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Who Needs Halloween? Sexual Harassment and Election Season

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rockoffsabrinapresnell-2By Sabrina Presnell Rockoff

I come to you this beautiful October day with three scary topics you should likely avoid at any dinner party.  However, as an employment lawyer and breast cancer survivor, I’m going to tackle all of them:  Politics, sexual harassment and cancer.  I’ll start with the last topic first.  October is breast cancer awareness month.  As a survivor of stage 1 breast cancer, I’m living proof that early detection saves lives.  So if you or your loved one has been putting off a mammogram or checking something that seems worrisome, STOP!  Make an appointment today.  It matters – a lot.

Now, on to the other two … This election is testing many of the fundamental ideas we all believe in as Americans:  democracy, patriotism, equal rights and freedom of speech.  Keeping our opinions to ourselves this election season has become increasingly difficult.  Without offering my own opinion on the candidates, one thing is very clear:  sexual harassment is front and center in this election in a way it has not been since the early 1990s.  And history shows us that when sexual harassment is at the forefront of political discussion, we all had best take note. The EEOC reported that charges filed alleging sexual harassment increased by over 60 percent the year following the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings.  While I would argue, based on my own experience, that companies are now in a much better position to address sexual harassment concerns and claims than they were 10 or 20 years ago, based on the current conversations being had on any cable news show, not all companies, even large, seemingly savvy companies, are doing it well.  You can find the most recent data regarding EEOC charges related to sex harassment here:  https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/statistics/enforcement/sexual_harassment_new.cfm

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