Have you Been Sexually Harassed at Work? Contact us today.

Sexual harassment occurs far too frequently in the workplace. It can take many forms, including, but not limited to offers of promotions, raises, or continued employment in exchange for sexual favors; unwanted comments about your appearance; lewd discussion about you; rumors about you or your sexual history; repeated requests for dates; unwanted or inappropriate touching; and even unwanted gifts. If anything said or done at work makes you feel uncomfortable or harassed because of your gender or sex, you may have been sexually harassed. At Schorr & Associates, we represent employees who have been sexually harassed or who have been retaliated against for complaining about or rejecting sexual harassment.

The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination protects employees from sexual harassment in the workplace. Sexual harassment can be of the quid pro quo type or the more common hostile working environment claim. In a quid pro quo claim, the employee’s employment or terms and conditions of their employment are promised only if the employee accepts or continues to accept sexual advances. A hostile working environment claim rises where sexual comments and/or actions are severe and/or pervasive and makes the employee feel that their employment environment has been altered. Even one act of sexual harassment can be severe enough to support a claim. Harassment that occurs repeatedly and/or frequently can also satisfy the requirement.

SEXUAL HARASSMENT CLAIMS
Quid Pro Quo – The term “quid pro quo” is Latin, and it translates to “a favor or advantage granted or expected in return for something.” In commerce it means an exchange of goods or services of roughly equivalent value, but when it refers to sexual harassment it has a much darker meaning. Quid pro quo sexual harassment is what happens when something of value in the workplace – such as a promotion, a raise, benefits, or favorable work assignments – are proffered in exchange for or conditioned on the employee providing sexual favors. In most cases this type of transaction is suggested by a person in a position of authority over the employee. Quid pro quo sexual harassment also describes those situations in which an employee rejects a sexual advance from a person in a position of authority over them, and the rejection results in the loss of something of value in the workplace – or even of losing the job entirely. A quid pro quo sexual harassment claim seeks both compensatory damages such as back pay or economic losses, and punitive damages.

Hostile Work Environment – The term “hostile work environment” refers to conduct in the workplace that either means to or does unreasonably interfere with an employee’s work performance, or that creates an environment that is intimidating, hostile, or offensive. The offending conduct can involve discriminatory comments related to a person’s race, religion or other protected class, but when it specifically involves sexual innuendo or advances, or gender-related comments that are offensive from the perspective of a reasonable person of the same gender as the complaining employee, it is considered hostile work environment sexual harassment. A hostile work environment sexual harassment claim can be filed whether the offending behavior is a single severe instance or repetitive behavior, and can include foul language, sexual references, pornographic pictures, and verbal abuse or touching. A hostile work environment sexual harassment claim seeks both compensatory damages such as back pay or economic losses, and punitive damages.

Alan H. Schorr has successfully litigated many sexual harassment cases. He was the prevailing sexual harassment attorney in the landmark case of Connolly v. Burger King, a case that set the standard for discovery available in sexual harassment cases. Our firm has been aggressively representing employees who have suffered sexual harassment in New Jersey since 1993. Alan H. Schorr, a Certified Civil Trial Attorney, has had many significant legal victories at the Appellate Courts and numerous significant verdicts and settlements.

Contact Schorr & Associates for a free initial consultation About Your Sexual Harassment Claim.