:mad:

I live in Illinois. My wife works as a sales rep. A customer of hers is sexually harassing her and threatining to pull his sales orders if she does not go out with him. My first inclination is to kick the crap out of the guy. However, bruises heal and I want to leave the guy with something permanent like a losing his job or a law suit.

Over one hundred people work at the place where this occurred and I am not sure if it is incorporated or privately held. (If that makes any difference.)

Is what this guy doing legal? Any suggestions would be helpful.

She needs to specifically tell him to stop (if she hasn't already) and then speak to managment. They need to be aware of this.

This isn't a stumper at all.

No, what he is doing is called sexual harassment and it is not legal.

It's slightly more complicated by the fact that he is not employed by the same employer as your wife. However, what your wife wants to do is IMMEDIATELY report what is happening to her HR department, or whomever it is that her company's procedures call for her to report to. They are required by law to take action, which in this case will probably involve reporting what she's said to HIS employer.

She needs to exhaust her internal resources first. But IF, after a reasonable length of time, nothing has happened, she can file a complaint with the EEOC and/or the state human rights commission. She CANNOT file a lawsuit until she has a right-to-sue letter from one or the other agency.

Thanks. I'll make sure that she reports this right away. My gutt feeling is that the guy will just deny the accusation anyway and stop doing business with her company because he will be pissed and embarassed.

What will the other company do anyway? :confused:

If you're asking me what they WILL do, I don't know. (My crystal ball is out for cleaning) :)

If you're asking me what they SHOULD do, they SHOULD immediately perform an investigation to see whether there is any credibility to the complaint.

If you're asking what they are REQUIRED to do, it's to make any illegally harassing behavior stop.

What will the other company do anyway?

Nobody here can say but I can tell you that I handled a situation exactly like this once upon a time in the reverse - a female purchasing agent (our employee) informed us that an outside sales rep was sexually harassing her. She was an excellent employee and quite credible so I called the other company's VP of HR and informed him of the situation. What that company did regarding their sales rep was entirely up to them. At our end, we insisted that they assign a different rep to our account immediately, which they did.

cbg is correct - your wife needs to immediately report the harassment to her manager and to HR. What YOU should absolutely not do under any circumstances is get involved in this situation yourself and you certainly should not assault the guy. I know this is your wife but you have no legal standing here. The matter is between your wife, her employer, the customer, and their employee. If you get involved, it's going to put your wife's job in jeopardy and change the focus from the customer who's harassing her to your behavior.

Beth's right.





But just as a metaphysical question, what type of legal system have we created where a spouse is left with absolutely no way to help protect their wife or husband from harassment?

While walking down the street in NYC one day with my wife (I was carrying something and walking ten feet behind her), a guy sitting on the sidewalk yelled something vulgar at her and suggested that she would make a good prostitute.

It left me feeling pretty powerless. I let him have it (verbally) but I really wanted to be able to do more than that to stand up for my wife. Unfortunately in my profession getting arrested for assault/battery is the type of thing that can end your career, so I had to settle for yelling at him and some veiled threats, and even THAT constituted criminal menacing...

It's a very troubling issue from a legal theory perspective. The spouse lacks both the right to physically intervene, and usually lacks the legal standing to file a lawsuit. Essentially, they are deprived of the fundamental right to protect their loved ones.

But just as a metaphysical question, what type of legal system have we created where a spouse is left with absolutely no way to help protect their wife or husband from harassment? I understand what you're saying but since the illegal harassment is connected with the victim's employment, it seems to me it's entirely appropriate for the employer (not the spouse) to be responsible for and liable for ensuring the harassment ceases.

Speaking as a female, there are other far more appropriate ways I'd want my spouse to assist me through a situation like this than engaging in criminal assault, as much as that type of immediate reaction is perfectly understandable.

"I understand what you're saying but since the illegal harassment is connected with the victim's employment, it seems to me it's entirely appropriate for the employer (not the spouse) to be responsible for and liable for ensuring the harassment ceases."

I'm less concerned with ensuring the harassment stops with regards That Particular Victim than I am with punitive goals designed to discourage the harasser and other potential harassers. I'm also concerned with getting the victim some compensation for the indignity sufferred, and unfortunately there isn't any appropriate tort.

I'm also uneasy about putting the employer in the position of being the advocate of the Employee. There's nothing to suggest that (most) employers have anything other than their own economic interests in mind, which can often come into conflict with the rights of the employee. True, if the employer fails to be a good advocate (and stop the harassment), employee can sue the employer... but even then something doesn't seem right. Why punish the employer rather than the harasser? Why not both?

"Speaking as a female, there are other far more appropriate ways I'd want my spouse to assist me through a situation like this than engaging in criminal assault, as much as that type of immediate reaction is perfectly understandable."

I expect there is significant variation with regards what type of assistance one spouse would want from the other in this situation. I can imagine people wanting their spouse to not intervene at all, or wanting emotional support, or wanting practical assistance with drafting complaint letters. I also can imagine some spouses who would want their spouse to beat someone up. ;).