Best Ohio Sexual Harassment Lawyer Answers: What should I do if my boss grabs my ass and touches me sexually? Can I sue my employer if my manager gropes my breasts once? Do I have a good wrongful termination claim if I was fired by the owner for reporting that my supervisor was sexually harassing me?
There are a lot of women that work very hard in the restaurant industry. Some are in their young 20s just trying to bridge the gap until they land a better job. There are single mothers, who work long hours to make sure that their kids are fed and have the best life possible. And, there are restaurant veterans – those women that have been slinging hash for 20 or 30 years and know you as a regular when you walk in the door.
With these women in mind, an article on Eater.com caught my eye earlier this week. The story was about Lauren Jones, a server at Sonny’s BBQ in Charlotte. She was working behind the counter when her boss grabbed her ass. Now, as regular readers of our employment attorneys‘ blog is aware, isolated incidents never to be severe in order to trigger a claim of employment discrimination or harassment under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or Ohio’s R.C. § 4112.02(A) – which protect employees from race/color, religion, gender, and national origin discrimination. (See Is It Sexual Harassment If My Male Boss Physically Grabs Me Once? Best Lawyer Reply! My Boss Is Touching Me. Am I Being Sexually Harassed?; Can I Sue My Employer If My Boss Made Racist Comments?; and Can I Sue If My Boss Racially Discriminated Once? I Need A Lawyer!).
Was a singular grope of a butt cheek sexual harassment? Maybe or maybe not depending on the court and the jury, but our employment law lawyers would take the case every time and fight like hell.
After the manager’s game of grab ass the waitress, Jones, reported the conduct. According to her account, “They at first wanted me to tell my side of the story, but when I tried to, I got cut off by the owner. He wouldn’t even let me get what happened in. We don’t want you to quit, we’re terminating you right now.” Apparently, the employer valued the long term manager more than the employee that complained about being groped less than one month into the job. If this is true, the employer has serious problems because employment retaliation cases are even easier to prove in most cases than the underlying employment discrimination or harassment claims, as our lawyers have blogged about before. (Who Can I Sue For Retaliation At Work?; and Top Sexual Harassment Attorney Reply: What Constitutes Retaliation For Reporting Sexual Harassment?)
By now, employers should know that the worst thing that they can do, even if they think the report is unfounded, is retaliate against an employee, including committing wrongful termination of that employee.
Even more concerning is that this article cited and linked to a study about sexual harassment at restaurants. According to this study, almost 70 percent of all women working as employees in restaurants “experienced some form of sexual harassment.” Breaking this down, the study revealed that of these women restaurant workers 75 percent reported it occurring on monthly basis while 64 percent said occurred at least weekly. At the same time, almost 50 percent of men working as employees in restaurants “experienced some form of sexual harassment.”
I know our there is some guy saying something stupid about uniforms like those warn at Hooters are just invitations to be “affectionate” of flirt; or that if she wants it she has to earn her tip. Again, our dedicated employment have blogged about employers being responsible for protecting their employees from discriminatory or sexual harassment . (See See Retaliation: Now That’s A Lot Of Waffles! | Spitz, The Employee’s Law Firm; Race Discrimination: Customers Are Not Always Right ; and Race Discrimination: Customers Are Not Always Right (Part 3)).
Sexual harassment is unlawful under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and similar Ohio laws. Sexual harassment is a form of gender discrimination. If you feel that you are being sexually harassed or are working in a sexually charged or hostile working environment, you should not wait to call the right attorney at 866-797-6040 to schedule a free and confidential consultation. At Spitz, The Employee’s Law Firm, you will meet with a sexual harassment lawyer/hostile work environment attorney to find out what your legal rights are and the best way to protect them. Sexual harrassment is a form of gender discrimination, and employers should be held accountable if they discriminate against female workers in any fashion – but particularly for sexual harrassment. It does not matter if you have been wrongfully fired or are still employed, there is no reason to wait to find out what your legal rights are and how to protect yourself from sexual harassment and gender discrimination.
Disclaimer:
The materials available at the top of this page and at this gender discrimination, wrongful termination, and sex harassment law website are for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. If you are still asking “what should I do …”, “I’m being sexually harassed …” “my supervisor grabbed my…”, “my boss is touching…,” “I’ve been wrongfully terminated,” or “how do I …”, your best course is to contact an Ohio sexual harassment attorney/hostile work environment lawyer to obtain advice with respect to sexual harassment/hostile work environment questions or any particular employment law issue. Use and access to this employment law website or any of the links contained within the site do not create an attorney-client relationship. The legal opinions expressed at the top of this page or through this employment law website are the opinions of the individual lawyer and may not reflect the opinions of Spitz, The Employee’s Law Firm, Brian Spitz, or any individual attorney.