a friend of mines supervisor persued a sexual relationship with my friend, after declining the advances eventually my friend entered into the relationship. the supervisor promised to leave their spouse, but after a year my friend broke off the affai ...

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a friend of mines supervisor persued a sexual relationship with my friend, after declining the advances eventually my friend entered into the relationship. the supervisor promised to leave their spouse, but after a year my friend broke off the affair. Now they are facing daily harrassment from their supervisor including a threat of termination if they complain. What should my friend do?

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DakotaLegal's picture

 

 
There’s a range of things, all of which may help your friend, in ways that are often important, but in very different ways. The big question may turn out to be “What does your friend want to accomplish?” If your friend wants to keep the job, and simply stop the harassment, there’s a very direct way. A worker can seek an injunction under Arizona law: http://www.azleg.state.az.us /ars/12/01810.htm. Then, “good luck” to the harassing supervisor, in trying to fire the worker. If the worker believes the supervisor should be fired, or thinks the company owes a duty to not only stop the harassment, but also pay for it…then there are other options. In general, a worker can look at addressing harassment (and this case involves several possible types of harassment) through 1. confrontation, 2. mediation, 3. human rights claim, or 4. some form of litigation (lawsuit).
 
I’m not going to talk much about confronting the supervisor. This is something that should only be done once a worker has (preferably) looked over their three more legal options, or just decided they don’t care about keeping the job. Before discussing things such as evidence and rights, let’s look at some affordable legal options in Arizona.
 
Finding Affordable Legal Advice
 
Depending on the size, reputation, and status of the company, this worker may have an attractive harassment suit. But: there is a difference between suing for harassment at (for example) a small one-stop boutique florist’s and, for example, against a chain of tire stores with a thousand outlets. Choosing the “kind” of lawyer and lawyer fee will probably reflect the size of the company and the wealth of the supervisor.
 
Finding a lawyer who has special skill in Arizona harassment cases can do two good things: (1) help this worker make a decision whether to take any action and (2) get a free test of how good (or weak) a case they have. Using the Arizona bar referral system (under the “Find a Lawyer” section), http://www.azbar.org/, a worker can get a free consultation with a lawyer who might take the case on contingency. If no lawyer is at all interested in a contingency case, it does not mean it’s not a good case. It may only mean that a really expensive lawyer does not think it’s worth their time. Some new lawyers will take such a case, which a more established/expensive lawyer would not. There is also a list of possibly free legal aid lawyers, here: http://www.azbar .org/professionaldevelopment/careerandpracticeresourcecenter/volunteeropportunities/probonocommunityvolunteeropportunities.
 
Evidence of Harassment
 
When a worker enters into a romantic or intimate relationship with a supervisor, willingly, there will later be issues of pressure. Here’s just such a case in Arizona, where a prior office romance included a personal loan. After the relationship ended, the supervisor crossed the work/personal line in trying to reclaim the loan from the worker: http://caselaw.findlaw.com/az-court-of-appeals/1424750.html. This kind of workplace harassment or pressure seems to be part of what you are suggesting, by describing how the advances were “declined.” But the relationship also lasted a year, implying consent. The point is that there will be a need for strong evidence of illegal harassment, based on impermissible grounds…a soured past office romance does not mean, for example, that a worker is not a crummy employee, deserving to be fired.
 
Here’s an Arizona case, describing an allegedly illegal pattern of harassment: http:// caselaw.findlaw.com/az-supreme-court/1213845.html. In that case, other workers also complained of the supervisor’s prior actions, and the company itself had reason to know of the harassment. This meant a law suit (the court describes the grounds there, under what’s called tort theory) was against the supervisor, the company, and interestingly, even the supervisor’s wife.
 
Does the company have a written policy on workplace harassment? Here’s a case showing how important a written company policy can be to a court’s analysis … http://caselaw.findlaw .com/us-11th-circuit/1082332.html.
 
Arizona State Administrative Procedures
 
Some workers choose not to go into a court…perhaps because of the lack of evidence, or publicity. An alternative in these court cases is to contact Arizona’s worker’s rights commission. http://www.workplace fairness.org/agencies_AZ#1. All in all, the longer the worker waits, the weaker the case may become.

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DakotaLegal's picture

 

 
There’s a range of things, all of which may help your friend, in ways that are often important, but in very different ways. The big question may turn out to be “What does your friend want to accomplish?” If your friend wants to keep the job, and simply stop the harassment, there’s a very direct way. A worker can seek an injunction under Arizona law: http://www.azleg.state.az.us /ars/12/01810.htm. Then, “good luck” to the harassing supervisor, in trying to fire the worker. If the worker believes the supervisor should be fired, or thinks the company owes a duty to not only stop the harassment, but also pay for it…then there are other options. In general, a worker can look at addressing harassment (and this case involves several possible types of harassment) through 1. confrontation, 2. mediation, 3. human rights claim, or 4. some form of litigation (lawsuit).
 
I’m not going to talk much about confronting the supervisor. This is something that should only be done once a worker has (preferably) looked over their three more legal options, or just decided they don’t care about keeping the job. Before discussing things such as evidence and rights, let’s look at some affordable legal options in Arizona.
 
Finding Affordable Legal Advice
 
Depending on the size, reputation, and status of the company, this worker may have an attractive harassment suit. But: there is a difference between suing for harassment at (for example) a small one-stop boutique florist’s and, for example, against a chain of tire stores with a thousand outlets. Choosing the “kind” of lawyer and lawyer fee will probably reflect the size of the company and the wealth of the supervisor.
 
Finding a lawyer who has special skill in Arizona harassment cases can do two good things: (1) help this worker make a decision whether to take any action and (2) get a free test of how good (or weak) a case they have. Using the Arizona bar referral system (under the “Find a Lawyer” section), http://www.azbar.org/, a worker can get a free consultation with a lawyer who might take the case on contingency. If no lawyer is at all interested in a contingency case, it does not mean it’s not a good case. It may only mean that a really expensive lawyer does not think it’s worth their time. Some new lawyers will take such a case, which a more established/expensive lawyer would not. There is also a list of possibly free legal aid lawyers, here: http://www.azbar .org/professionaldevelopment/careerandpracticeresourcecenter/volunteeropportunities/probonocommunityvolunteeropportunities.
 
Evidence of Harassment
 
When a worker enters into a romantic or intimate relationship with a supervisor, willingly, there will later be issues of pressure. Here’s just such a case in Arizona, where a prior office romance included a personal loan. After the relationship ended, the supervisor crossed the work/personal line in trying to reclaim the loan from the worker: http://caselaw.findlaw.com/az-court-of-appeals/1424750.html. This kind of workplace harassment or pressure seems to be part of what you are suggesting, by describing how the advances were “declined.” But the relationship also lasted a year, implying consent. The point is that there will be a need for strong evidence of illegal harassment, based on impermissible grounds…a soured past office romance does not mean, for example, that a worker is not a crummy employee, deserving to be fired.
 
Here’s an Arizona case, describing an allegedly illegal pattern of harassment: http:// caselaw.findlaw.com/az-supreme-court/1213845.html. In that case, other workers also complained of the supervisor’s prior actions, and the company itself had reason to know of the harassment. This meant a law suit (the court describes the grounds there, under what’s called tort theory) was against the supervisor, the company, and interestingly, even the supervisor’s wife.
 
Does the company have a written policy on workplace harassment? Here’s a case showing how important a written company policy can be to a court’s analysis … http://caselaw.findlaw .com/us-11th-circuit/1082332.html.
 
Arizona State Administrative Procedures
 
Some workers choose not to go into a court…perhaps because of the lack of evidence, or publicity. An alternative in these court cases is to contact Arizona’s worker’s rights commission. http://www.workplace fairness.org/agencies_AZ#1. All in all, the longer the worker waits, the weaker the case may become.