Sexual harassment lawsuit filed by Loius Jenson v.

Eleveth was a first sexual harassment lawsuit given class action status.It took her over 20 years of battle before she found justice .This lawsuit is a great groundbreaker in sexual harrasment law . The movie North Country is based on a Jensons true story and a book, Class Action: The Story Of Loius Jenson and the Landmark Case That Changed Sexual harrasmment Law,by Clara Bingam and Laura Leedy Gansler. Josey Aimes(Charlize Theron),took a job at a Minnesota mines.The job was hard, and was occupied mostly by men. However,the pay was good and Aimes had two children to support,so she did not think twice. Before Affirmative Action many women and minorities ,were excluded from many diffrent jobs.However,after Affirmative Action,just like,Jenson,many women although were allowed to get a "mens" job, they all had to fight for respect and equality. She and her other female coworkers were being constantly harrased and intimidated by men. Men's behavior was extremly inappropriate and what nowdays would be absolutely intolerable.For instance,when one females tries to use outhouse,she was trapped , rocked and then tipped over by the men.Jenson, confirmed that the movie had depicted many of the real life events precisely.Women were a constant target for lewd jokes,verbal abuse,stalikng.When Aimes first started working at the mine,she received a few indicent comments,but she did not take it too seriously. In a real life,a lot of women ignore or prefer to ignore these fisrt signs of harrasment.For instance ,when when Baldwin(Baldwin v.Blue Cross) was first clled by his boss "babe' ,she ignored it.She then was targeted by her boss for the second time;he offered her to spend a night together,although he was married.These harrasments continued to happen for a few months thereafter,but Baldwin did not report the any harrasment.When she finally did filed a complaint,she was not belived,in fact,she was terminated from her job. There are a number of reasons why victims do not file sexual harrasment claims: fear of losing a job,embarrassment,a belief that nothing can be change.According to statistics ,only 5% to 15% of women who have been harrassed formally reported about it to the employment agencies such as Equal Employment Opporunity Commission . However,unlike other women at the mine,Aimes decides to speak out about harassment after witnessing her female friends being harrased and after being stalked by her coworker,she turns to her boss,but receives no support.Neither does she recieves support from her family or community. Her female coworkers were too afraid to speak up or support her because it would result in lose of their jobs. The abuses become worse and worse after her complains,Aimes was sexually abused by her coworker.She was fed up and decided to sue the mine. In a real life ,it took Jenson a few years to only find a lawer who would be willing to take such a case and took her even longer to win the case.At first she filed her lawsuit with the Department of Human Rights.But the Eleveth refused to agree on the terms and pay her for the abuse she had sufferred.However,Jenson was not ready to give up.sShe was eager to fight and make a change .A few years later her case went on trial in Federal Court. After three humiliating

trials,the lawsuit was finally settled and paid Jenson and two other women that joined the case,3,5 million dollars. The most powerful moment of the movie,I believe,was when at the last trial,women were standing up one after another in order to testify against sexual harrassment.They were finally ready to resist the abuse at the workplace.I belive it is important to stand up and speak up for what you believe in.Loius Jenson did and her courage had made a signifficant change in women's lives. Jenson won a lawsuit and because of this case ,employers from all over the country now institute anti-harrasment policies in order to provide safer envornment for their empoyees. After lawsuit Jenson v.Eleveth ,it became easir for employees to file sexual harrassmnet lawsuits .In 1997,16,000 charges were filed .In 2007,there were 12,510 charges.Both numbers include men and women.In 1998 The Supreme Court made emploers more liable for sexual harrasment of their employes. Nowdays about 93% of the companies have a writeen sexual harrasment policy and 62% offer sexual harrasment prevention programs.(www.sexualharrsmentsupport.org).

Part - 2

Sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when submission of such conduct is made a requirement or condition of employment, submission to or rejection of such conduct is used as a basis for employment or such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an employees work performance and creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment. Sexual discrimination differs from gender discrimination based on the idea that sexual discrimination can be unwelcome by male or female and sexual advances of any type are used by the violator, whether physical or verbal. Gender discrimination has nothing to do with sexual advances, but is completely based upon the idea that the victim is of a male or female gender. Quid Pro Quo is basically any unwelcome advances, requests for sexual favors or any other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. One example of this type of harassment is in an educational setting. A student may be made to believe that these sexual advances or requests are to be accepted in order to participate in an activity or program. These requests would be made by the professor of a University setting or a Teacher in a school environment. The teacher would

use his or her authority or power to persuade the student to welcome the requests in order to be successful and pass within the educational program. Another good example would be a supervisor or a work center supervisor, in an employment situation, who would lead an employee to believe that either he or she in order to be promoted or advance within the department or organization, the sexual advances or requests are the terms or conditions and must be agreed upon. In order for sexual harassment to exist, there are six specific requirements that must be met. The employee that is alleging the sexual harassment must be in a protected class. The complaint must be gender related. This meaning that, for example, if the victim had not been a woman, the harassment would not have happened. The employee must not have consented to the advances or participated in the hostile work environment. The harassment must be based on sex. Sex, meaning that the advances or requests involved a sexual favor or a sexual act. The complaint must be such that it significantly affected the employees job performance. Lastly, the harassment must have occurred in a work related environment, making the employer liable for such conduct. Unreasonable behavior is also sexual intimidation that is either verbal or non-verbal and subjects members of either sex to humiliation, embarrassment or even discomfort. This may also include making stereotypical remarks about person ability, and authorizing different work assignments based on the sex of the employee, segregating employees into a same sex group or using cartoons or illustrations in the work place to intimidate the victim. A situation that may be considered severe or pervasive would be one of displaying pornographic material or illustrations of a sexual nature within the workplace, such as a cubicle or computer screen saver, magazines and jokes. These situations must be of a frequent nature, entail humiliation or a physical threat and also interfere with the work environment or an employees work performance. What is unwelcome behavior? Unwelcome behavior conduct is constituted by the fact that the recipient did not initiate it and regards the conduct as offensive. Consensual conduct is not considered harassment therefore, is not unwelcomed conduct. Unwelcome behavior or conduct may occur depending on the recipients reaction to the suggestion, remark or advance. Fleet Readiness Center Mid-Atlantic Sexual Harassment Policy Draft: As the Human Resource Director, I would like to submit the following draft or outline for you our new Sexual Harassment Company Policy. This draft contains all of the essential elements thats should needed for the company. 1. We need a clear statement of the organizations position on sexual harassment. 2. Include the definition of sexual harassment so that it is made clear to all employees. 3. Include the conditions under which conduct is considered harassing.

4. Include steps by step or procedures that employees should take if they experience or witness any sexual harassment in the workplace. 5. Included is the consequences and penalties for such conduct when the sexual harassment policy is violated. 6. Include the procedure for investigating a claim and resolution for the complaint. All employees need to be informed and educated on the definition and also the severity of sexual harassment in the work place. As an organization, we are responsible for providing the education, tools and protocol to be used and followed. Our goal is not only to manage existing complaints or problem areas but education so that these complaints and situations do not exist. Education of our employees is the key to preventing the unacceptable conduct in our work environment. I recommended quarterly sexual harassment awareness training to all company employees.

@ 2nd Mail
It all began when Bhanwari Devi, a saathin or village-level worker in Bateri in Rajasthan's Bassi tehsil took a stand, risking her life and her family's, showing extraordinary courage in the face of a social boycott after five men raped her in 1992 when she tried to stop a child marriage. But she stood her ground. The incident changed her life and shaped the women's movement in Rajasthan. The most frightening part was that the heinous crime was committed to teach Bhanwari Devi a lesson for exposing a child marriage in the village. The five accused took it almost like a challenge to hurt Bhanwari Devi. 18 years on, Bhanwari Devis fight for justice continues. But after that day on September 22, 1992, the movement managed one significant victory, the Vishakha judgment of August 1997. The verdict, on a PIL filed by Vishakha and four other women's groups in Rajasthan against the State and the Union of India, provided the basic definitions of sexual harassment at the workplace and also laid down guidelines for dealing with it. Sexual Harassment affects all women in some form or the other. Lewd remarks, touching, wolfwhistles, looks are part of any womans life, so much so that it is dismissed as normal. Working women are no exception. In fact, working women most commonly face the backlash to women taking new roles, which belong to male domains within patriarchy. Sexual Harassment at work is

an extension of violence in everyday life and is discriminatory, exploitative, thriving in atmosphere of threat, terror and reprisal. What Is Sexual Harassment?? The Honble Supreme Court of India in its Vishakha guidelines defines sexual harassment as any unwelcome sexually determined behaviour such as: Physical contact and advances, A demand or request for sexual favour, Sexually coloured remarks, Showing pornography, and Any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of a sexual nature. Sexual Harassment takes place if a person: subjects another person to an unwelcome act of physical intimacy, like grabbing, brushing, touching, pinching etc. makes an unwelcome demand or request (whether directly or by implication) for sexual favours from another person, and further makes it a condition for employment/payment of wages/increment/promotion etc. makes an unwelcome remark with sexual connotations, like sexually explicit compliments/cracking loud jokes with sexual connotations/ making sexist remarks etc. shows a person any sexually explicit visual material, in the form of pictures/cartoons/pinups/calendars/screen savers on computers/any offensive written material/pornographic e-mails, etc. engages in any other unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature, which could be verbal, or even non-verbal, like staring to make the other person uncomfortable, making offensive gestures, kissing sounds, etc. To give you an idea of what happens, how it happens, and what are the repercussions of sexual harassment, I have put together a couple of case studiesA) Sneha is a Tax Assistant in a Government Department. Like her colleagues, Sneha sends and receives dozens of email messages everyday. The vast majority are work-related, with the occasional personal note from parents or an old friend. Though the department discourages personal use of email accounts, everyone does it. Lunch invitations, office gossip and social announcements are routine.

One day Sneha received an intriguing message labeled "You..." from an unidentified source. When the rest of the message read,." ..turn me on," Sneha wondered who sent it. Though attractive, Sneha is currently single and has been for some time. A few days later, Sneha received another message from the mysterious source, this one an embarrassing description of her physical attributes. Irritated, Sneha ignored the unwanted attention and hoped that it would stop. Instead, the messages began to occur more frequently and got more offensive. Sneha had trouble concentrating on her work as she wondered who was harassing her and why. She began to feel uncomfortable in the office and viewed her co-workers suspiciously. She considered telling her supervisor, but worried about being teased or labeled a troublemaker. When she finally dared to confide in a co-worker, she told Sneha that she was lucky to have a "fan!!! Ultimately fed up, Sneha brought this matter to the notice of a colleague who was posted to Vigilance Section, who also incidentally happened to be a member of the committee created to handle cases of sexual harassment of women at the work place. Knowing that much could not be expected from the department, which is yet to come of age to deal with such matters; this colleague decided to act in a novel manner. The computer used by Sneha was publicly withdrawn under panchnama with lot of hue and cry to attract maximum attention and was locked up in the Vigilance section. Thereafter, there were lots of talks in the section that the same was handed over to the Forensic Department for detailed investigations and that the IP addressees of all the email messages were being tracked. There were talks that disciplinary action would be initiated against the guilty person invoking major penalty and also that steps to file a criminal complaint would also be in the offing! Soon enough, frightened by the talks, Arun, another Tax Assistant, confessed that he was the one sending the emails as he was angry with Sneha who had scolded him for not doing his job properly! A formal complaint was lodged by Sneha and the case was handed over to the Committee for women, which was already in place following the guidelines issued by the Honble SC in the Vishaka case. The HOD was informed about Aruns behaviour and he was placed under immediate suspension stating that disciplinary proceedings were being contemplated against him. The matter is still being heard at the time of writing. Another case which came up on a HR site posted by a member was a real shocker! B. One of my friends lost his job on sexual harassment falsely foisted against him. An allegation is made by his own subordinate, since my friend is very strict where his job is concerned. About my friend: He is in the HR field for more than 10 years. Due to his excellent performance, he had a very good career growth. About two years back he joined a Co (say X). During his confirmation, he got a promotion with almost 90% inc. in salary. This has created lot of unpleasantness among other employees. There were two subordinates working under him, both were female employees. About the subordinate (Say S1) :

a. This was her first job and she had just joined the company. b. She was not sincere in her job and her efforts in learning were also very poor. c. He has advised her number of times to improve her performance. d. She is a spinster. About another subordinate (S2) : a. She had prior experience and was good at work. b. she has taken his advice in right spirit and improved her performance. c. She is a married girl. Issue: They would very often have get-togethers in their section. During one such get-together, these two subordinates along with a Security Manager (not my friend) took some photographs. S1 informed S2 that she would send a photograph after cropping (removing her picture) to her husband. S2 got annoyed and complained about it to the HR Manager (my friend). He started conducting enquiry on this issue. All of a sudden, S1 sent a letter (dated well prior to the incident) to the GM of the Unit alleging that she was being sexually harassed by HR Manager. He was asked to submit his resignation. Since he refused to submit his resignation and demanded for enquiry, they conducted a third party enquiry and based on the report, they dismissed him. The enquiry was also a biased one, since he was not given any opportunity to cross-examine the opposite parties. After end of the enquiry and before he was served the dismissal order, he made a representation to the Enquiry Officer about the availability of some more proof (mails sent by GM to the Operations Head about his refusal of submitting resignation and whether to terminate him. These mails were sent well before the conduction of the enquiry). The most important part was that although the company had a Sexual Harassment Committee as required by the statute, no complaint was made to the Committee and no enquiry was also conducted by them! From the above case, it is obvious that sexual harassment is not limited to women alone, but since men are not sensitive to harassing behavior that women (or at least feminists) construe as harassment, its not surprising that they are not filing many harassment complaints. It is seen that many a times the female bosses and managers exploit their power over men in the office and male victims are more likely to complain of second kind of harassment - where a female manager treats women more favourably than men or criticises male employees more regularly. One thing is sure that for most people, a sexual-harassment case can equal a nightmare, no matter which side they find themselves fighting on! Existing Laws for Sexual Harassment Laws under Indian Penal Code (IPC)

 Section 209: Obscene acts and songs, to the annoyance of others like: a) does any obscene act in any public place or b) sings, recites or utters any obscene song, ballad or words in or near any public place. Punishment: Imprisonment for a term up to 3 months or fine, or both. (Cognizable, bailable and triable offense) Section 354: Assault or use of criminal force on a woman with intent to outrage her modesty. Punishment: 2 years imprisonment or fine, or both Section 376: Rape Punishment: Imprisonment for life or 10 years and fine Section 509: Uttering any word or making any gesture intended to insult the modesty of a woman Punishment: Imprisonment for 1 year, or fine, or both. (Cognizable and bailable offense) Some of the History-making cases of Sexual Harassment, world-wide are as listed belowBill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky: Perhaps the most famous Presidential scandal in our times, Bill Clinton's affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky escalated far beyond the Oval Office. Eventually, he became the second U.S. president to face an impeachment trial. Bill Clinton and Paula Jones: As governor of Arkansas, former President Bill Clinton allegedly "propositioned [Paula Jones] and exposed himself to her in a Little Rock hotel room," as reported by The Washington Post. Clinton never admitted to the sexual-harassment charges, despite the "brutal legal and public-relations battle" which ensued during the mid-1990s. The case was resurrected in the public eye during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Japanese Beard Pluckers: A female employee in Japan complained that her boss sexually harassed her when he "forced [her] to pluck his beard." According to the Legal Herald, the man "was fined $5,000 for his conduct." Deepak Chopra v. Joyce Weaver: Writer, doctor and spiritualist Deepak Chopra was involved in a set of hearings and a trial case instigated by former employee Joyce Weaver, who claimed "that she was wrongfully terminated because she had accused Chopra of sexual harassment." After only 10 minutes, the jury dismissed the case and found Chopra innocent