Sexual Harassment / Employment Law Retaliation Claims Are On The Rise

As the Los Angeles employment lawyers at the Azadian Law Group, PC finish up 2017, we reflect on what an amazing year we had and the clients who we have helped. However, as the year closes out, one thing is certain: Sexual Harassment / Employment Law Retaliation Claims Are On The Rise. It has been widely reported that numerous high level executives in the entertainment industry have been fired over allegations of sexual harassment and retaliating against employees who complain about the harassment, including Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer, Charlie Rose, Mario Batali, Dustin Hoffman, Russell Simmons, Brett Ratner, Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Piven, Jeffrey Tambor, Charles Detoit, Morgan Spurlock, Louis C.K., Steven Seagal, and Sen. Al Franken. The list is only growing…

Workplace Harassment Is Top Complaint Filed with EEOCThe Los Angeles employment lawyers at the Azadian Law Group, PC have litigated and resolved a slew of harassment, retaliation, and related wrongful termination cases. Based on our years of experience in cases against large entertainment companies, financial service companies, medical organizations, and other businesses, we know that sexual harassment and retaliation is not a new problem and is not limited to any particular industry. With this in mind, if you find yourself being harassed at work, there are important steps you can take to protect yourself.

First, make a complaint in writing to Human Resources and your manager (or your manager’s manager if your manager is the one doing the harassing). Sometimes documenting the issue in this way is helpful to create a record and it may provide some protections if they terminate you after your written complaint or the harassment does not stop. If you do so, come across respectful in your email and let them know how important your job is to you.

Second, make it clear in your complaint that the harassment is really harassment. To be legally protected and considered “harassment” the negative treatment the employee is subjected to must be based on a protected characteristic. This means that you cannot harass someone due to their gender (like sexually harassing an employee), their age (such as making negative remarks about the person being too old), their disability (such as making negative remarks about an employee’s medical condition), their race (such as treating someone poorly due to their race, national origin or skin tone), or their religion. Complaining that you are being micromanaged, treated poorly, or harassed in general without linking it to some protected characteristic is not going to provide you any real legal protection against retaliation.

Third, follow up on your complaint in writing to make sure it is appropriately handled. Also, add any additional details related to any retaliation you have suffered since your complaint of harassment. Of course, you should also give us a call for a free consultation to see how we can help in your specific situation.

If you have been sexually harassed, retaliated at work, or wrongfully terminated, the experienced Los Angeles sexual harassment/employment retaliation lawyers at the Azadian Law Group, PC are here to offer you a free consultation.

We invite you to call our law office today at 626-449-4944 or 213-229-9031 or 949-662-5405 for a free consultation to assess your case. As we never charge our clients a penny out-of-pocket, you can rest assured that when we accept a case, we are standing behind our client 100% and will fight aggressively for their rights.