San Francisco Employment Attorney Blog

Following a woman's allegations that a Congressman sexually harassed her, top members from the House Ethics Committee pane said the case required further review. Another staff member the congressman serves with leveled the accusations against the 75-year-old Congressman in 2011.

Sexual harassment cases can involve a variety of elements. Sadly, this one involved unwanted physical contact.

Our last post discussed a recent sexual harassment case from California. In the case, a woman, Shannon, observed what she considered to be sexually offensive conduct. However, she did not report it to anyone. Later, when she received an email in which she was referred to in sexually vulgar terms, she reported it.

Shannon then started asking her co-workers whether the employee who wrote the email had harassed other people in the past. When she learned about previous sexual harassment toward clients, she reported that as well.

Her co-worker was given a reprimanding letter, and a sexual harassment specialist was brought into the company. Shannon, however, didn't think the company was doing enough. She announced that she was quitting and requested a compensation package for the harassment.

Most employees and employers know that a hostile work environment can be grounds for a sexual harassment lawsuit. But what exactly constitutes a hostile work environment? The state Court of Appeals in California recently provided a ruling that has specific details to answer that question.

In the landmark case, an employee -- we'll refer to her as Shannon -- began working at an advertising agency as an assistant media planner in 1991. She rose steadily through the company's ranks, and when she resigned from the company in January 2005, she was the vice president.

Between 2000 and 2005, a woman working in the maintenance department at a housing company claims she was groped by a co-worker in the presence of other employees. She recently came forward with her complaint, making her the fifth employee to report sexual harassment while working for this company. Similar cases have been filed in California courtrooms.

The woman stated that she went to lunch in the shop, and she was grabbed in her chest and shaken by a male coworker as soon as she came into the door. She repeatedly asked him to stop, but he refused. When a supervisor walked by and saw the harassment, he told the female employee to ask the male to stop. He followed that up by telling the male to leave her alone, and he walked away without ensuring the matter had been resolved.

Some California sexual harassment cases may uncover something other than the alleged sexual harassment that took place. A computer company's CEO was accused of sexual harassment against an event hostess. The CEO's lawyers tried to keep from providing the letter during discovery, but the court said that the letter did not contain trade secrets, and the content was only mildly embarrassing, so it was not protected from disclosure to the public.

The letter alleged several things, including that the CEO showed the hostess his bank account that held more than $1 million and that the event hostess was hired to go with the CEO to out of town events. It also alleged that the CEO made it clear that a sexual relationship with the woman was expected, and that the CEO used his status at the company in an attempt to have a sexual relationship with her.

According to a 30-year-old woman who used to be a Golden State Warrior employee, a California NBA celebrity committed sexual harassment against her by sending sexually suggestive photos on a cellphone.

The woman, who used to direct the Warriors' public relations, claims photos were sent to her between November 2010 and January 2011, and he asked questions about what she was wearing and doing. She said a total of 61 text messages were sent throughout those months, including a photo of what he claimed were his genitalia.

Her attorney stated that she told the man she was not interested in him, and added that the woman never had a sexual relationship with the NBA player.

Sexual harassment claims are up in military schools over the last year. Authorities stated that officials are encouraging victims to report the crimes committed against them. One school had 20 more reports of sexual harassment than the year before, but five of those happened before the reporters entered military service.

California is also encouraging victims to report sexual harassment at work or school. This leads to the question of whether there is more sexual harassment in the workplace or if victims are actually reporting sexual harassment crimes that previously went unreported.

It seems as though there are some professions in California that continually attract sexual harassment claims. The police and fire departments in several cities have faced multiple sexual harassment claims. In each claim, women have argued that they were denied promotions or given unfavorable shifts, and that male co-workers with less seniority were given promotions.

It's a common story, but why? Is it because those are professionals traditionally filled by men, or is there another story? We have no way of knowing. However, one thing is certain: When women are sexually harassed or retaliated against in the workplace, the male authorities who ignore or instigate the harassment need to be held accountable.

Unfortunately, we have another story about a female police officer in California who was sexually harassed.