Sexual Harrassment

diane

Urgent!! This is an ugly situation, but here it goes...I have a
friend who owns a small veterinary practice (less than 15 employees)
He engaged in sexual activity with a technician. The vet's wife
is the office manager and is aware of the incident. She has confronted
the technician about her role in the matter--both at home and at work.
The technician wants to resign her employment and arrange for a financial
settlment (3 months salary)or file a charge of sexual harrassment against
the wife. Question...can she file under title VII because they have
fewer than 15 employees? This incident happened in PA. Also, does anyone
have a good website specfic to PA laws? Thanks!

Gar

I'm confused. Regardless of the number of employees, how can the Technician file any sort of claim against the wife when the husband (the Vet) is the party who had the affair with the Technician?

Down_the_Middle

I can't wait for the answer to Gar's question, but in the meantime, Title VII would not apply to this small employer enabling a S-H lawsuit, but PA law might provide some state relief. You'll have to check with the PA statutes........

diane

I'm at a disadvantage because I don't have all the history, but I
believe the technician would file for hostile work environment because
the wife talked to the technician's co-workers about the issue, made
disparging comments about the technician etc. I believe that the
technician entered into the relationship willingly with the vet and
does not see his behavior as sexual harrassment. Of course she may see
it differently after she has time to mull it over. At this point, the
technician does not feel she can return to work because she thinks she will
be harrassed by the vet's wife (the office manager). Hopefully that clarifies
it.

System

Ugly's a good word for this situation.

You're right that the federal Title VII only applies if he has 15 or more employees. But there's the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (PA TITLE 43 CHAPTER 17). I'm no lawyer, but it looks like the law applies to employers with FOUR or more employees. So she might be able to sue the vet under state law. But I don't know if she could sue the WIFE under this law. Some state laws allow a harassment victim to sue a supervisor individually for harassing her or not stopping another employee from harassing her. But I don't know about PA.

Another complication: generally, harassment is legal if it's based on the wife's animosity against one particular person rather than all women. But sometimes it's hard to tell.

She might have some other grounds for suing the wife: stalking, infliction of emotional distress, harassing phone calls, etc. Or the fuzzy legal theory of public policy if the wife forces her husband to fire the girlfriend illegally.

But let's say the girlfriend's lawyer figures out a way to sue the wife without suing the vet as well. The wife might have some legal ground for dragging the husband and/or the veterinary practice into the lawsuit as a defendant. Or she could extract revenge in divorce court.

If you're a member of our Pennsylvania Law Center, you can research all this in the members area of HRhero.com. On the home page, look for the "member log-in" box.

Or check with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission: [url]http://www.phrc.state.pa.us/[/url]

Good luck.

James Sokolowski
Senior Editor
M. Lee Smith Publishers

Theresa Gegen TX

If the wife made disparing comments about the employee, the employee may be able to sue for some types of civil wrongs (intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation and maybe even some type of invasion of privacy)against the wife personally. She could also sue the business for the same type of claims.


Good Luck.

diane

Thanks for all your help. It looks like the vet will settle for some
amount and have a lawyer draft a "no sue" letter in exchange for the
money. It's extremely messy given the fact that the owner (the vet)
did engage in sexual activity with the technician and the wife is
also part of the business. After counseling the vet, he did understand
that the technician could not continue to work at the practice, and he
thought it was reasonable to give her some compensation until she finds
other employment. Again, this website is wonderful in times of crisis!