Sexual Harassment - Corporate History

I do remember having to attend a company mandatory class on sexual harassment but don't remember any one that I worked with getting into any hot water.

Yes, I was sexually harassed by one of my bosses. She demanded sex every night after work. I obliged, I was no dummy. She was so demanding, eventually, I opted out and went on a spur of the moment vacation to give my dick a rest. When I returned, she was gone !! I asked our GM what happened, he told me she just resigned. I was so happy to be just a bartender again and not one of her studs as I found out she was so horny she was fucking just about every guy in the building. That was a lot of men, and perhaps women, also. Those divorcees are amazing !!!! LMAO

Good point, Lone Wolf. I lived through that corporate environment as well. But it wasn’t just sexual harassment. It covered a lot of other things too that evolved into the whole corporate diversity movement. The amazing thing though is that it just seemed to me to be the old big manufacturing corporations that did this. A lot of other businesses did not seem to get the memo. And so now we’re finally seeing it in entertainment, media and government. All those who preached so loudly for diversity never looked inwardly, or so it seems to me.

Another problem as pointed out by the OP is the backlash when it all goes overboard. The best example now is the education business, particularly colleges and universities. What started as a reasonable attempt to protect and provide some measure of justice for mistreated women evolved into almost a situation where it seemed barely safe for a man to flirt with a woman. The pendulum seems to be starting back to a reasonable medium, since a few stories are coming out about men wrongfully accused who are finally being heard.

Another thing I found interesting, not entirely related, but which shows how the old manufacturing corporations have been leading edge for major change. Government bureaucrats, especially in the State Department, are screaming about Rex Tillerson’s attempt to streamline what he sees as a “bloated bureaucracy.” Is anyone surprised at what he’s doing? That’s what he did at Exxon and what happened at every other oil company, chemical company, auto company, and a lot of other companies. I am constantly amazed at other places that can’t see the bloat in their own businesses. Printed media is feeling it. Pharmaceuticals and technology will eventually. As one who has lived through that and as a taxpayer, I can only say, “Go git ‘em, Rex!”

At my office we have instituted sexual harassment Thursday. On Thursday and only Thursday of each week, sexual harassment is not only allowed but encouraged. Men (of which I am the only one) tell inappropriate jokes to the female employees. The females talk about their periods, hysterectomys, tampons, etc. I call the girls names like sweet cheeks, and they call me asshole, minute man, and similar shit. Some days the girls at their insistence have worn oversized t-shirts that look like they are wearing bikinis. They say that is the only way to get my attention. Lol

Most of the bloat is in clerical and staff positions occupied by women, so attempts at reducing it are often met with claims of sexism and discrimination.

When we got the word in middle 90s that we could no longer entertain customers or visiting dignitaries in strip clubs because of the sexual harassment stuff, it was a very sad day.

I suppose when I hired a girl I used to bang in college as my admin assistant and pimped her out to other guys at work, that was probably a bad thing. However, she was working a mild form of P4P out of the deal, so she wasn't complaining.

I remember one year when the company was so afraid of making women mad they ordered flowers for EVERY female employee on Secretaries Day. Well, one of those female employees was our VP of Quality Control and got pissed as hell.

Where people have power over others, sexual harassment is likely. Companies need to have such training programs and policies. But this does not mean that criminal courts or even civil courts will be enforcing those policies.

SJG

I think your time line is about right. I remember having to take sexual harassment training in the early to mid 1990's but I only had to take it twice. Once a month makes me glad I am retired.

Like many posters, I was a young "hi po" management guy in what was (at that time) one of the largest and most profitable companies in the US/ world. The Supreme Court decision that scared the hell out of every company in America was the Meritor Savings v. Vinson case (June 1986). That decision was the first time the court recognized harassment claims could be ruled as violations to Title VII when companies allowed hostile or abusive work environments.
Over the next few decades, I knew several guys whose careers were derailed or who were fired for things like telling risque jokes and being overheard by a female employee. I also witnessed plenty of situations where very senior mgmt guys remained serial harassers and HR shuffled them off to another division and protected them.

All these training classes provide coverage for corporate liability. Typically, there are a handful of offenders that the company is afraid to take on, often upper management. Instead of firing them, they require all the other innocent employees to waste days of time being insulted by “ experts”.

^^^^ What Mark94 is saying does indeed match with numerous accounts, big wigs that no one is willing to deal with. One case about a very prestigious San Francisco based international law firm, a senior partner.

I still think some sexual harassment training useful. Lots of inexperienced young women who set the bar way too low.

Massage Chain Being Sued. Of course this one is zero mileage. One of very few such. The rest, the mileage shops, are all independently owned, and never would massage girls mount such a suit. yahoo.com

SJG

Gimme Shelter ft/ Grace Potter youtube.com

Actually this issue has been on the table for a long time. There were the Anita Hill allegations against Clarence Thomas, and this would have been during the Bush 41 administration, about stuff which happened during the Reagan administration.

And then I've listened to SCOTUS Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg talking about the pastings from lower courts that she'd administered to the airline industry over their policies, going back to that 80's and earlier.

Work place sexual harassment, as defined by the courts, has to be either quid pro quo, or hostile work environment.

But often what is also going on is just sexism or sexual discrimination.

SJG

I’ve been in the corporate world since the mid 80’s. The environment in the 80s was different - as I remember the senior managers actually ordered a male stripper for a senior female managers birthday. It was hilarious to see the female managers face - and to watch the other folks laugh and cheer.

Things changed dramatically in the 90s. Things had to be toned down, and appearances were more important. Things have remained very non-sexual through the past few decades.

However, the rules are far different for senior mgmt. If a senior person is harassing a lower level employee - they will generally payoff the lower level employee and have the lower level sign an agreement to not sue and to not disclose any details. The senior person will generally not be touched - unless it’s a continual issue - then they will weigh the revenue generated vs paying off more accusers.

I’m fascinated how Washington is so far behind the Times with harassment.

Azrookie is right on with his reference to the Supreme Court decision that defined one of the forms of sexual harassment as a hostile work environment. The other landmark case defined quid pro quo as the other type of sexual harassment. Employers have an affirmative defense against lawsuits if they have training and processes for complaint investigation, and the plaintiff/complaintant doesn't make use of those processes.

Lawsuits against Tesla in Fremont, CA democracynow.org

Black Workers at Tesla File Class-Action Lawsuit, Saying Tesla Is “Hotbed for Racist Behavior”

" Black workers at Tesla’s Fremont, California factory have filed a class-action lawsuit accusing Tesla of being a “hotbed for racist behavior.” A former African American worker at Tesla says he was routinely called the N-word while working at the factory, and that after he complained, he was fired for not having a positive attitude. Tesla is also facing lawsuits accusing the company of discriminating against LGBT workers and older workers. "

A most curious development.

SJG

The vice president of HR at my last company was for sexual harassment. She got reported by several interns.