Maryland Workplace Sexual Harassment Lawyers

In America today, as many as 81% of women and 43% of men have experienced some form of sexual harassment or assault. This statistic is disturbing for so many reasons. But among those reasons is the fact that sexual harassment, when it occurs in the workplace, affects the ability of thousands of women and men to achieve their full potential. In addition to its fundamental wrongness, sexual harassment in the workplace causes women to experience increased financial stress.

Something like 38% of women have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace. However, the true rate is difficult to accurately estimate. This is because many incidences go unreported by employees in order to avoid retaliation from their employers.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is the principal federal agency that deals with discrimination in the workplace. In the 2019 fiscal year, there were 12,739 charges filed with the EEOC alleging sex-based harassment and 7,514 charges alleging sexual harassment. An example of sex-based harassment is frequently making derogatory jokes about women, while an example of sexual harassment is making repeated, unwanted sexual advances.

Women and men from all industries report sexual harassment. Though women always report much more frequently than men, women are more likely than men to report sexual harassment in industries that are more male-dominated. This indicates that women are more at risk of harassment in male-dominated industries, such as construction. Women in service industries and low-wage jobs are also at a higher risk.

Workplace sexual harassment is a problem that affects all of us on an ethical but also a practical level. For instance, sexual harassment is linked to general workplace inequality. Women make a fraction of what men make, even when they hold the exact same positions. On average, a woman in 2018 made 81.6 cents for every dollar a man made. For more proof that sexual discrimination and harassment hurts American livelihoods and families, look no further than the EEOC’s report that there were 2,753 receipts of pregnancy discrimination in the 2019 fiscal year.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a federal law which prohibits discrimination based on sex in employment. The Civil Rights Act also protects identities such as race and disability. According to the EEOC, “it is unlawful to harass a person because of that person’s sex.” This includes making unwelcome advances, asking for sexual favors, physical conduct of a sexual nature, and offensive remarks based on a person’s sex. The EEOC also says that for harassment to be illegal, it must be so pervasive and severe that it affects the work environment, or it must result in an employment decision such as the victim being fired.

A work environment is considered hostile if the inappropriate behavior was pervasive and severe. This means that investigators and courts will want to see how long the harassment was going on, if the acts were threatening or humiliating, and if the employee’s performance was affected. Despite this definition, a single act is enough to create a hostile work environment if the circumstances are particularly severe.

In the State of Maryland, anti-discrimination law likewise addresses discrimination and harassment on the basis of sex. Maryland’s Fair Employment Practices Act was updated in October 2019 to
include a definition of harassment. Codified in MD State Govt. Code Sec. 20-601 et seq., the law defines harassment as including “harassment based on race, color, religion, ancestry or national origin, sex, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.” With that definition in mind, “[a]n employer may not…engage in harassment of an employee.”

You may also hear the term “quid pro quo” sexual harassment. Quid pro quo is a Latin term meaning something for something. This is when a supervisor demands an employee to perform a sexual favor in exchange for a promotion or threatens to fire an employee if they do not perform a sexual favor.

• Visit our page on sexual assault (i.e. rape and other sexual violence)

A first step that many victims of workplace sexual harassment take is lodging an internal complaint with their employer’s human resources department. Most employers have dedicated HR staff who investigate and resolve these issues. Complaining to HR, however, is not always effective.

If this is the case, a next step is to file charges with the EEOC or the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights (MCCR). No matter where you file, the EEOC and MCCR work together, and you can easily request that your case be cross-filed. These agencies will conduct an investigation to determine if discrimination occurred. If so, they will punish the company and award the employee damages.

If, on the other hand, the EEOC does not choose to get involved in the matter, they will give the employee the right to sue their employer. Then, the employee can file a lawsuit and attempt to receive compensation that way. You must go through the EEOC and receive the right to sue notice from them before you are allowed to file a federal lawsuit, and similar rules apply in many state jurisdictions.

A Maryland workplace sexual harassment attorney can help victims in any of these scenarios. Our experienced lawyers can help you at any stage, from promoting the success of your internal complaint to taking your case to the courtroom.

An aspect that many victims want to know about before taking action is confidentiality. As a victim, you will have to give your personal information to the EEOC. The EEOC requires that a name appears on the charge that is sent to an employer. A person or an organization may file on your behalf, however, it may still be hard for you to remain anonymous. Know that it is illegal for an employer to retaliate (e.g. fire you) for filing a claim and that you can be reinstated or compensated if this occurs.

Additionally, the use of non-disclosure agreements by employers in these lawsuits has been the subject of controversy in recent years. Some argue that confidentiality agreements silence victims, while others argue that they are beneficial because they encourage employers to settle. In Maryland, one of the requirements of the “Disclosing Sexual Harassment in the Workplace Act of 2018” is that employers with more than 50 employees must report how many sexual harassment settlements they made that included a confidentiality provision.

Changes made to Maryland employment law in October 2019 expanded employers’ liability for sexual harassment. Md. State Govt Code Sec. 20-611 outlines an employer’s liability for harassment. The statute says that an employer can be held legally responsible for harassment if the person who was responsible for the harassment was in charge of supervising, directing, or evaluating the work of the employee who was harassed, or if they were in charge of employment decisions (promoting, firing, etc.). An employer is also liable if their negligence led to the harassment or the continuation of the harassment.

With the recent changes to Maryland statute, there is no minimum number of employees an employer must have for this statute to apply—previously, an employer had to have 50 employees to be liable for harassment. Additionally, employers are now liable for harassment experienced by their independent contractors. Finally, the time limit to file with a local human relations commission was expanded from 6 months to 2 years, and the statute of limitations to file a lawsuit was expanded from two years to three years.

The “Disclosing Sexual Harassment in the Workplace Act of 2018” put in place new reporting requirements for Maryland employers. The act requires employers to report the number of settlements they have made to resolve sexual assault allegations by July 1, 2020, and again by July 2, 2022. Another key part of this act is that employers are no longer allowed to include a provision in an employment contract that prevents an employee from reporting sexual harassment. Nor can an employer retaliate against an employee who refuses to sign a contract that includes such a provision.

First, follow your workplace’s company policy for reporting, if such a policy exists. If there is no policy, report what is going on to a higher-level manager or human resources.

Secondly, it is best to report harassment in writing so that you can get down as many exact details as possible. Include a description of how the harassment has affected your work. Also, keep written notes documenting your experiences, noting the time, place, who was involved, and what was said or done. This will help build your case that the sexual harassment was severe, pervasive, and created a hostile environment. You should write “in contemplation of litigation” at the top of your notes to ensure that the other side cannot access them in the event that you file a lawsuit.

One way to increase the likelihood that your complai
nt will be taken seriously is to complain as a group. If your coworkers have similar complaints and are willing to come forward with you, it will be much harder for your employer to discredit or ignore you.

Finally, if reporting internally does not improve the situation, seek legal advice. An attorney will help you file a discrimination charge with the EEOC or MCCR if you wish to do so. Note that the deadline to report to the MCCR is 6 months from the date the last harassment occurred. Maryland’s EEOC office also has a filing deadline of 180 days if your workplace employs less than 15 people and 300 if your workplace employs more than 15 people. If the EEOC decides not to take your case, they will issue a document giving you the right to file a lawsuit. The deadline to file a lawsuit in federal court after the EEOC has issued this document is 90 days. On the Maryland state level, you must file a lawsuit with the circuit court within 2 years of when the harassment occurred.

Yes. Litigation is often the last resort for victims. If internal complaints or filing a discrimination charge with the EEOC or MCCR goes nowhere, filing a civil lawsuit is the next step. At this point, working with an experienced attorney is strongly recommended in order to avoid legal traps and win the best possible settlement.

To file a lawsuit, you have to file a discrimination charge with the government first. The EEOC, for example, will give you the right to proceed with a lawsuit after it decides not to proceed with your case. You must file your federal lawsuit within 90 days after getting the go-ahead. In Maryland, if the MCCR does not move forward with your case in 180 days, you can move ahead with a lawsuit in the Maryland circuit court. You must file within 2 years of the latest incident of harassment.

In a civil lawsuit, the “damages” are the monetary compensation that plaintiffs are awarded. In a sexual harassment claim, these are the possible types of damages:

• Back pay (Wages and other compensation you would have received if the harassment had not resulted in you being fired or denied a raise or promotion — these same victims also often have wage and hour claims for lost overtime and other violations)
• Front pay (Future wage loss, e.g. if you were fired and reinstatement is not an option)
• Compensatory damages (Includes pain & suffering, harm to your reputation, medical bills, and job search costs)
• Punitive damages (Damages intended to punish the defendant for their actions or negligence)
• Attorney’s fees

Compensatory and punitive damages are the most subjective type of damages. It is challenging to put a price on a person’s pain and suffering. However, the federal government has a cap on compensatory and punitive damages. This means that even if a jury awards millions of dollars, what the plaintiff receives may actually be much less. The cap depends on the size of the company:

• $50,000 for employers with 15-100 employees
• $100,000 for employers with 101-200 employees
• $200,000 for employers with 201-500 employees
• $300,000 for employers with more than 500 employees

Researchers suggest that a much higher cap would incentivize workplaces to take this issue more seriously, similar to how a higher cap on workers’ compensation damages did the same in the past.