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Speak Up! - View Question #188 |
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Question: What type of penalties for harassment are in place under the law?
Answer: Before 1930, employees did
not have much protection from their employers. In 1930, though, Congress
decided to offer some protection by passing laws to protect employees
a little bit, and created the following laws: minimum wage law; social
security laws; and extra hours laws.
Nevertheless, before 1965 there weren't
any laws protecting employees from harassment at the work place. Harassment
can occur in several ways: when a person is made to feel uncomfortable,
or is in some way discriminated, on the basis of their race, national
origin, color of their skin, gender [their sex], religion, age, or disability.
In 1965, Title 7 was passed - which is the law that provides the most
protection for harassment and discrimination in our society. Other laws
relating to disabilities did not become effective later [the Americans
with Disabilities Act did not become effective until 1990].
When an employee is 'harassed' or in some
way discriminated against by another person at work, there are a few different
claims that can be made against the 'harasser' at the state level. All
of these claims can include money damages [that is, the person suing gets
money for having been harassed] or an action can be ordered [that is,
that the person harassing the plaintiff must be fired, or if the harassment
resulted in the plaintiff getting fired, rehiring the plaintiff].
Some examples of typical 'harassment' type
claims are:
1) Tort Claims: this claim has a plaintiff complaining
of being 'wronged', and is the type of lawsuit most Americans are familiar
with.
2) Defamation: the plaintiff here complains of their
'name' being ruined.
3) Emotional Distress: the plaintiff here complains
that they were emotionally disturbed by the harrassment
4) Fraud: this is a claim where the plaintiff argues
that they were somehow deceived on a serious point.
5) Public Policy [44 states still have this claim,
which basically is a claim that means the action involved is bad in
general, and needs to be brought so that it doesn't happen again
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