Legal Question in Sexual Harassment in Wisconsin

Re: Teenager's 1st job

Excellent question!

Here is an opportunity to teach your daughter a valuable lesson. If she ignores this, it will be that much easier for this employer to do the same thing to the next employee and that much easier for your daughter to allow herself to be treated this way again on her next job. Opposing this sexual harassment and fighting back effectively will have the opposite results.

Encourage her to file a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or with the agency of your state government that handles charges of discrimination. Go with your daughter to speak to a lawyer in your area who specializes in employment discrimination about possible legal action or other alternatives.

Help your daughter with emotional support. Make sure that she understands that what happened to her probably had nothing to do with how she acted, what she wore or even what she looks like. Employers who engage in sexual harassment or who permit it by their employees are not looking for sex or relationships in any healthy sense of the word. Like rapists, they are exercizing their power lust. Your daughter may have appeared vulnerable because of her age and inexperience with the world of work. By helping her understand the nature of what was done to her, you help her become less vulnerable and more capable of sticking up for herself and opposing this sort of discrimination the next time it occurs. (Statistically, it is highly likely that she will encounter similar discrimination several other times in her life so these lessons are very important!)

But, be sure to take some action to let the employer know it cannot just walk away from this.

Please see my website for additional information -- http://www.maslaw.com Also, please e-mail me if you have any questions and to let me know what you decided to do and how it worked out.