I am pleased to discover that The United States Supreme Court ruled, on Monday, in favor of an employee who was dismissed after disclosing the sexual harassment practices of her employer toward another employee. The employee who was dismissed, Vicki Crawford, however, did not file a complaint against her former-employer, but simply answered questions posed to her during an internal investigation. Her answers revealed that she was also a victim of sexual harassment, but for whatever reason had "tolerated" such conduct over the years. The Supreme Court found that her failure to lodge a complaint did not constitute a failure to oppose her gender-biased treatment. Ms. Crawford had been employed by the Tennessee school system for thirty-years. School system, eh? I'm going to leave that opinion for another day...
In a concurring Supreme Court opinion, the former employer is noted to say, in his defense, that "[I]t was unclear whether Crawford actually opposed [his] behavior because some of her defensive responses were "inappropriate," such as telling [him] to "bite me" and"flip[ping] him a bird." She did that? Good girl!
I believe the time has far-passed for cases such as this to make it to the Supreme Court. Based on the publication, this is actually the first one of this nature, and, yet, fifty-five years AFTER the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964? It leaves me wondering how many victims, when questioned of witnessed victimization of others, have lost their jobs because the system appeared too large to attack, or because there was not an already existing (or observed) law in place to protect such retalliation. Well, that's one little problem resolved now and I'm pleased to see the system is in proper working order!
One question remains: Do you think she got her job back? That's one thing, of course, a Court cannot rule on.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
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I think sexual harrasment is something no one should ever have to go thru. Unfortunately it happens, the best way to control it is to notice the signs and report anything that would be uncomfortable to ones self immediatly. It is possible that some women in particular would be afraid of losing their job. They may ask themself. "Who are they going to believe, myself or someone who has been at the company for years and years?" Sexual harrasment is just plain ugly.
ReplyDeleteI agree that no one should have to go through sexual harrasment. I was once employed at a residential facility where one of the main supervisor's sexually harrased several of the ladies. Fortunantly, he was eventually fired.
ReplyDeleteJess,
ReplyDeleteGood summary of the article. Don't forget to include a link to the article.
Watch the small stuff like spelling (one L in retaliation) and overuse of commas (no commas needed in your first sentence).
I like that you pose a question to your readers.
I think this is a very good article. No one should have to go through sexual harassment, especially in a work place. It does happen every day and it's very sad that it does. This woman did the right thing.
ReplyDelete