Employers, Workers Act to Fight Job Harassment : Law: Claims by men and women are growing rapidly. Companies are setting formal policies, hiring specialists.
Cinnamon Renfro, Sheila McCauley, Tammy Wilson and Holly Miller were new on the job at a sales office in Santa Fe Springs when their supervisor started paying attention to them. But they say it wasn’t the kind of attention they expected.
The women allege in a Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit that before leaving their jobs as account executives this summer, they endured weeks of harassment by a company manager.
The women alleged that he made vulgar comments regarding his sexual fantasies in phone calls to their homes, locked them--sometimes two at a time--in his office, where he tore at their clothes, forced them to watch pornographic videos, and refused to allow them to leave until he had performed lewd acts in front of them. He allegedly threatened them with firing, and one said he told them he could “easily break someone’s neck” because he was a martial arts expert.
“I couldn’t concentrate on my job because I was always looking around to make sure I wasn’t left alone with him,” said Renfro, who says she had nightmares and was so fearful she slept with a gun on her night stand before quitting her job. “I cried all the time. I didn’t know where to go for help because he was the director of the entire office.”
Their case is far from unique. Nationwide, thousands of women--and some men--have won millions of dollars in back pay, medical expenses and punitive damages for complaints ranging from lewd jokes and unwelcomed love letters, to hugs, kisses and even rape.
Civil rights attorneys say sexual harassment cases, once considered risky, have become more attractive to litigate as a result of court decisions clarifying the issue and making employers liable for the action of their employees.
The number of cases is rising in California, where the Department of Fair Employment and Housing said that sexual harassment complaints now make up 20% of the caseload, compared to only 3% a decade ago. In 1989, the latest figures available, there were 1,441 sexual harassment cases filed with the agency.
Nationally, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission handled 5,216 cases of sexual harassment last year.
Attorney Laura Best, whose Palo Alto law firm defends companies, said sexual harassment suits are now the most popular type of suit filed by employees aside from age discrimination.
“Its a hot topic legally right now,” said Best. “We are seeing a large increase in the number of cases filed.”
Earlier this month, in what is believed to be the largest damage award ever given in California in a sexual harassment suit, an Alameda County jury awarded $480,000 to a clerical worker who claimed she had been raped by her supervisor at an Oakland law firm. The jury found that the law firm was liable for failing to investigate the incident and taking no disciplinary action against the supervisor. The firm said it will appeal, noting that the judgment could force it into bankruptcy.
The complaints have proliferated not only because more women are in the workplace, but because there are now more women with toeholds on the corporate ladder.
Women have decided that they “don’t have to put up with it anymore,” said Alison Wetherfield, with the New York-based NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund.
A 1988 study by Working Woman magazine found that 90% of the Fortune 500 companies had received complaints from employees in one year. The National Organization for Women said that more than 80% of women it surveyed had been sexually harassed.
A 1989 study found that 50% of the California Bar Assn.’s women members reported that they had been sexually harassed; a Pentagon survey this year found that two out of three women in the military report sexual harassment; and only last week, a U.S. Naval Academy report showed widespread sexual harassment of its female midshipmen.
In one of the few studies conducted on the issue, the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board found in 1981 that although 56% of all government workers--men and women--experienced persistent unwelcomed sexual attention on the job, only 5% filed complaints.
Sexual harassment cuts across social, economic and racial lines, appearing in all kinds of workplaces.
* In Madera County, an investigation by the Department of Fair Employment and Housing determined that an appraiser in the county assessor’s office had been sexually harassed by her supervisor. On one occasion, while out in the field, he tried to kiss her, and when she ducked away he pinned her to the ground. He contended that the kisses were “given in love, not lust.” The man was fired, but later reinstated because he had no previous disciplinary problems. She alleged that he continued giving her love letters. She quit her job and last April won $186,000 in damages. The county is appealing, saying there was no harassment after he returned to the job.
* A woman receptionist at the Los Angeles accounting firm of Guill, Blankenbajker & Lawson won $30,000 in damages in October, 1989, after the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing determined that she had suffered significant emotional injury because one of the firm’s partners had harassed her over a period of six years. The woman, who worked alone in a cramped cubicle, testified that the partner told her he had a foot fetish and got down on his hands and knees and kissed her feet while she was answering calls. The company said that her witnesses were biased and noted that she stayed on the job. The firm is appealing.
* The Department of Fair Employment and Housing last July awarded $5,000 in damages to a saleswoman at TMC Motorsports in Monterey who testified that her boss suggested that she let men customers look up her dress, called her “trashy” and “stupid” in front of customers, told false stories about her sex life, made obscene jokes and threw tennis balls over the partition between their offices hitting her in the head. He also told her, “You have to be nice to me. I’m your boss.” The supervisor denied that he had engaged in such conduct. TMC’s owner said she had never heard him make harassing remarks. They claimed the accuser “had an ax to grind” because of a disputed sales commission.
As more and more companies find themselves caught in the middle of these disputes, many have instituted formal written policies against sexual harassment, hired human relations experts to handle and investigate complaints, and provided special training sessions.
“It’s a very delicate area to handle,” said Best. “We see growing awareness and companies much more sensitive to implementing good policies and educating management.”
Sexual harassment has developed as a legal issue relatively recently.
Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act made sexual discrimination illegal, but sexual harassment did not become a major issue in America’s boardrooms and courtrooms until 1986, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that such harassment was a form of discrimination and that companies were liable for the behavior of their employees.
Congress recently voted to amend Title VII so that plaintiffs claiming harassment can obtain jury trials in federal court and seek punitive damages. Some business groups have lobbied strenuously against the measure, fearing sky-high damage awards.
In the early 1980s, the EEOC identified two types of harassment. The first, known as “quid pro quo,” is unwelcome verbal and physical sexual advances that are a condition of employment. The second, referred to as “hostile work environment,” involves a workplace where unwelcome sexual conduct creates an atmosphere that is offensive or intimidating to employees.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that “unwelcome” advances in the workplace constituted sex discrimination.
In California, the state Supreme Court ruled in January that a company could be liable for punitive damages if an employee merely witnesses recurring harassment in the workplace.
The decision was based on a case in which former nurse Julie Fisher sued San Pedro Peninsula Hospital and a staff gynecologist claiming that she saw him pull nurses onto his lap, simulate sexual intercourse and make lewd comments about the breasts of anesthetized female patients. The case has not yet gone to trial and the doctor and the hospital, which said it conducted a thorough investigation, have denied the allegations.
The Supreme Court did not determine whether the allegations were true or not in the Fisher case, but told her she could go ahead with her suit if she were able to provide more documentation of the allegations. Her attorney has since filed an amended complaint.
It isn’t always companies that are sued or only women who are harassed.
In Minneapolis, a jury awarded a male security guard $12,000 earlier this year. The guard brought suit against Sears, Roebuck and Co. and a woman cafeteria manager, who he claimed had grabbed his buttocks and made sexual comments.
The defense argued that the security guard, who was a former Marine and boxer, should have been tough enough to withstand the touching without an emotional collapse. The plaintiff’s attorney argued the man had been sexually assaulted as a child and had promised himself he never would be a victim again.
Companies argue that in many cases the incidents never occurred or, if they did, the workers did not bring it to their attention so they could be dealt with in a timely fashion.
“It often boils down to credibility, who will be believed--the supervisor or the employee,” said Alan Berkowitz, a San Francisco attorney. “It becomes a quagmire trying to determine if there was a voluntary relationship or an unwelcome act.”
Los Angeles attorney Gloria Allred, who is handling the suit the four women filed against their Santa Fe Springs supervisor and Rohnert Park-based Transworld Systems Inc., said many companies do not have policies to handle such complaints when they arise. She noted that employees often do not know where to go with their complaints within the company. And, she said, “They have never heard of the government agencies they should file with.”
“I had no idea what to do,” recalled Renfro, one of the women suing Transworld Systems.
Bill Carle, Transworld’s corporate counsel, said the company plans to “vigorously defend” the suit.
“We believe we are an improper defendant,” he said, noting that the Santa Fe Springs office in question is an independent contractor and the supervisor in question is not an employee of Transworld.
Long Beach attorney Lisa Hovden, who represents the supervisor, said her client would have no comment.
Some large companies have hired human relations directors who investigate such claims, thus allowing workers to circumvent supervisors who often have a vested interest in squelching the accusations. But even that approach has had its problems, Best noted.
“I had a case where the person charged with doing the harassing was the human relations director,” she said.
Researcher Joyce Penney contributed to this article.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU’RE A VICTIM
If you believe you have been sexually harassed on the job, contact your supervisor or, if the supervisor is doing the harassing, report it to that person’s boss, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission advises.
If the harasser is the head of the company, the EEOC says it is still important to request that the harassment stop.
The agency recommends that you keep a written record of what happened, including when, how you responded, whether there were witnesses and the people you told.
“Talk to other employees if you suspect that they, too, have been harassed,” the EEOC recommends. “Talking to them lets them know what is happening and that you are upset about it.”
Even if a company takes action, you may file an administrative charge with the EEOC office in your district.
Such complaints can also be filed with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing.
Most charges must be filed within 180 days of the alleged harassment. If the situation cannot be resolved by these agencies, you may be able to file a lawsuit.
The EEOC maintains a toll free number to answer questions: 1 800 USA-EEOC.
