Workstation Pinups May Be Sexual Harassment

Question: I work part time and don’t have a desk of my own. When I’m in the office, I sit at a colleague’s desk and use his computer.

I’m uncomfortable because he has taped up several magazine cutouts of women in various poses and states of undress.

I had been taking the pictures down while I’m working, then taping them back up when I leave.

But my colleague has started complaining about that and making snide remarks about me. What can I do?

--C.B., Newport Beach

Answer: Speak with your supervisor about the situation as soon as possible and try to resolve it.

If you are required to share a desk with your colleague, then it is a common working area. You are entitled to an environment that is conducive to you getting your work done without distractions.

The presence of pictures that you find offensive can constitute sexual harassment, and your supervisor should step in and rectify the situation.

There is a great deal of debate about just what constitutes sexual harassment. Although definitions are not always cut and dried, most interpretations define it as unwanted behavior of a sexual nature.

If you find the pictures posted in your work area sexually offensive and you are being forced or even encouraged to look at them, then your colleague needs to be informed by a supervisor that his behavior is unacceptable.

Also, although you did not specify the nature of your colleague’s remarks, they too could be construed as sexual harassment.

--Ron Riggio

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Question: I deliver pizzas for a small independent pizza shop using my own car, and I am not compensated for mileage.

Shouldn’t the company reimburse me for gas and oil?

--S.B., Costa Mesa

Which expenses your employer reimburses depends on what you both agreed to when you were hired. Also, you didn’t say whether you are an employee of the pizza company or an independent contractor.

If you are an employee, the provisions of your employment agreement would determine whether you get reimbursed for gas and oil. If you are an independent contractor, you are not a pizza company employee, so you are responsible for all of the costs associated with the service you provide.

One way to tell if you are an employee or an independent contractor is whether the pizza company has control over the way you do your work. If it does, you are probably classified as an employee.

As a next step, I would suggest that you have a reasonable discussion with the pizza shop manager. Try to explain your need for expense reimbursement by showing how the costs you incur affect the amount of pay you eventually receive. Also, try to show with examples how your delivery performance has improved pizza sales or customer satisfaction.

In other words, if you appeal to your manager’s sense of fairness, it may work.

--Tom Mayes

(Tom Apke and Dorothy Edwards, employment law experts at Cal State Fullerton, contributed to this answer.)

COUNTERPOINT

The use of the word salaried in the answer to the question of comp time versus overtime could be misleading.

While salaried has traditionally been equated with exempt personnel, it is important to note that many companies still use this term with non-exempt employees and still quote pay in weekly or monthly terms, rather than hourly.

For this reason, the word salaried is not recommended. For greater clarity, the terms exempt and non-exempt only are preferred.

The Fair Labor Standards Act provides guidelines to employers regarding exempt and non-exempt employees. The word salaried does not appear in those guidelines. The California Labor Code provides similar guidelines.

Joan Lars, principal

Joan Lars Associates

Fountain Valley

Please mail your questions about workplace issues, challenges or problems to Shop Talk, Los Angeles Times, P.O. Box 2008, Costa Mesa, Calif. 92626. Or call (714) 966-7873 and leave a voice mail message. Questions of general interest will be answered in this column on Mondays.