5 ms·

This part really helps put it into perspective: > In a tragic example of the harassment that Defendants allowed to fester in their offices, a female employee c

by bogwog 5y ago

This part really helps put it into perspective: > In a tragic example of the harassment that Defendants allowed to fester in their offices, a female employee committed suicide while on a company trip due to a sexual relationship that she had been having with her male supervisor. The male supervisor was found by police to have brought a butt plug and lubricant on this business trip. Another employee confirmed that the deceased female employee may have been suffering from other sexual harassment at work prior to her death. Specifically, at a holiday party before her death, male co-workers were alleged to be passing around a picture of the deceased's vagina. (I had to manually type that out because the source doc is a scanned PDF; might have typos) source: https://aboutblaw.com/YJw https://aboutblaw.com/YJw

rasz 5y ago
and yet no criminal charges have been brought, WTF?
- bpodgursky 5y ago
  What crime would you charge?
  - pseudalopex 5y ago
    Distributing images of certain body parts the person depicted believed private is disorderly conduct in California.[1] [1] https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=647.&lawCode=PEN https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySectio...
    - KittenInABox 5y ago
      If someone is so humiliated by this that they commit suicide why would they go through the emotional agony of going to court and having their humiliation litigated in front of a judge and to be put into public record under their name forever?
      - pseudalopex 5y ago
        Their question suggested they maybe didn't know it was a crime. I thought people should know it is. I think rasz's point was a prosecutor could bring charges now. And public record regulations have privacy exceptions.
  - rasz 5y ago
    https://www.courts.ca.gov/1258.htm?rdeLocaleAttr=en https://www.courts.ca.gov/1258.htm?rdeLocaleAttr=en ? How F** is California If someone was harassed to the point of committing suicide and DA doesnt press charges?
    - UncleMeat 5y ago
      Welcome to the complete ineffectiveness of the legal system to prosecute sexual assault and harassment. "Nothing we can do" has been the universal response to every woman I know who has experienced criminal assault and harassment.
randyrand 5y ago
Maybe i’m missing something, but how on earth is that related to commiting suicide? Feels like we are making massive assumptions here.
- vb6sp6 5y ago
  > Maybe i’m missing something Maybe having pics of your vagina passed around the office might not make you suicidal, but it might make someone else suicidal. Perhaps one way to find out is to present the facts of the case to a judge\jury with expert testimony and let them figure it out.
- cryptoz 5y ago
  https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m2984 https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m2984 > In Cox regression analyses adjusted for a range of sociodemographic characteristics, workplace sexual harassment was associated with an excess risk of both suicide (hazard ratio 2.82, 95% confidence interval 1.49 to 5.34) and suicide attempts (1.59, 1.21 to 2.08), and risk estimates remained significantly increased after adjustment for baseline health and certain work characteristics. ... > The results support the hypothesis that workplace sexual harassment is prospectively associated with suicidal behaviour. What you are missing is the knowledge that harassing people can hurt them. It can. And linked is some science to back it up in case you wanted a source.
- gameswithgo 5y ago
  Yes I think you could use some form of life broadening education and experience so you aren’t missing it.
ecf 5y ago
> due to a sexual relationship that she had been having with her make supervisor Am I wrong or does the statement make no indication that the sexual relationship was non-consensual?
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- bpicolo 5y ago
  Relationships within a reporting chain are a classic example of bad business ethics, because there's obvious opportunity for favoritism and bias, and most corporate policies disallow it (in favor of moving folk to other teams or similar).
  - X6S1x6Okd1st 5y ago
    Not to mention that the favoritism and bias can be used as an inventive for engaging in the relationship.
  - dillondoyle 5y ago
    More important IMHO in power differentials like this are the other side of that: punishment or worse. Whether it's a real explicit threat or not, it's built in. women especially have had these experiences for decades. I'm sure almost any women on HN has a story about some superior being inappropriate and the pressures around that.
    - willcipriano 5y ago
      Exactly. I don't care that Bill Clinton cheated on his wife, they may have an arrangement for all I know. I care that he used his position as the most powerful man on the planet to sleep with a young intern. As a counterpoint JFK and Marilyn Monroe doesn't bother me at all, the power balance was much closer in that case and she was more than capable of navigating those waters.
      - 5y ago

by bogwog 5y ago

rasz 5y ago

and yet no criminal charges have been brought, WTF?

bpodgursky 5y ago
What crime would you charge?
- pseudalopex 5y ago
  Distributing images of certain body parts the person depicted believed private is disorderly conduct in California.[1] [1] https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=647.&lawCode=PEN https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySectio...
  - KittenInABox 5y ago
    If someone is so humiliated by this that they commit suicide why would they go through the emotional agony of going to court and having their humiliation litigated in front of a judge and to be put into public record under their name forever?
    - pseudalopex 5y ago
      Their question suggested they maybe didn't know it was a crime. I thought people should know it is. I think rasz's point was a prosecutor could bring charges now. And public record regulations have privacy exceptions.
- rasz 5y ago
  https://www.courts.ca.gov/1258.htm?rdeLocaleAttr=en https://www.courts.ca.gov/1258.htm?rdeLocaleAttr=en ? How F** is California If someone was harassed to the point of committing suicide and DA doesnt press charges?
  - UncleMeat 5y ago
    Welcome to the complete ineffectiveness of the legal system to prosecute sexual assault and harassment. "Nothing we can do" has been the universal response to every woman I know who has experienced criminal assault and harassment.

randyrand 5y ago

Maybe i’m missing something, but how on earth is that related to commiting suicide? Feels like we are making massive assumptions here.

vb6sp6 5y ago
> Maybe i’m missing something Maybe having pics of your vagina passed around the office might not make you suicidal, but it might make someone else suicidal. Perhaps one way to find out is to present the facts of the case to a judge\jury with expert testimony and let them figure it out.
cryptoz 5y ago
https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m2984 https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m2984 > In Cox regression analyses adjusted for a range of sociodemographic characteristics, workplace sexual harassment was associated with an excess risk of both suicide (hazard ratio 2.82, 95% confidence interval 1.49 to 5.34) and suicide attempts (1.59, 1.21 to 2.08), and risk estimates remained significantly increased after adjustment for baseline health and certain work characteristics. ... > The results support the hypothesis that workplace sexual harassment is prospectively associated with suicidal behaviour. What you are missing is the knowledge that harassing people can hurt them. It can. And linked is some science to back it up in case you wanted a source.
gameswithgo 5y ago
Yes I think you could use some form of life broadening education and experience so you aren’t missing it.

ecf 5y ago

> due to a sexual relationship that she had been having with her make supervisor Am I wrong or does the statement make no indication that the sexual relationship was non-consensual?

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
bpicolo 5y ago
Relationships within a reporting chain are a classic example of bad business ethics, because there's obvious opportunity for favoritism and bias, and most corporate policies disallow it (in favor of moving folk to other teams or similar).
- X6S1x6Okd1st 5y ago
  Not to mention that the favoritism and bias can be used as an inventive for engaging in the relationship.
- dillondoyle 5y ago
  More important IMHO in power differentials like this are the other side of that: punishment or worse. Whether it's a real explicit threat or not, it's built in. women especially have had these experiences for decades. I'm sure almost any women on HN has a story about some superior being inappropriate and the pressures around that.
  - willcipriano 5y ago
    Exactly. I don't care that Bill Clinton cheated on his wife, they may have an arrangement for all I know. I care that he used his position as the most powerful man on the planet to sleep with a young intern. As a counterpoint JFK and Marilyn Monroe doesn't bother me at all, the power balance was much closer in that case and she was more than capable of navigating those waters.
    - 5y ago