sexual harassment

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Monica Hague filed suit against the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio in 2011. Judge Garcia of the Western District granted summary judgment against her in 2013. The Plaintiff appealed to the Fifth Circuit. The higher court reversed summary judgment regarding Ms. Hague’s retaliation claim and affirmed summary judgment regarding her sexual…

Work place harassment is still with us. And, courts still struggle with the term “severe or pervasive.” To rise to the level of work place harassment, conduct must be “severe or pervasive.” In Sanders v. Christus Santa Rosa PASC, 995 F.Supp. 2d 626 (W.D. Tex. 2014), the court looked at the totality of the…

In a high profile lawsuit, a young female lawyer sued her former employer, Faruqi and Faruqi, a large national law firm, for sex harassment. Alexandra Marchuk obviously hoped for more, but the jury only awarded her $140,000. The award included $90,000 in compensatory damages (i.e, emotional suffering), and $50,000 in punitive damages. See Above the…

Oral arguments in the case of Nicholas v. SAWS were heard recently. The Defendant appealed the matter to the Texas Supreme Court after losing before the Fourth Court of Appeals. See my prior post about that appeal here and here. In the oral arguments, the defense attorney, Rachel Ekery, said the harassment by the…

The folks at Public Justice have written a bog post about the pernicious use of mandatory arbitration by American Apparel, a major U.S. clothing manufacturer. Based on an article in the New York Times, the post recounts the story of Dov Charney, long-time CEO of American Apparel. Mr. Charney was known for such witticisms…

People like to joke about a "hostile work environment."  But, what is an actual hostile work environment?  Essentially, hostile work environment means the discrimination is perpetrated by co-workers, not by supervisors.  A finding of a hostile work environment requires that 1) the employee belong to a protected group, 2) s/he was subjected to unwelcome harassment…

When faced with harassment of any sort, an employee should complain about it.  That bit of advice seems obvious.  But, if you are a single mother, or if you simply like your job other than the harassment, that advice is not so simple.  Ruth Piller worked as a lawyer at a large Houston law firm.

I first posted this a year ago.  But, this advice always applies at this time of year, when we all attend holiday parties.  Many times, bad conduct at office parties contributes to sex harassment lawsuits.  For example, telling a female subordinate that you admire her breasts can be good evidence of sex harassment.  See Dan…