Updates on Sexual Harassment - Archives

SECOND QUARTER 2002

This section contains brief updates of recent sexual harassment complaints, suits, settlements, awards, surveys and studies. The information is gathered from many places and is intended to give an overview of the most current events. It is not meant to provide an exhaustive list of all the news.

Women get $30 Million for Grocer Harassment: A jury awarded $30.6 million to six women who said they were subject to violent behavior and sexual harassment by a store director at Ralphs Grocery Co. in San Diego, California. The plaintiffs were awarded $5 million each in punitive damages and a total of $550,000 for pain and suffering, according to Philip Kay, a San Francisco attorney who represented the women. 5/7/02 Full story in the April Webb Webb Report - Subscribe Now!

Sexual Harassment Versus Free Speech: Eugene Volokh, professor of law at the University of California at Los Angeles, said that courts are beginning to recognize that the government is restricting through workplace harassment law, some speech that is protected by the First Amendment. Volokh spoke at the American Bar Association's annual meeting. According to Volokh, management attorneys need to know how to raise a First Amendment defense, and plaintiffs' attorneys need to be aware of the development. 5/1/02 Full story in the March Webb Webb Report - Subscribe Now!

EEOC Announces $47 Million Agreement for Sex Bias : The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced that the agency and attorneys for a class of over 5,000 women have reached an agreement in principle with Rent- A-Center, Inc. to settle two lawsuits alleging class-wide sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The company has agreed to pay a cash settlement of $47,000,000 and to begin making wide-ranging institutional changes. Rent-A-Center, based in Plano, Texas, is the nation's largest rent to own company with over 2,200 stores in all 50 states. 4/22/02 Full story in the April Webb Webb Report - Subscribe Now!

State FEP Says Transsexuality Is Protected: The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination said in two recent rulings that complaints of discrimination against transgendered employees could be brought under state bias laws aimed at both sex and disability bias, but not under a law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The commission ruled in separate cases by male-to-female transsexuals that investigators could consider claims based on sex and disability discrimination because the statutory language does not specifically exclude such claims. However, a claim based on sexual orientation is not possible because "transgender" is not a sexual orientation specifically listed by the statute. 4/09/02 Full story in the March Webb Webb Report - Subscribe Now!

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