Practice Areas
Sexual Harassment, Gender Harassment, Retaliation
Is a manager abusing his power over you? Do you feel unsafe or uncomfortable? Let’s fight power with power.
Harassment based on gender can take the form of sexist comments, insensitivity towards pregnant women, and the most common form, sexual harassment.
Sexual harassment is any unwelcome sexual conduct and can be verbal, visual or physical. It must be severe or pervasive, which means that it must either be quite shocking and grotesque, like an assault, or persistent and relentless, like non-stop requests for nude photos. It is illegal when performed by a manager, or when performed by a coworker while your employer was on notice.
Sexual harassment can make us feel truly scared to go to work. We never quite know what to expect. The harasser may start by innocuously asking us out, and we reject. But too often, it does not stop there. He or she may take your rejection as a personal challenge to “get you.” The harasser may corner you in the office kitchen, may appear behind you and touch you, or make persistent remarks about your looks. The harasser may show you vulgar videos or gift you lingerie.
Even though you have consistently rejected the harasser’s advances, it only seems to encourage him or her to try harder. You may be scared to report a harasser. You may feel a little embarrassed or ashamed. Hopefully, when you report the harasser, the behavior stops or the person is fired. But too often, it only gets worse from there. If the person you report is important to the company (like upper management or a rainmaker) the company may want to silence or dismiss you. They may fire you and try to buy your silence. The company may extensively question and challenge you only to inform you that they found “no evidence.” They may counterattack and suddenly find a bunch of problems with your work. Or they may just completely ignore you.
By reporting the harasser, often the harasser or other managers will retaliate, which would be illegal.
You don’t have to go through this alone. This can be an extremely isolating and lonely experience as we may need to disclose and discuss events that are traumatic or give you the creeps to even think about. Exposing this conduct can feel extremely scary as you may believe you are opening yourself up for attack, judgment and ridicule, and you have already gone through so much.
We know what this feels like.
We will listen to you and be there for you like no other lawyer would.
In need of a California sexual harassment attorney? We understand that your experience needs unique care, and we will inform you of all of the different ways we can help you. Then it is up to you to make a decision you are comfortable with. Step one is to contact us. You don’t have to decide anything today. Just start by sharing your story with us, and we will listen.
