Legal Question in Sexual Harassment in New York
Does this qualify as sexual harassment?
My boss and owner of the company I work for has demanded that I not socialize with an older man in our office building. The man does not work with me and I never socialized with him during office hours. My boss believes that we are having an affair. I am 19 and this man is over 50 and married. I did not say anything to my boss for fear of compromising my job. Now, my boss is making innuendo towards another woman I work with who is 23 and insinuating that she is having an affair with another man in our office. She is having trouble doing her job for every time she needs to work with this man, our boss makes rude and threatening comments to her. Have we any recourse? We fear that we wil be fired our have our lives at work made miserable if we confront him.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Does this qualify as sexual harassment?
Your questions are a bit confusing because you are describing two different situations: yours and your co-worker's. With respect to your situation, is he making the same remarks and threats to you? How many employees are there in your company? There may be a hostile work environment created by your boss. Have you suffered any adverse employment actions since the problems arose, i.e. demotion, no pay raise, etc.?
Re: Does this qualify as sexual harassment?
Call the EEOC and discuss the matter with them. It sounds like you might have a case, but I'd need to get more information.