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24 - The Consequences of Failing to Complain about Harassment

from PART II - SEXUAL HARASSMENT

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2016

Joanna L. Grossman
Affiliation:
Maurice A. Deane School of Law, Hofstra University, New York
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Summary

Christine Hawk alleges that her supervisor subjected her to sexual harassment. She had attended an antiharassment training seminar and was aware of the company's antiharassment policy. However, she waited nine months before filing a formal complaint about her harassment with her employer. (She did, however, alert the company earlier than she was experiencing harassment, without providing any details.)

Why did Hawk wait? She says she feared she would lose her job if she complained. She was intimidated by her supervisor, the alleged harasser, and believed he controlled her future with the company.

Does Hawk's delay mean her case must be dismissed? A federal district court in Philadelphia said no in her case, Hawk v. Americold Logistics. In so ruling, it joined a number of other courts that have ruled similarly, forming a modest, if important, trend. It also raised other interesting and significant legal questions about how the Supreme Court's framework in cases of alleged hostile environment harassment should be applied.

HAWK'S ALLEGATIONS

Christine Hawk began work at Americold Logistics in June 1999, as a temporary employee, making pallets. By the end of that year, she was given a permanent position as a forklift driver. During the majority of her employment with the company, Hawk was directly supervised by Jack Bambary.

According to Hawk's deposition testimony, Bambary began a course of harassment that continued from her first month of work to her last. (Bambary denies this.) She says he made sexual comments to her, paged her daily, made unannounced visits to her home, recited his affections for her, called her into the office under false pretenses, questioned her about conversations she had with other men at work, sent her sexually suggestive e-mails, and told her he wanted to have sex with her in his chair. On one occasion, he grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him, insisting she kiss him; on another occasion, he shoved her up against a wall and demanded sex.

Early on, Hawk told another supervisor she was being harassed by someone, but did not name him for fear she would be fired – a risk she could not afford to take, given her financial status and obligations as a single parent. Nine months later, however, she filed a formal complaint with the company's human resources manager.

Type
Chapter
Information
Nine to Five
How Gender, Sex, and Sexuality Continue to Define the American Workplace
, pp. 140 - 145
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2016

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