The EEOC first convened its Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace in 2015 and 2016. The Task Force issued a report and several recommendations aimed at employers and the EEOC itself. The Task Force’s 2016 report foreshadowed many of the issues that would later become central to the #MeToo conversation. The Task Force chose to define harassment more broadly than…
In my legal writing class in my first year of law school, each student presented mock oral arguments and received feedback from classmates. Following my argument, I was told that I was “persuasive” and “well prepared,” but what resonated most was the handful of classmates who described my argument as “aggressive.” One classmate felt that I was “too aggressive,” and…
New Census Bureau research, comparing the amount of money couples report to the Census with “true” earnings from IRS tax records, shows a surprising result: when women in different-sex couples earn more than their male spouses, “[h]usbands say they earn more than they are and wives underreport their income.” Both spouses exaggerate the man’s earnings and minimize the women’s earnings, although men…
The #MeToo movement has shined an unflattering light on employer-mandated arbitration agreements, which commonly prevent victims of sexual harassment from speaking publicly about their experiences. Mandatory and confidential arbitration has the effect of forcing women into silence, while allowing perpetrators to continue to harass and assault other employees. With the rise of the #MeToo movement, states have begun to enact…
It’s been a big month for reducing the stigma of pregnant women at work: First, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, 37, became the first world leader in three decades to give birth while in office (and only the second world leader overall ever!). Second, in a move aptly billed as “an ace for female tennis players everywhere,” the U.S. Open…
On May 9, 2018, New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio signed the Stop Sexual Harassment in NYC Act (the “Act”), amending the New York City Human Rights Law (“NYCHRL”) to proactively combat sexual harassment in the workplace. The Act, passed by the New York City Council in the wake of the #MeToo movement, creates new obligations for NYC-based employers to…
When will #MeToo come to medicine? While high-profile cases of sexual misconduct have rocked individual medical institutions—Yale in 2014 and 2015; USC in 2017; and Michigan State this year—the profession has escaped the level of public scrutiny sweeping entertainment, media, academia, and politics. And it’s not for lack of evidence. A study appearing in the May 2016 issue of JAMA, found that 30% of female clinical researchers…
As increasing numbers of women come forward to speak out about sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace, many news commentators have called for an end to confidential discrimination settlements. The intentions behind this call are honorable and righteous, but the reality may be more complicated. Confidential settlements offer benefits for victims. Not every victim wants her name in light.…
Revelations that Harvey Weinstein and Bill O’Reilly entered into serial confidential settlements with women who claimed they were sexually harassed in the workplace have brought a great deal of attention to non-disclosure agreements and confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses in settlement agreements. Indeed, this increased attention has lead lawmakers in certain states to propose changes in the law to address concerns about secrecy,…
Sexual harassment is all over the news. Harvey Weinstein, the cinematic giant, has been exposed as a loathsome lothario, a serial abuser of women, and a poster child of male privilege and abuse in the movie industry. Weinstein and sexual harassment are now inextricably linked in the public imagination, and, it seems, never the twain shall part. Sexual harassment is…