If your organization's anti-harassment policies aren't protecting against new 24/7 threats, your organization could be next on the EEOC's hit list. From quid pro quo to "textual harassment" to after-work behavior, there are several new "subtle" forms of sexual harassment occurring in today's work environment -- both during -- and after office...
The Supreme Court of Rockland County has held that one instance of sexual favoritism (i.e., appointing a woman with whom the director of hospitals had a romantic relationship to a position) may not violate the county's equal employment opportunity (EEO) policy.
Facts Jovita Catalan, a Rockland County employee,...
A new type of sex discrimination claim is making its way into Ohio's courts. "Sexual favoritism" is based on the theory that employees are unlawfully discriminated against when they are passed over for job benefits in favor of another employee who has a sexual or romantic relationship with the boss.
In the following case...
If Bill Clinton were a CEO, would he have been fired for his foibles? The question typically begets a heated debate over political morality in corporate America, and on a particularly good day, Bill Gates (hint: he married his subordinate). For the astute employer, however, the answer should be knee-jerk: "It depends. What's the...
The recent disclosures about President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky have revealed to the larger public something employment lawyers have known for years: romantic workplace relationships, especially the end of a workplace affair, lead almost inexorably to trouble. Just as Monica Lewinsky demanded a job and sought increased access to her former...
It may seem to employers that in this day and age any type of employment action that is based in any way upon a sexual relationship between employees is a potential violation of federal law. A recent case from the Eleventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Alabama, holds that this is not necessarily the case....
In a recent case from the Eleventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the federal appeals court with authority over Florida, the court refused to extend Title VII protection to a situation involving favoritism for a romantic partner.
Facts
Paul Womack was passed over for a promotion to carrier supervisor at the...
Title VII does not prohibit employment decisions motivated by a supervisor's favoritism toward his paramour. The Tenth Circuit has also recently recognized the same principle in the context of a manager's preference to hire a qualified man over a qualified woman, when the decision is based on the manager's preference to hire...
