Patricia is one of the 52 farm workers that Human Rights Watch interviewed for a new report released Wednesday, this is her story;

Patricia M. came to the U.S. from Mexico when she was 21-years-old, and found a job harvesting almonds. On her third day, the foreman took Patricia to a remote field, where she says he tied her hands with her bandanna to the grip above the truck door, he then got on top of her, stripped her naked, and raped her.  Due to the fear of losing her job, Patricia kept silent, and continued to work at the same farm, “I was afraid they would put me in jail,” she said. “I was afraid they would send me back to Mexico, because I was illegal,” she states. Patricia soon found out she was pregnant, and it was then, she sought help from a social service agency.

Undocumented Immigrants are protected under the Federal and Florida law, which prohibit sexual harassment, and are entitled to workplace protection under U.S. law.   In the report, Human Rights Watch states that it appears that the federal government’s interest in deporting undocumented workers often outweighs its desire to protect them from abuse. Human Rights Watch calls for strengthened legal protections for immigrant farmworkers, not only for the safety of the undocumented workers, but also to seek prosecution of those who perpetrate such abuse.

If you feel like you have been sexually harassed, please contact us.

Romantic relationships can be a minefield for companies, causing a major upheaval which can expose them to lawsuits and loss of jobs amongst employees.

At Best Buy, Brian Dunn, a 52-year-old CEO  was allegedly having a romantic relationship with a 29-year-old female employee.  Coincidentally, Mr. Dunn left the position of CEO at Best Buy around the same time that an in depth investigation was being conducted.  The investigation published last week, stated that Mr. Dunn showed “extremely poor judgement” and a “lack of professionalism.”

If you feel you have been a victim of sexual harassment in your  workplace, contact us.

Her face framed by a white scarf covering her head and hair Susann Bashir grew sad Friday afternoon recalling her final encounter with a former boss.

Ms. Bashir said she had already endured years of harassment by co-workers, and had started pursuing a religious discrimination case against her employer when her supervisor, during a routine meeting in his office, snatched her scarf and exposed her hair.  Ms. Bashir worked as a fiber optics network builder for more than ten years.  Ms. Bashir said she endured religious discrimination nearly every day of the last three years she worked in the Company’s downtown Kansas City office.

Ms. Bashir sued, and this week a Jackson County jury awarded Ms. Bashir $120,000.00 in lost wages, and $5 million in punitive damages against Southwestern Bell/AT&T.  However, Ms. Bashir will receive much less than $5 million, because Missouri law caps such awards at five times the actual damage amount, plus attorney’s fees.

AT&T said Friday, that it disagrees with the verdict and plans to appeal.

Ms. Bashir said she hopes her case will make other employers more sensitive and quicker to respond to complaints like hers.

“I hope others who get discriminated against won’t feel so vulnerable,” she said. “They will know they can speak up.”

A study conducted at The University of Manchester and Monash University, Melbourne, was published in the International Journal of Obesity, examined whether a recently developed measure of anti-fat prejudice, the universal measure of bias (UMB), predicted actual obesity job discrimination.

“Participants viewed a series of resumes that had a small photo of the job applicant attached, and were asked to make ratings of the applicants suitability, starting salary, and employability,” said Dr. O’Brien.  “We used pictures of women pre-and post-bariatric surgery, and varied whether participants saw either a resume that had a picture of an obese female (BMI 38-41) attached, or the same female but in a normal weight range (BMI 22-24) following bariatric surgery.”

Dr. O’Brien said one interpretation of this finding might be that we feel better about our own bodies if we compare ourselves to, and discriminate against, fatter people.  “The results suggest that a belief in the superiority of some individuals over others is related to the perception that obese individuals deserve fewer privileges and opportunities, than non-fat individuals ,” he said.

Dr. O’Brien added that “there is a clear need to address obesity discrimination, particularly against females, who tend to bear the brunt of anti-fat prejudice.”

Such discrimination raises legal issues of disability discrimination.  Additionally, where there is a clear bias against females that are obese obvious gender discrimination issues arise.

If you feel like you have been discriminated against at your workplace, please contact us.

The Workplace Bullying Institute (WBI), a Bellingham, Washington nonprofit organization, defines bullying as, repeated health-harming mistreatment of a target by one or more perpetrators, including verbal abuse and offensive non-verbal conduct.

A  2011 survey by CareerBuilder similarly found that 29% of workers age 55 and older said they had been bullied on the job, compared with 25% for the 35-44 age group.  The statistics show a disproportionate number of older workers reporting the problem, and it comes as no surprise to Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human Resources at CareerBuilder. “Mature workers are more likely to have an expertise, and more likely to have the confidence to come forward with their views.”

What does bullying look like?

Consider these recent stories from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission:

• Robert Coffman, a heating and air conditioning technician for the City of North Richland Hills, Texas, was 56 when hired. During his six-year employment, he endured taunts from his supervisors that he was too old to keep up, was too old to do his job, and was earning too much money. When Mr. Coffman complained, management did nothing. The bullying continued until Coffman felt forced to leave the job at age 62. In 2009 the City settled his claim of age-based harassment, and paid him $75,000.

• Mary Bassi, a waitress, in her 50’s in the summer of 2005 when a 30-something manager started referring to her as “old,” making negative comments about her age, and hiring younger women to work her shifts. Ms. Bassi was fired without explanation at the age of 56. In January 2011, the EEOC case was resolved, and the Club was forced to pay Ms. Bassi $60,000 for age discrimination and wrongful discharge.

Feeling bullied ? There is a way to fight back.

Here is how you can fight back against workplace abuse:

• Take care of you. Check and protect your physical and mental health first. Seek medical help if necessary.

• Write it down. “Keep track of what was said or done, and who was present,” Ms.Haefner says. “The more specifics you can provide, the stronger the case you can make for yourself when confronting the bully head on, or reporting the bully to a company authority.”  Look for internal company policies (for example, zero tolerance of harassment or violence) that may have been violated.

• Brace yourself. There may be retaliation ahead, and you should be prepared for it.

• Talk to an attorney.  If after reporting the abuse to someone in authority or human resources, and the abuse continues, you are retaliated against for reporting the abuse, or terminated, seek the advice of an experienced labor and employment attorney.

• Update your résumé. You may have to find a new job. It can’t hurt to start searching.

To read more on workplace bullying please visit; http://www.aarp.org/work/on-the-job/info-12-2011/work-bullying.html

An employer who discriminates against an employee or applicant on the basis of the person’s gender identity, is violating the prohibition on sex discrimination contained in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, according to an opinion issued on April 23, 2012 by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).  The opinion, experts say, could dramatically alter the legal landscape for transgender workers across the Nation.

The opinion came in a decision delivered on Monday, April 23, to Mia Macy, a transgender woman, who claims she was denied employment with the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) after the Agency learned of her transition.  Ms. Macy said that the discrimination she faced after having gone through the background check for a job as a ballistics technician was abrupt. She had applied as a man before transitioning, and she states, ”Within three days after my background [check] was completed, they alerted the lab that Mia would be coming to work.”  Then, Ms. Macy was notified that the position was no longer available, due to federal budget constraints.   She later found out that another person had been hired for the position.  Ms. Macy relates that before she even knew about the other person being hired; she ”didn’t think something was right.”

The EEOC decision was issued without objection by the five-member bipartisan Commission, and will apply to all EEOC enforcement and litigation activities at the Commission, and in its fifty-three (53) field offices throughout the Country.  It will be binding in all federal agencies and departments.