Sexual Coercion Attorney New York NY
The experienced attorneys at DeToffol & Gittleman have dedicated their practice to helping victims in New York City and beyond who have been hurt as a result of someone's carelessness in workplace harassment disputes and personal injury accident cases using whatever adversarial and non-adversarial strategies necessary to accomplish the client's objective most efficiently. By using both settlement negotiations and litigation techniques, wherever necessary, the team assists clients in achieving the best possible outcomes for themselves and their families while controlling their legal costs. DeToffol & Gittleman has experience in Employment Law, Personal Injury, Workers Compensation, Workplace Discrimination, Catastrophic Accidents, Intellectual Property and Slip and Fall Law cases in New York NY. Call us at (212) 962-2220.
It is no mystery that some people do not know when to stop, often they believe that to get what they want, they need to push harder and mount pressure even when that means sexually coercing another person in the work place. Generally, sexual coercion is the act of pressuring, intimidating, tricking threatening or forcing an employee in a nonphysical way to engage in an unwanted sexual act. Workplace sexual coercion usually involves a superior officer in the workplace as well as the use of devices like power, deception and favoritism, denial of rights, privileges and rewards to gain sexual benefits from an employee. Sexual Coercion can be difficult to identify because there are a few instances where it is done openly or before witnesses, it is mostly carried out secretly by the perpetrators. It comes in a wide range of unwelcome sexual acts or excessive contact or communication with an employee of a sexual nature, to the point where that employee feels intimidated, exhausted, traumatized or afraid.
Penal Law §135.60 describes coercion to have occurred when the offender compels or induces a person by inculcating fear in the victim so much so that the victim believes that he or she is in danger of harm of injury to his or her person, property, reputation, job, personal relationships, etc., if the sexual demand of the perpetrator is not met with.
Forms Of Sexual Coercion Sexual coercion is not limited to but may come in the following forms: Verbally: – this is sexual coercion by means of spoken words and may include begging persistently, lying to entice, flattering the victim, name calling, peer pressure, and arguing. Physically: – this is sexual coercion by means of physical force or pressure on the victim. Emotionally: – this is sexual coercion by means of emotional and psychological manipulation such as taking advantage of a person’s feelings, trust or instability.
The use of authority by a superior officer, ingesting the victim with excessive alcohol to impair his or her thought process are also common examples of coercion, threatening or blackmailing an employee into having sexual relations by using guilt of a past incident or personal information that may likely get him or her fired, demoted or disciplined are examples of sexual coercion in the workplace. In some instances, sexual coercion could become rape or another form of sexual assault. Forced sexual contact is subject to punishment in both civil and criminal court. Hence, it is nothing to take lightly. Speak to us about it today. Call our attorneys at DeToffol & Gittleman for your free and confidential consultation; contact us today at (212) 962-2220.
Sexual Comments
It is simple, sexual jokes do not belong in the workplace! They are not only “inappropriate,” they are sexual harassment. As soon as funny comments cross the line, it can begin to create a hostile and intimidating work environment. As a New York City employee, you have a right not to be exposed to any form of sexual teasing, lewd jokes or inappropriate comments; in fact, it’s illegal under the state and federal laws. Sexual jokes could become an easy pass to sexual harassment and unwanted sexual advances; therefore, your employer should neither condone nor encourage sexual jokes in the workplace. Unwelcome sexual jokes are plainly sexual harassment if they occur with such frequency or severity as to interrupt the victim’s ability to function properly in the workplace. The victim often feels pressured to “tag along” or “tolerate” or even participate in such behavior so as not to feel like he or she lacks a sense of humor or is incapable of taking “jokes”. Factually, these behaviors could be an attack on the employee’s gender identity or sexual orientation or even a hostile criticism of his or her sexual preference.
A single incident of sexual jokes or comments may not be actionable, but a pattern of incidents of harassing conducts in a workplace is certainly actionable. A situation that may likely pose a challenge in these cases is one where the victim at some point (maybe out of pressure) has forwarded like jokes that were sent to him or her or engaged in a chitchat that involved sexual or inappropriate jokes in the workplace in an effort to “belong”. The defense may likely also argue that other co-workers were not offended by the same jokes. Therefore, it is important to stare clear of participating in the said banter in the work place and also to document all incidents of what you perceived to be inappropriate sexual and harassing conduct. You don’t need to laugh along just to belong, call our attorneys at DeToffol & Gittleman for your free and confidential consultation, contact us today at (212) 962-2220.
The experienced attorneys at DeToffol & Gittleman have dedicated their practice to helping victims in New York City and beyond who have been hurt as a result of someone's carelessness in workplace harassment disputes and personal injury accident cases using whatever adversarial and non-adversarial strategies necessary to accomplish the client's objective most efficiently. By using both settlement negotiations and litigation techniques, wherever necessary, the team assists clients in achieving the best possible outcomes for themselves and their families while controlling their legal costs.
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