An attorney at the EEOC believes that, while it’s certainly possible that there’s more sexual harassment of men going on, it’s also possible that more men are opting to come forward now, whereas they probably wouldn’t have 20 years ago for fear of being shunned or black listed by employers.
And while some cases are filed by the men against female supervisors and co-workers, more of the suits are filed against other men. And while it’s not necessarily that the men named in the suits are gay, the men are being subjected to a sexualized form of hazing. Okay, so maybe the men in the suits are gay.
Some interesting sexual harassment cases include:
The Cheesecake Factory restaurant chain paid six male employees $345,000 after they claimed they were repeatedly sexually harassed by male kitchen staffers. The abusers would take them into a walk-in refrigerator, grind against the victims’ genitals and take turns simulating rape.
The Regal Entertainment Group paid $175,000 to settle a lawsuit by a male employee who claimed his female co-worker would constantly grab his crotch at work. When the employee complained about it, not only did she continue to harass him, she even retaliated against him with unfair discipline and bad performance evaluations.
The number of cases filed by men began growing after a landmark Supreme Court ruling in 1998 that said that same-sex harassment is a valid claim under federal anti-discrimination laws.
So what do you think? Is it unmanly to come forward with sexual harassment claims? Should men suck it up and deal with it?