Boca Raton Employment Law Blog

Women in Florida who hold supervisory positions at work may be even more likely to experience sexual harassment than their subordinates. According to a study conducted by researchers at the Swedish Institute for Social Research at Stockholm University of women in Sweden, the United States and Japan, women were 30% to almost 100% more likely to be sexually harassed at work in positions that gave them more power. The numbers only reversed for women who were at the very top positions for their career.

For Sweden, five data sets from the Swedish Work Environment Survey were used. This survey asked women whether they had faced sexual harassment in the past year based on the definition provided. This was considered a subjective survey. Researchers provided the same definition for participants in the U.S. and Japan, but they used two different survey methods. One gave a list of behaviors and asked if they had experienced them. The other was a subjective survey like the Swedish one.

Florida residents might be interested to learn that two black female executives with McDonald's Corporation have filed a lawsuit against the company for racial discrimination. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Chicago on Jan. 7.

The women allege that they endured a toxic workplace culture in which they suffered pervasive discrimination based on race. They allege that they were subjected to an environment filled with derogatory comments, threats, and obstacles to prevent black people from advancing. Both women were demoted from vice president jobs to senior director positions in July 2018 during what the women termed was a purge of black people.

Many people in Florida have heard about the Times Up movement in Hollywood. Times Up Entertainment is a group that works to draw attention to sexual harassment in the entertainment industry. On Jan. 3, Times Up released a resource guide on sexual harassment that is especially geared toward helping actors who are auditioning for movies and filming scenes.

Times Up says that two of the most vulnerable work environments in the film industry are auditions and simulated sex scenes. The possibility of sexual misconduct taking place in either of these settings is high. According to the guide, actors filming sex scenes have been filmed on crew smartphones without their approval, and they have been given directions to perform actual sex acts. During auditions, actors can be vulnerable to sexual predators who use their positions of power to violate their rights.

A Florida parks and recreation worker is suing the City of Miami for racial discrimination after multiple complaints have come to light by black workers. The 59-year-old man, who has worked in various public works, sanitation and parks department jobs for the city for 37 years, says that his supervisor used the N-word against him in 2013, calling him the racial slur in an argument. He says that he was subjected to various discriminatory incidents since 2011, which was when a new supervisor was introduced at the job.

The man says that he filed an internal complaint that led to his claims being labeled unfounded. He also brought the incident to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on two occasions, which dismissed his claim. The supervisor involved says that he did not use the racial slur and that the workplace discrimination issues arise out of other disputes, such as when he and the 59-year-old man ran against each other in a union election. However, other black workers in Miami have also reported discrimination on the job. Several workers say that they were denied promotions, placed specifically in a less desirable park and sent to pick up trash rather than performing their skilled positions.