Sexual Harassment

The three forms sexual harassment often takes are:

(1) Quid Pro Quo

Quid pro quo is when a boss or supervisor demands sexual favors in exchange for being hired, promoted, or receiving other favorable working conditions. Employees often feel coerced into going along with it. Even if you’ve given in, you may still claim for sexual harassment.

(2) Hostile Work Environment

A hostile work environment exists when co-workers’ or supervisors’ conduct would cause a reasonable person to become so uncomfortable that it would impact their ability to do their job. A hostile work environment is judged by the totality of the conduct.

(3) Retaliation

A co-worker or manager may retaliate against an employee for rebuffing a sexual advance. Retaliation can take the form of reduced hours, pay cuts, a transfer to a worse department or location, a demotion, being passed over for a promotion, pretextual disciplinary actions, or being fired. All these forms of retaliation of prohibited by sexual harassment laws.

Karen Menzies and Amy Zeman have spent much of their careers on the forefront of women’s rights issues.

Karen Menzies is nationally-recognized as an outstanding trial attorney, with more than twenty years of experience in federal and state court.

Karen focuses her practice on women’s health issues and drugs that cause harm to children. She currently represents women suffering permanent baldness following breast cancer chemotherapy treatments with Taxotere, and children who experienced severe side effects after taking the widely-prescribed medication Risperdal.

Karen has testified before FDA advisory boards and the California State Legislature on drug safety issues. She is considered a thought leader on women’s health issues.

Amy Zeman has made a name for herself as an advocate for women who assert their rights. She helps represent thousands of women who experienced complications from the birth-control medicines Yaz and Yasmin, and she has represented many women who suffered serious complications after receiving transvaginal mesh implants.

Amy has been named to the list of Northern California “Rising Stars” each year for the past 6 years and frequently participates in “Women En Mass,” an organization that:

brings together the best and brightest female attorneys to discuss issues that affect women – from the boardroom to the courtroom.

Service to Our Clients and the Community

Despite serving many clients, Amy gives each individual attention. As one of Amy’s clients shared:

The lawsuit was pretty complicated, but Amy would take her time and go over it and then ask me if I had any questions. With her help, it made it much easier to understand the whole process. -Elaine S.

One of Gibbs Law Group’s female partners served as Chair of the Women Trial Lawyer’s Caucus, which helps women gain access to leadership positions, career opportunities, and chances to serve as role models in their communities.

The main federal law on sexual harassment in the workplace is Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The same law that prohibits racial discrimination in the workplace also prohibits sexual harassment.

(a) Harassment by a Co-Worker or Supervisor

Generally, Title VII does not prohibit simple teasing or isolated incidents that are not severe. It does, however, prohibit unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, sexual assault, and severe and pervasive sexual remarks that degrade working conditions, making it hard to work there.

(b) Harassment by Customers or Clients

Employers are not supposed to tolerate repeated sexual harassment of their employees by customers or clients. Once you have informed your employer of the sexual harassment, they are required to take corrective measures to protect you from being harassed again by that customer or client. Your employer could ban the customer, assign someone else to the client’s account, send another person (such as HR) to any meeting between you and the client, or threaten to end the business relationship with the client if the harassment does not cease.

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