Sexual Harassment & Hostile Work Environments: What You Need To Know (Tad Roumayah)

---

What qualifies as a hostile work environment? How severe does misconduct need to be to take legal action? In this video, Rob Sickels and Tad Roumayah of Sommers Schwartz break down the legal standards surrounding sexual harassment and hostile work environments in the workplace.

Tad shares real case examples and explains the damages that may be available to victims, from lost wages to emotional distress and punitive damages. He also offers practical advice for those experiencing harassment, including how to document incidents and why having the right attorney matters.

If you or someone you know is facing workplace harassment, don’t wait.

---

Transcript

[00:00:12] Rob Sickels: Hello, I’m Robert Sickels. I’m a very senior shareholder at the powerhouse law firm of Sommers Schwartz, and I’m here today with Tad Roumayah, who runs the employment law department here at SuSommerschwartz, and has obtained scores of great outcomes, uh, for his clients. Uh, today we’re gonna talk about. Uh, a pretty hot topic in employment law, uh, hostile work environment and sexual assault.

[00:00:44] Rob Sickels: And it’s been a, a hot topic for a number of years. And of course, the most notable example being the Harvey Weinstein debacle, um, that’s been in the news for, for many years now. So, tad, tell us [00:01:00] exactly what is a hostile work environment in the context of sexual assault.

[00:01:06] Tad Roumayah: Absolutely Rob. Um, so these are some of the more disturbing cases that we, um, handle in our department. Um, and they’re really sometimes some of the more saddest, some of the most sad cases because truly what you’re seeing here in a lot of times is. What it says, it’s a hostile work environment. An employee is going through a very difficult time where it’s, it’s a constant barrage normally of unwelcome sexual comments, sexual advances, physical touching. Verbal, um, stories or jokes, innuendo. These are the types of things that when you look at both federal and state law, title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, that’s our federal law and the Michigan Elliot Larson Civil Rights Act. That type of hostile work environment is [00:02:00] prohibited under both of those statutes. Now, it’s important to understand one or two may be isolated comments over time. Um, probably are not gonna create a hostile work environment, um, that is actionable or protected, or prohibited, I should say, under these laws. But when your employer, whether it’s a coworker, a manager, even a customer or a client, when you are being placed in a situation as a woman or as a man. Um, where you are being, um, constantly hit with a barrage of comments, innuendo, touching to the point where it interferes with the terms and conditions of your employment and you’re unable to perform your job to the best of your ability, that’s when it really becomes a hostile, ongoing work environment that is a violation of your rights to be free from an environment free or an environment free from sexual harassment.

[00:02:56] Tad Roumayah: And that’s what.

[00:02:57] Rob Sickels: Ted, Ted, lemme interrupt you here. You know, you’ve been [00:03:00] talking in, in kind of generalities here. Do you have some real world examples that you, you can give us of cases that you’ve handled involving, uh, hostile work environment and sexual assault?

[00:03:12] Tad Roumayah: absolutely Rob. And again, these are some of the more shocking fact patterns that we see in our department. One that comes to mind immediately is the, um, fire chief at a fire station who was male, who was masturbating in his office every single day while his female subordinate sat right outside his office. Absolutely no shame, just leering at her and, and not hiding it, just showing her that he was masturbating. yeah. This type of stuff happens. Rob, I tell you what, we, I have many, many stories of these situations, but a situation like that obviously falls into, um, the bucket of being a hostile work environment because that employee has a right to be free from [00:04:00] sexual. Conduct unwelcome sexual conduct in the workplace. And believe me, this was highly unwelcome and this guy kept doing it. So we represented this employee and we were able to obtain for her a very substantial outcome in terms of dam monetary damages. For what she had to endure. And this is a woman who complained repeatedly about this and nothing ever changed.

[00:04:22] Tad Roumayah: He kept doing it. And there’s just, um, some individuals who do some really disgusting things out there. And, um, we’re, um, glad to be able to represent employees who are faced with these situations.

[00:04:34] Rob Sickels: What damages can be collected in a hostile work environment, sexual assault case?

[00:04:39] Tad Roumayah: um. That’s a good question, Rob. There are several different types of remedies available under these statutes. One is if you get, um, if you lose your job as a result of a hostile work environment, you can pursue lost wages, lost benefits, um, a substantial PE bucket of damages in these cases, and rightfully so. Is that [00:05:00] of mental and emotional distress. Oftentimes these individuals, whether it’s a female, a male, they’re put into these situations where there’s a severely lopsided power dynamic. They’re afraid to lose their job. They’re constantly being, um, approached and, and hit with a barrage of sexual comments, sexual jokes, sometimes even touching and physical assault. Um, and they, that really has some really Um, devastating mental and emotional impacts, and a lot of people have to go to therapy because of that. They’re on medications due to, to the behavior. Um, they’re afraid. They’re, they’re in a, um, very fearful situation. Afraid to lose their job, afraid to lose their livelihood through no fault of their own. So that is a substantial piece of damages. We also can pursue attorney’s fees. We can pursue costs of litigation, and in rare CI circumstances, we can pursue punitive damages against an employer, which is an [00:06:00] additional, um, set of damages that are there to punish an employer for especially egregious conduct.

[00:06:06] Rob Sickels: So the example you gave us involved repetitive behavior over time, can a one-off, uh, episode, uh, qualify, uh, as a, uh, as a hostile work environment case? I.

[00:06:20] Tad Roumayah: Good, good question, Rob. And the, the, um, these are thankfully rare instances, um, but some of the more egregious cases that I’ve worked on and that I’ve represented, um, my clients who have suffered these situations are those where a client has been raped or sexually assaulted in the workplace. Um, these are rare circumstances, but when they happen that one instance of a rape or a sexual assault can be enough to create a hostile work environment for that employee. while, while, um, other types of sex harassment [00:07:00] may need to be more repetitive, for example, comments, um, light, physical touching, things of that nature, you can still be protected if you have one instance of a very. Egregious, um, act such as a rape.

[00:07:13] Tad Roumayah: I represented recently a young woman who found herself in that situation where she was raped at a work function. It wasn’t even on, uh, the premises of her employer, but she was, uh, at a work function, a conference, and her manager, uh, drugged her and raped her at the hotel. Um, I represented her and we were able to obtain a substantial outcome in terms of monetary damages for that case. So, it’s important to understand that you may not often think, people may not often think that one instance could be enough to create a hostile working environment, that it has to be a repetitive pattern. However, if the, if the one instance is so egregious that it’s a sexual assault, then that could still be enough.

[00:07:58] Rob Sickels: So tell me how bad [00:08:00] the, uh, conduct needs to be in order to be able to maintain a successful lawsuit against your employer.

[00:08:07] Tad Roumayah: Sure, Rob. So unless it’s something really egregious like a rape or a sexual assault, um, oftentimes it’s really gotta be a pattern or a repetitive type of Um, conduct. So, for example, if your supervisor is constantly approaching you, trying to ask for sexual favors, saying sexual things to you, trying to make sexual advances towards you, um, commenting about your body, the way you look, um, texting you, uh, lewd messages. Um, Comments, whether it’s verbal in writing, a couple of those over time are probably not gonna rise the level of a hostile work environment, but numerous over and over, where it’s a pattern and a barrage of these things where it’s interfering with your ability to do your job. That is, the courts are gonna look at that and they’re gonna find [00:09:00] that that is a, a, sex harassment rising to the level of a hostile work environment.

[00:09:05] Rob Sickels: So Tad, if I’m someone who has been enduring a hostile work environment, or has I. Experienced one of these, um, horrific episodes that you’ve described. Why should I come to you?

[00:09:23] Tad Roumayah: If you are, if you unfortunately find yourself in this horrible situation of enduring a hostile work environment that you’re being sexually harassed, it’s important to come to us so that we can explain to you your rights. We can look at the facts of your case. We can help you understand what you can do about it. This is some of the more, most isolating things that can happen to someone is they’re caught in the cross hairs of their employer or a coworker, or even a client of your employer, where they’re being constantly harassed based on their sex. Um, and, and having have, having, uh, physical [00:10:00] advances, verbal, verbal advances, and it’s really hard to talk to anyone about it.

[00:10:05] Tad Roumayah: There’s a, there’s sometimes there’s shame. There’s a power dynamic that’s at play that You really need to have someone in your corner to help you understand your rights and what you can do to make the employer stop what they’re doing. And if they continue to do it without taking any action to stop it, then you need someone in your corner who’s gonna be able to fight the employer and get you the remedies that you deserve for what you went through.

[00:10:29] Rob Sickels: So I assume in the employment law context, and whether we’re talking about whistleblowers or uh, hostile work environment cases, experience matters when selecting a lawyer. Is that right?

[00:10:42] Tad Roumayah: Absolutely Rob, and you don’t wanna go to an attorney who moonlights in this area of law. You want to go to someone who’s an expert like our firm. Who understands the nuances? Who understands what’s protected under the law and what you can do about it? No, no. Sex [00:11:00] harassment case is the same. Every sex harassment case, including hostile work environment, sex harassment cases are very unique.

[00:11:06] Tad Roumayah: They have their own set of facts and circumstances and the laws applied differently under on each of them. So you want to go to someone who’s gonna be in your corner, who knows what. What they’re doing, who knows how to advise you and who knows how to pursue the court process in litigation to obtain for you the damages and the remedies that you deserve for what you’ve endured as a result of being a victim of sex harassment.

[00:11:30] Rob Sickels: Ted, if, if I suspect or I believe in my bones that I’m the victim of a hostile work environment, uh, what should I do preliminarily to protect myself and, and preserve a claim, I.

[00:11:46] Tad Roumayah: Well Rob, other than. Contacting a competent attorney who can represent you and help guide you through this process of pursuing a sex harassment case. There are some other things that are best practices that I [00:12:00] always tell clients to do, and the first and foremost of that is document, document,

[00:12:05] Rob Sickels: I’m not sure.

[00:12:05] Tad Roumayah: Make, make sure that you keep a timeline of everything that’s

[00:12:09] Tad Roumayah: happening. Make sure that you hold onto those text messages. If you, you’re getting harassed in writing via text, via email, hold on to all of that information, because all of that is gonna be extremely important later on when you’re trying to prove what your employer did to you.

[00:12:24] Tad Roumayah: Because as soon as you lawyer up and as soon as you try to pursue your remedies. All of a sudden the employer has amnesia or they deny that they did anything wrong. So to try to escape liability. So it’s up to us. We have the burden of proof. To show that this actually was happening and that you tried to speak out against it and you, and you were unable to make it stop, so that’s why you had to come to an attorney. And so please keep, make my one takeaway for everyone that’s watching this. If you’re a victim of sex harassment or hostile work environment, make sure that you keep a timeline of events [00:13:00] and make sure that you document everything and hold on to all of your, um, paper trail of everything that’s happening to you.

[00:13:07] Rob Sickels: Well, Ted, I wanna thank you for being here today and sharing all this very enlightening, informative information with us and go forth and. Good work as you have been doing for years. Thank you very much.

[00:13:20] Tad Roumayah: Will do, Rob. Thanks. I have enjoyed being here with you.