Legal Question in Sexual Harassment in Maryland

Re: Harassment

I am not so much offended by the word "rape." Rape has more than one meaning. He wasn't using it in a sexual way.

He was using it more to encourage all of you to misrepresent to the customers and to essentially commit an unfair and deceptive act, which is a violation of anticonsumer laws across the country.

What he was doing might also be construed as encouraging fraudulent acts.

You might put yourself at risk were you to

complain. Courts tend to excuse a lot in the

name of furthering business health.

In Massachusetts, for instance, the court

condoned the firing of a worker who complained

of the employer ripping off customers. It was,

according to court, an internal matter and none

of the employee's business. I do not know what

the law is in your state. If you are still concerned,

speak to a local lawyer and learn what the law is.

Also take a more constructive route: Be more

concerned about how your

performance is measured. Examine what the

company is using as standards to measure that

performance. Do they use objective or

subjective criteria? Does the company condone

raping or misrepresenting to the customer?

Is such behavior

rated a 5 on a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being the

highest)? Etcetera.

How has the company performance been of late?

Have sales increased or decreased?

If the workplace is too offensive for you over

this one event, then you would be better off

leaving the employment. In sales, you should

have no problem in finding another job.

I hesitate to comment more because you do not

reveal sufficient facts. For instance, what

your job is, what you sell, how long you've been

employed there, whether you generally enjoy the

work environment except for this new man, and so on.

I end with one parting shot: If women are to

become accepted in the workplace as if they were

males, they have (1) to learn not to

be as sensitive as you describe you were and

(2)to focus more on the larger problem, to focus

on what the significant implications are of the

behavior of which they are complaining.

Hearing one buffoon with possible criminal tendencies,

saying the word "rape" is

simply not enough to get exercised about!

Focus on doing your own job well and without

misrepresentations to the customers!

Good luck.