The borders between work and our social lives are often blurred. After all, we’re only human. Yet to perform our work with grace, we require a peaceful and supportive work environment. Perhaps no more jarring an event can take place at work than sexual harassment in any of its ugly forms – unwanted touching, lurid comments, a sexualized atmosphere, a hostile work environment, gender discrimination, sexually discriminatory hiring practices, quid pro quo sexual harassment, sexual assault and battery, molestation, rape, LGBT discrimination, LGBT harassment, pornographic images, workplace bullies, and sexual hazing are some such modes that are employed by sexual predators in the workplace.
Employers are best advised to handle any such complaints immediately, efficiently, and seriously, however they often fail to do so. Employees who are victimized by sexual harassment at work often bring aggressive and expensive Civil Rights, Title VII, discrimination, hostile work environment, and related sexual harassment lawsuits seeking monetary damages against their employers for failing to protect them from bullies, sexual predators, and sexist policies in the office. Too often, however, employees compromise their leverage in such lawsuits by acting too hastily, before they have gathered sufficient evidence and basis to increase their chances for victory in the courtroom.
We offer intelligent legal expertise to employers and employees (male or female) dealing with sexual harassment lawsuits. We are fully prepared to provide our clients with the very best expert witness testimony from professional doctors, therapists, and occupational psychologists to shed light on the truth in court. We offer affordable Employment Attorney representation in the mediation, arbitration, and litigation of sexual harassment matters in and around the San Francisco Bay Area, including in San Rafael, Palo Alto, Redwood City, Berkeley, Oakland, San Jose, Pleasanton, Santa Cruz, and Monterey, California.
California Sexual Harassment Law
Sexual harassment is generally legally defined as “unwelcome verbal, visual, or physical conduct of a sexual nature that is severe or pervasive and affects working conditions or creates a hostile work environment.” To properly understand the legal elements of sexual harassment, it is crucial to analyze the words that constitute this definition.
First, the conduct in question must be “unwelcome.” If the employee has welcomed the sexual conduct in any way, that forms a strong defense for the employer. Thus, the employee would be wise to communicate in writing to the harasser and to the employer that the specific conduct is unwelcome – this kind of paper trail is essential in sexual harassment lawsuits in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Secondly, the sexually harassing conduct must usually be verbal, visual, or physical in order to be actionable, otherwise it becomes too hard to prove that sexual harassment actually occurred. For example, we can’t seriously consider intangible sexual thoughts about an employee as sexual harassment until they are somehow expressed towards that employee, causing him or her serious discomfort. Verbal sexual harassment includes making dirty jokes, sexual innuendos, sexual rumors, sexual verbal threats, or comments about a person’s clothing, body, or sexuality. Visual conduct may consist of passing around sexual photos or pornographic emails, putting up sexual posters or pornographic calendars in the workplace, and drawing sexual pictures and showing them to the victim of sexual harassment. Physical conduct that comprises sexual harassment in California may include sexual touching, groping, molestation, rape, inappropriately blocking the person’s movement around the office, inappropriate hugging, patting a person’s buttocks, or stroking a person’s face or hair. Nonverbal conduct can also rise to the level of sexual harassment if it includes making sexual gestures at a person, perversely looking at a person, or inappropriately following or stalking a victim in the workplace. Nonsexual conduct may also be considered sexual harassment at work if you are hazed, bullied, or otherwise molested in the workplace because of your gender or sexuality, for example for being the only LGBT person at work, or for being the only male teacher in an all female faculty at a school.
Most importantly, the conduct must be severe or pervasive to be considered sexual harassment in California. A single incident of sexual harassment may be sufficient to bring a lawsuit against the perpetrator and the employer if the conduct is particularly egregious and severe, such as rape or sexual assault. Absent such severe conduct, an ongoing pattern of pervasive sexual harassment is required to win a lawsuit. For example, if the sexual harassment conduct occurs often, more than one employee is targeted by the conduct, or the conduct has been going on for months without any redress by the company’s human resources department, then any one of these factors could be sufficient to comprise strong evidence of pervasive sexual harassment.
Finally, to be legally actionable, the sexual harassment conduct must negatively affect the employee’s working conditions or create a hostile work environment. For example, if the employee suffers from serious emotional distress as a result of the sexual harassment and has undergone psychological therapy to treat such distress, if the employer or its managerial staff has denied the employee a promotion or raise because the employee rejected the employer’s or manager’s sexual advances, or if the harassment creates an intimidating, offensive, or hostile work environment for the employee and the employee’s work performance suffers as a direct consequence, then it may be proven that the employee was indeed the victim of sexual harassment at work.
Sexual harassment violates Title VII of the federal 1964 Civil Rights Act, and thus a lawsuit for sexual harassment may be brought in Federal or State Court. Our Palo Alto Sexual Harassment Attorney, Mr. Aly Ebrahimzadeh, Esq., is licensed to practice law in the Federal District Court of Northern California in San Francisco and San Jose, the 9th Circuit US Court of Appeals in San Francisco, the California Supreme Court, and various State Superior Courts in Oakland, Redwood City, Santa Cruz, Marin County, Napa County, and Monterey, California.
Sexual harassment also violates the California Fair Employment and Housing Act or FEHA and potentially other California civil and criminal laws. Of course, employers may not take any punitive or retaliatory actions against an employee who complains of sexual harassment at the workplace. Retaliatory actions such as unwarranted termination, suspension, or discriminatory treatment of the employee may give rise to additional violations of law meant to protect whistleblowers.
We offer aggressive legal representation for Plaintiffs and Defendants in civil lawsuits and criminal defense lawsuits related to sexual harassment in the various California Superior Courts of Northern and Central California, including in Santa Clara County, San Mateo County, San Francisco County, Alameda County, Marin County, Napa County, Santa Cruz County, and Monterey County.
If an employee fails to take certain actions to remedy the sexual harassment at work, it may provide employers more leverage to successfully defend themselves in related lawsuits. Employees should document all sexual harassment conduct in order to create a paper trail for a future lawsuit. Employees should report sexual harassment to their employer in order to provide the employer a fair opportunity to immediately and effectively remedy the illegal conduct in the workplace. Employees would also be wise to review and acquire a copy of their personnel file at work, to file a grievance with their employer, to involve their relevant labor union, and to file a formal sexual harassment complaint with the appropriate governmental agency (such as the EEOC or FEHA) before the relevant statute of limitations runs out, usually a year or less from the date of the sexual harassment act. After the employee files a formal complaint with the relevant governmental agency, he or she may also be able to file a civil lawsuit seeking damages and an injunction against the harasser and the employer. If the sexual harassment conduct includes a criminal act, the employee should immediately report it to the local police or Sheriff’s department.
For an informative discussion on sexual harassment against male victims by women in the workplace, please read our article, “Male Victims of Sexual Harassment Double since 1998, yet a Nevada District Court Shows Sexism in Dismissal of Man’s Case“.
