personal email, or if it’s handwritten, storing it in a folder at home. Um, that, that typically is a good starting point.

[00:05:23] Tad Roumayah: That’s all good stuff, Nathan. Um, what one question That an employee who finds. Herself or himself in a sexually harassing work environment is should that employee raise this or complain about the sexual harassment to their employer? What are your thoughts on that?

[00:05:42] Nathan Robbins: Yeah. So a very short answer is just yes, you should tell your employer, but more specifically, you should report the sexually harassing conduct to your employer. Um, obviously we recognize this is a very daunting undertaking. Um, it can be very uncomfortable. Um, and oftentimes people are nervous to do so.

With that being said, um, in most circumstances to hold your employer responsible for the sexual harassment you’ve experienced, the employer has to know about the harassment and they have to be given an opportunity to fix it or to remedy it. Um, so one way to approach reporting harassment is for if you’re an employee, look in your employer’s, um, policies.

If they have a policy relating to sexual harassment, oftentimes what they’ll also have is a policy outlining how to report or the procedure for reporting. So this might look like, uh, designating a specific individual, like, you know, an HR representative, a supervisor, a compliance officer, um, they might designate that individual as someone you’re supposed to report the conduct to.

We recommend that you follow that procedure that they set out. Um, and when you follow that procedure. Procedure include any documented evidence you might have, like we just just discussed with keeping a contemporaneous record. And then also explain the impact that this harassment has had on, you know, your work environment. it’s difficult and to make this report and in, but if most circumstances, if you don’t, your employer won’t know and they can’t do anything to try and fix it.

[00:07:16] Tad Roumayah: Thank you, Nathan. Now we recognize that making a report of sexual harassment to your employer can be very scary, can be very daunting, can be um, can feel isolating, can feel I. Um, in some instances there can be shame, uh, a feeling of shame that like, why is this happening to me? Is this my fault in some way?

Um, but just from a general perspective, are there protections, legal protections for an employee, um, who makes a report of sex harassment to their employer? Is their job protected for doing that?

[00:07:56] Nathan Robbins: Again, short answer is yes, but I’ll, I’ll sort of elaborate on that. Um, there, there’s two ways to look at this. One is that if the, your internal reporting of an issue, um, doesn’t do anything to resolve the issue, you know, your employer may be violating the law and that’s protection you have. I. In addition, um, if your employer retaliates against you for reporting harassment, if they take, um, steps to, you know, change the terms of conditions of your employment, if they were to fire an employee who reported something like this, that would also likely be a violation of the law.

So there, there’s a few ways to address this. One thing you could do is file a charge with the EEOC. In Michigan, you have 300 days from, you know, the date of the incident or the date of your termination to file. In other states, it might be 180 days. Um, the other thing you can do and what, what we recommend is speaking with an experienced employment attorney.

Um. Many offer free consultations to discuss your case. You don’t only have to rely on the EEOC or a state agency, so an attorney might be able to represent you, um, pursue legal action against your employer if, if you do experience that retaliation or if your employer fails to remedy the harassment after you reported it.

[00:09:09] Tad Roumayah: So if. Um, a sexually harassed employee or someone who believes that they were a victim of sexual harassment in the workplace. If that employee reaches out to you as their attorney, what are the types of remedies or damages that you would pursue for that individual? I.

[00:09:26] Nathan Robbins: Yeah, so under the law there’s a, there’s a number of available remedies, obviously, um, wage loss associated with if someone loses their job, if someone’s demoted after reporting, or if they have their hours cut. Um, in addition. You know, we recognize that these situations are devastating. Um, and for that reason, mental and emotional damages are recoverable.

Um, under the various statutes, there’s other things as well, um, like harm to reputation, um, attorney’s fees, costs that can be recoverable in litigation. Um, and, and that’s kind of like a general idea on, on those various and associated remedies.

[00:10:03] Tad Roumayah: Thank you very much, uh, Nathan. We appreciate your knowledge and expertise and um, this was very helpful. Thank you.

[00:10:10] Nathan Robbins: Yeah. Thank you Tad.