FN FAL said:
[joe pesci]Ok...ok...ok![/joe pesci]
I was working at this "un-scheduled" airline (135) and the human resources director, babe that she was, was walking down the hall with a small book shelf in her arms. They had just painted her office and she was moving office stuff back into the office and I pointed to the book shelf and said, "Nice rack!"
No lie, actually happened. We laughed about it then and we laughed about it at the company Christmas party...no big deal. I knew her real well and she knew me and it wasn't overt.
It's sexual harrasment when it's unwanted...when it's something else, it gets shined on. Go figure.
Thats the problem I have with the sexual harrassment lawsuits and culture.
It can be the exact same action or speech, but if the woman finds the man attractive, no problem.
If an unattractive man says it, then could be huge problems. In this, one is often guilty until found innocent, and due to possible costly legal ramifications, no one might ever want to hire you again.
Sexual harassment should be about a repeated behavior, that is ongoing after being told to stop. It should not just be about a one time incident that made someone upset, unless it was especially egregious.
But there are lawyers and feminist groups who say that anytime something is said or done that makes a woman uncomfortable, then its sexual harassment, regardless of if it happens just once, or how minor, of it after being told not to, it never happened again. Oh and you deserve to be rich too afterwards!
I had now ex-gf that was involved in a sexual harrassment lawsuit. Actually she was not the one doing the suing, she reported what he did (pretty much just typical male joke which she did not like), the guy got fired, and then he sued her and the company. He didnt win of course....
However we were talking about it and I told her it sounded more like a one time incident of inappropriate sexual behavior, not harassment. Boy that was the wrong thing to say, because emotionally to her, it was harassment, because what the guy said made her uncomfortable, regardless whether it was ongoing, which it was not. But that is turning into the modern definition.
Actually now it is unfortunately legally safer for you not to ever tell a woman a joke at work. And the only way for a company to have zero chance of a lawsuit is to not hire women. Thats not what i advocating, just stating a fact. And best training program in the world cant eliminate the chance of a bad joke said at the wrong time, or some misunderstanding.
I am not taking away at all from when it really happens, which it does. But I think it can be open to abuse by being more about someones feelings, and less about whether there was an ongoing series of unwanted behavior after someone was told no.
Just because someone gets offended over hearing a joke is not a license to get money.