Sorry- I put it all in the question field!
My wife and I were both employed by the same company. (not in the same area- but in the same building) My wifes boss-who was female as well as her bosses assistant repeatedly made inappropriate comments to her of a sexual nature. (Typically referring to me and or both of us) She made it known to both of them that she did not want their comments to continue- which they ignored. Eventually they were so lude and upsetting to her that we both went to their supervisor. He admitted that the two of them were a problem but that he did not know how to best deal with them. He agreed to move my wife out of their department and into another department to eliminate the problem. These two women were the HR Dept. for the company and did not like it that we went over their head with this matter. My wife and I were both laid off with in a few months of this incident. (Me after 17 years of employment in the company and my wife after 3 years. In your opinion is this something we should pursue legally?
Sincerely,
Keith C. Canary
Answers (1)
The real answer to your question is: I don't know. Maybe.
Don't get me wrong, the factual situation that you describe suggests that you and your wife were subjected to retaliation for your both complaining about the sexual harassment of your wife. If your being laid off was even only partially related to your complaints, you would have a claim.
But, complaining and then being laid off does not necessarily have to be related. It could be coincidence, though I seriously doubt it.
The problem is that there is no way for you to know for sure whether your being laid off was related to your complaints. The only ones with that knowledge are with your former employer. They would probably never be willing to volunteer the truth, and might be likely to attempt hiding the truth.
The result is that at this point I am not interested in proving that you were subjected to retaliation because you probably don't have that evidence, and I would be able to get it only after starting a lawsuit. But you probably have a lot more information suggesting a connection between your complaints and your lay-offs. That additional information would allow me to give you a better answer to your question.
At the very least, it would probably be worth while for both you and your wife to discuss your situation in greater detail with me.
posted by David M. Lira | Dec 20, 2001 09:32 AM [EST]
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