What Sexual Harassment Looks Like When You Work From Home

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Many more New York residents are finding themselves working remotely in jobs that used to be 9-5 in an office. You might assume that this social distancing would remove the risks of a hostile work environment. However, sexual harassment can happen in any workplace. Find out what sexual harassment looks like when you work from home.

What Counts as Sexual Harassment

According to Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act, sexual harassment is a form of illegal gender discrimination. It includes unwelcome sexual advances and jokes, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal, written, or physical sexual activities. It can include offensive comments and jokes about a person’s sex, or sexual activities.

The law doesn’t protect against every off-color comment, but it does prevent sexual harassment that happens so often or is so severe that it creates a hostile work environment or forces a person out of his or her job. It also prevents “quid pro quo” requests that condition work on agreeing to sexual favors.

Workers who experience these kinds of hostile working conditions can report the sexual harassment to their employer. Title VII and similar state laws require employers to investigate and respond to those reports by taking reasonable steps to stop the harassment. If they ignore it, or worse retaliate against you for filing the complaint, you can take the matter to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or your state civil rights office (in New York that is the New York State Human Rights Division).

Sexual Harassment Can Happen in Any Workplace, Even a Virtual One

There is no industry that is entirely safe from sexual harassment. Off-color jokes and unwanted sexual advances can happen on the factory floor, in the back room at a retail store, or in the boardroom of a white collar office. They can even happen between remote workers online.

Because sexual harassment doesn’t have to be physical, the distance between coworkers doesn’t matter. If requests, jokes, or comments are made in a virtual space, you can find yourself being sexually harassed even while you work from home. However, the form virtual sexual harassment takes may be a bit different than gender discrimination in the office or workshop.

What Sexual Harassment Looks Like When You Work From Home

Complaints over sexual harassment and gender discrimination don’t have to fit into any specific buckets. Anytime comments or requests are sexual in nature or based on your sex or gender, you have the right to file a complaint with your employer. However, here are some common examples of virtual sexual harassment that can target home-based workers:

Emails from Supervisors or Bosses Requesting Sexual Favors

Many people working from home right now still live relatively close to their coworkers and bosses. When a supervisor or boss sends you an email or other direct message asking for a “hook up” or for you to come to his or her home for sexual favors, especially if it is implied that saying yes will help you at work, this is a form of sexual harassment. It doesn’t matter if neither of you were ever in the office.

Coworkers Sending Sexts or Video-Chat Exposures

When you and your coworkers work from home, a lot of business happens through text messages and video-conferencing. However, sometimes a coworker may take advantage of knowing your cell phone number or user ID to send unsolicited sexual content. They may even start a video-chat with you for the purpose of exposing themselves to you, or demanding you do the same for them. This is a more severe form of sexual harassment. Even one such event could be enough for an EEOC complaint.

Sexual Jokes or Off-Color Comments in the Company Messaging App

Many companies with remote workers rely on intranets or messaging apps like Slack to stay connected with their employees. Often, these company messaging apps include spaces for work and for “random” or informal dialog. Sexual jokes and off-color comments can flourish in these settings. Because workers are used to the anonymity of the Internet, they may make comments they wouldn’t in face-to-face conversations. Also, a single comment can create ongoing dialog on a similar theme, or can come up again and again as part of an “inside joke”. These kind of repeated casual jokes and comments can add up to sexual harassment when they become so frequent that a reasonable person would find it difficult to do their work, creating a hostile work environment.

What to Do if You are Facing Sexual Harassment as a Remote Worker

However, there is good news about the use of technology to enable employees to work from home. Unlike when you are approached at work, nearly everything that happens online leaves a data trail. That means that sexual harassment targeting remote workers is often easier to prove with a click of a button. If you find yourself the target of sexual harassment, object to it and record it. Download the email, take a screenshot, or document the offensive video. Then provide that documentation to your HR coordinator or supervisor.

If your employer don’t investigate the complaint and take reasonable steps to stop the behavior, contact a sexual harassment attorney. They can help your employer understand their obligations under the law, negotiating for meaningful changes to your digital workplace and advocating on your behalf. If that doesn’t work, you and your lawyer can use that same digital proof to file a complaint with the EEOC, state anti-discrimination agency, or in federal or state court.

The sexual harassment attorneys at Eisenberg & Baum, LLP, have decades of experience helping the victims of sexual harassment get the compensation they deserve. We know how to apply federal and state anti-discrimination laws to home-based work environments, negotiate with employers using remote workplace models, and help you build your best case. Contact Eisenberg & Baum, LLP, today to talk to an employment discrimination attorney.

Congress Considers National Law to Help Control Online Sexual Abuse Materials

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Imagine you are working with the police to track down someone who has distributed your child’s image online only to be told that the social media company storing the image had deleted it. How would you feel if a 90 day policy window closed preventing you from getting justice against your child’s abuser? A new federal bill seeks to stop that from happening by giving police and prosecutors more time to build their cases.

END Child Exploitation Act Buys Time for Busy Investigators

On December 10, 2019, Representative Anthony Gonzalez, a Republican from Ohio, submitted a 2-page bill with 7 co-sponsors showing bi-partisan support. HR 5376, the Eliminate Network Distribution of Children Exploitation Act (END Child Exploitation Act), proposes one simply thing: to extend the amount of time communications companies like Google, Dropbox, and Facebook are required to retain child sexual abuse materials they find on their platforms.

Right now, federal law requires these providers to report any child pornography or other sexually abusive content to a federal CyberTipline and preserve the contents of those reports for 90 days while investigators follow up on the tips. But for many state and local police departments, 90 days is simply not enough time to complete their investigation. The END Child Exploitation Act would expand that period to 180 days. It would also allow providers to voluntarily retain the images and videos longer if doing so is part of an effort to “reduc[e] the proliferation of online child sexual exploitation or prevent[] the online sexual exploitation of children.”

45 Million Child Sexual Abuse Materials Found in 2018 Alone

In late 2019, the New York Times reported that cloud storage and social media companies were facing an overwhelming number of digital child pornography images. In 2018, a record 45 million photos and videos were flagged as Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM). That number has been growing uncontrollably for more than a decade. In 2008, the number was less than 1 million images, but Washington already felt it was facing a crisis. Tech companies, law enforcement agencies, and federal legislators came together to create the PROTECT Our Children Act, which became law on October 13, 2008.

But as the problem continued to grow, the law, and the law enforcement agencies who enforce it can’t keep up. The Justice Department, which the PROTECT Our Children Act empowered to fight the problem, never even wrote mandatory monitoring reports or assigned a senior-executive level employee to handle the matter. At the same time, law enforcement agencies have difficulty recruiting and retaining skilled IT professionals with the technological knowledge and ability to perform the investigations. Some have taken to prioritizing cases based on the age of the victim. The New York Times reports:

 “‘We go home and think, “Good grief, the fact that we have to prioritize by age is just really disturbing,”’ said Detective Paula Meares, who has investigated child sex crimes for more than 10 years at the Los Angeles Police Department.”

Tech Companies Drag Their Feet in Responding to Investigators

According to the Times, one significant bottleneck in investigating child sexual abuse materials online is the tech companies themselves. Microsoft has developed tools to automatically screen for child pornography and other illegal or illicit content, but it and other tech companies refuse to use it consistently across all their platforms. Federal law requires them to report any CSAM they find, but they aren’t required to look. When investigators send requests for information, they can take weeks or months to respond, if at all. By then, the 90-day retention window has often passed, and their response is simply that the company has no records.

Funding continues to be a problem as well. Congress has allocated $60 million to the issue, but diverted about half of that money to state and local law enforcement rather than the Department of Justice, which oversees investigations that cross state lines. The Department of Homeland Security has also diverted nearly $6 million from cybercrimes to immigration enforcement — a 40% budget cut.

The problem isn’t just with the government either. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children faces ever-evolving technological encryption using 20-year-old technology. With their limited resources, it is hard to keep engineers on the job.

The END Child Exploitation Act hopes to help investigators catch more of these cyber-criminals by forcing tech companies to hold on to the reported images long enough for investigators to complete their investigations. The bill was immediately referred to the House Judiciary Committee, but there has been no activity since that time. However, simply extending the timeline won’t solve all the problems facing law enforcement agencies and child sex abuse survivors’ advocates. Sex abuse victims’ advocates, legislators, and law enforcement will need to work together to find new solutions to protect children and their families from this ever-growing threat to their privacy and personal dignity.

At Eisenberg & Baum, our sexual abuse attorneys to stand beside child victims and their families against their abusers and the social media companies. We know how to work with law enforcement and tech companies to get the evidence you need to protect your loved ones. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation.

Britt McHenry Says Sexual Harassment Continues at Fox News

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Online Fox Nation host Britt McHenry sued Fox News, saying that her co-host Tyrus sexually harassed her and that the network did nothing to respond to her complaints. Hers is the latest in a string of sexual harassment claims against the company, showing that the company’s new “zero tolerance” policy isn’t playing out in the workplace.

Online News Host Says Cohost Sent Sexual Texts, Network Remained Silent

Britt McHenry co-hosts Fox News’s online streaming program “Un-PC” with George Murdoch, a former professional wrestler with the stage name Tyrus. But their working relationship seems to be on the ropes. According to a recent lawsuit McHenry filed in the United States District Court in Manhattan, Tyrus repeatedly sent her inappropriate and sexual text messages, some of which were threatening. When she and her agent reported the incidents to Fox News, the company investigated, and then did nothing. It even went so far as to offer Murdoch his own streaming show, “Nuff Said.”

According to the lawsuit, on October 31, 2018, Murdoch sent her text messages saying:

“I love ponytails and braids you look amazing and it’s a real turn on not that you care but I love it”

Two days later, he sent another:

“Is it creepy how I look at you ??? . . . FYI you’ll need those legs to escape from me in Montana.”

Later, he told her that a picture of her “looks so good I would knock the picture up” saying “Crazy sexy love your legs.”

McHenry reported the texts to Fox News, and to the New York State Division of Human Rights. But the sexual harassment issues continued even as the company investigated the allegations. According to the lawsuit, the Fox News investigator told her she was “really pretty” and “leading him on.”

New Sexual Harassment Claims Show Ongoing Problems at Fox News

This is hardly the first time Fox News has had to respond to public allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct. In June 2016, reporter Gretchen Carlson and host Andrea Tantaros filed suit based on sexual harassment and misconduct by company chairman Roger Ailes. Over the next year, women employees of the news company raised their own claims of sexual harassment and retaliation. Many pointed toward misconduct by news personalities Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity.

After paying over $100 million in settlements and verdicts, Fox News publicly stated it has a “zero tolerance” policy toward sexual harassment. Yet when McHenry filed a lawsuit with her allegations the network said:

“The lawsuit recycles the same allegations [as the earlier administrative complaint]. . . . As we have previously stated, Ms. McHenry’s allegations have been fully investigated and we are confident our actions will be deemed entirely appropriate in litigation. We expect all of her claims to be dismissed.”

McHenry alleges that she has also been shut out of advancement opportunities at the company, including spots on broadcast shows with higher viewership. At the same time, her harasser has been given his own show. Her complaint says:

“In practice, Fox News remains a sanctuary for sexual harassers, coddling and enabling men who abuse female employees.”

In response to the company’s statement that she is repeating claims, McHenry wrote on Twitter:

“I have maintained the same allegations because the truth doesn’t change. I feel for any sexual harassment victim who has their story and evidence dismissed, doubted and not believed.”

Getting Relief from Sexual Harassment Often Means Repeating Your Story, and Your Complaints

Ms. McHenry’s situation, and Fox News’s response to the complaint, highlight one thing about how sexual harassment claims are handled: the repetition. Ms. McHenry made complaints internally. Her agent advocated for her. Then she filed a claim with the New York State Division of Human Rights before finally filing a lawsuit in federal court. If Fox News is complaining that these are the same allegations, they’re right.

That’s because the process for raising Title VII sexual harassment claims involves a number of steps. Until you have exhausted your administrative remedies and received a Notice of Right to Sue, you can’t take the matter to court. For some, this delay and repetition causes inconsistencies or changes in their story and reduces their credibility. The fact that Ms. McHenry’s allegations have remained constant suggests that what she says really did happen.

Ms. McHenry’s suit is in its early stages, and Fox News still has time to settle her claims. But if it continues to insist that it did nothing wrong, she has asked that a jury hear her story and decide if the news agency has really taken appropriate steps to change its way.

At Eisenberg & Baum, LLP, our sexual harassment attorneys have the patience and endurance to see your case through all the stages of a civil rights complaint: from the first letter to your employer to the last arguments of a jury trial. If you have been the victim of sexual harassment at work, we will review your case and help you tell your story in a way that protects you and gets you the compensation and relief you need, so you can get on with your work. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation.

A Parents’ Guide to Responding to Children Who Report Sexual Abuse

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It’s one of the hardest things a parent ever has to face: their children reporting sexual abuse. What do you do if your kid comes to you and says the worst has happened? Who should you talk to, when, and what shouldn’t you say or do around your child?

Your Child Said Someone Hurt Them, What Do You Say Back?

The single most important thing for a parent to do after a child reports sexual abuse is to give that child the love and support they need to move past the harm. As emotional as that moment may be for you, your child needs to know that they will be okay, and that they are not “damaged” by what has happened.

That starts with your response to your children when they report sexual abuse. Thank them for telling you and believe what they say. Most historical studies about false claims of sexual abuse by children show less than 10% of all allegations were made up. Most of those were by adolescents seeking revenge or a change in their custodial environment. So if your child comes to you and says something inappropriate happened, you should treat that as truth, no matter how much you would rather it wasn’t.

Next, stay calm and be clear about what they are telling you. Ask questions in an open way without suggesting the answer you want to hear. For example, rather than saying, “He didn’t have sex with you, did he?” you could ask, “What did he do with you in the bedroom?” Try not let your face tell your child that you are relieved or disappointed with their answers. Children will often change their stories if they feel like they are causing pain or upsetting others — especially their parents. This doesn’t mean the sexual assault didn’t happen, but it could make it harder to prove what did occur later on.

Give Your Child Their Safety, Autonomy, and Privacy

Once that initial, painful conversation is over, work with your child and the other adults in their life to make them feel safe. Make sure your child understands that the person that assaulted him or her is the one who did something wrong, not them. Listen to what your child needs to feel protected, and let them do whatever makes them feel safe and comfortable, even if it seems unreasonable to you. This will help them understand they are in control of their own body. At the same time, pay attention to any behaviors that are regressive (bed wetting, sleeping with parents in their bed, sucking thumbs) because these may be symptoms of trauma.

You should also be working with the adults in your child’s life to ensure their safety. If the perpetrator of the abuse is a family member or family friend, take steps to make sure that person is never alone with your child. Create a safety plan with your child’s other parent, caregivers, teachers, and other mentors to shield them from their abuser while protecting their privacy.

Find Professionals to Help You

No one can or should be expected to respond to children who report sexual abuse alone. There are a number of professionals whose job it is to help you along the way:

Police

Sexual assault of a child is illegal in all 50 states. Anytime a child reports being sexually assaulted by an adult, you should contact the police right away to issue a report and start the criminal investigation. This is true even if the abuser is a member of your family or someone you care about. If this person was willing to take inappropriate actions with your child, he or she may do it again to another child unless someone intervenes. Also, as a parent of a sexually assaulted child, failing to take reasonable steps to report and respond to abuse — including filing a police report — can sometimes result in protective services action against you.

Pediatrician or Physician

Sexual intercourse can physically harm young children. If you believe that your child has engaged in sex you should have them examined by their pediatrician or family physician. In some cases, the police will want a medical examination done right away — even before the child has a chance to bathe — in the hope that physical evidence of the abuser may be preserved. Even if the incident happened days ago or longer, you should still have your child see a doctor to make sure there are no physical injuries. The doctor may also be able to recommend a therapist or counselor to help your child deal with the emotional effects of the traumatic event.

A Sex Abuse Victim’s Advocate

Not everything that should happen after a child reports sexual assault needs to happen right away, and you may not even know everything on that list. It is a good idea to speak to a sex abuse attorney or victim’s advocate soon after the report happens. Some prosecuting attorneys’ offices will assign victims advocates to cases that result in criminal charges, but the work they do is limited to that case. A private sex abuse attorney, like our team at Eisenberg & Baum, LLP, can help you identify and connect with the right professionals, prioritize between the demands on you and your child, and help protect your son or daughter’s rights, keeping them from revictimization or becoming traumatized again because of the process.

Forensic Investigators

In many cases, the criminal investigation of a report of child sexual assault will include a forensic examination and interview by a professional trained to help children tell their stories. It is best if these interviews happen early in the investigative process, before a child has time, or a reason, to change their story.

Psychologists and Therapists

In many cases, the most important professional in your child’s life after a sexual assault is their counselor. A psychologist or therapist trained in trauma recovery can help your child better articulate what happened to them, learn coping mechanisms to deal with the emotional aspects of recovery, and give them a safe space to say whatever they are feeling, even about you. Be sure to protect that confidential relationship. Your child’s therapist may want to speak to you about things that are said or done in therapy or explain how you can help encourage your child between sessions, but you should not press your child to find out what was said in a private session.

Express Your Own Feelings in a Mature Way, Away from Your Child

As a parent of a sexually abused child, you will have feelings of your own about the situation. While there is no single “right” emotional reaction, many parents feel:

  • Anger – at the abuser, at the systems that allowed the abuse to happen, or even at your child for not telling you sooner
  • Anxiety – about how to move forward and what the right response might be
  • Fear – over what the abuser will do when the situation becomes public or about the lasting harm to your child
  • Guilt – that you allowed this to happen to your child or did not see the warning signs sooner
  • Sadness – for your child, your family, and yourself (especially when the abuser is a family member or romantic partner)
  • Shock or surprise – over the fact that it happened to you and your family

Your child does not need to see you wrestle with these emotions. They have a hard enough task ahead of them dealing with their own. Find a friend to share them with privately, discuss them with your sex abuse attorney, or seek professional support from a counselor or support group. Try not to air your feelings publicly or in a way that they may come back to your child (such as on social media).

There is no easy answer about what to do when a child reports sexual assault. The best advice is to be patient and supportive with your child, and to get the professional help you both need to heal and protect your rights. At Eisenberg & Baum, LLP, we have a team of attorneys who know what to do in the face of sex abuse for children and their parents. We will help you so you can help your child and get the justice and compensation you need to move on. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation.