Tag Archive for 'harassment'

one third of women report work harassment

Published on December 8, 2009 in Junk Drawer. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

In a totally depressing article, the Daily Mail reports that one third of women in the UK claim they have experienced sexual harassment at the workplace. Some lowlights:

  • 14 percent are “dreading” going to their holiday party because they’ll have to dodge a drunk and/or handsy coworker
  • 20 percent say they have had to fend off a coworker’s sexual advances
  • 5 percent report that they have quit a job because the office harassment was so bad
  • 32 percent say that they have experienced harassment in the form of lewd “humor” or inappropriate jokes

However, that’s not the only disheartening thing about this article. The recommended reading link in the middle of the article links to something entitled “Moody, indecisive, and trying to act like a man, why ladies make truly lousy bosses.” Seriously? I have two things to say to the author of that piece: one, it’s called a colon and you should try using one, and two, shut up.

workplace harassment on ‘entourage’

Published on November 23, 2009 in Fictional Assistants. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Sometimes life really does imitate art…well, not that “Entourage” is art, but you get the idea. Just as his character Lloyd is mocked on the show by being called “The Gaysian,” his portrayer Rex Lee also gets shit from crew members while on set. Lee admitted to TMZ that he’s sometimes a target of jokes about his race and sexuality at work, and that it bothers him.

After the story broke, “Entourage” creator Rob Ellin responded that he was “horrified” to hear of Lee’s on-set harassment. He said that when the show resumes filming he’ll be giving everyone a lecture (sensitivity training class, perhaps?) and insisted that “[Harassment] is not something condoned or acceptable.”

I’m glad to hear that Ellin is laying down the law (even going so far as to say he’ll fire people who make homophobic comments), but did it really have to take this long? How many years has Lee been on the show? Is this a recent problem or something he’s just speaking out about now? Either way, I’m glad that Ellin seems to want to do the right thing.

boss allegedly tries to have assistant killed

Published on November 11, 2009 in Horror Stories. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Workplace harassment is no laughing matter. A current lawsuit going on in London absolutely made my blood boil:

Jordan Wimmer, a 29-year-old financier who earned more than $1 million (Cdn) last year, is in the midst of $7 million suit against Mark Lowe. Lowe, 59, is the principal at hedge fund Nomos Capital and a legend in London investment circles. He owns a castle in France and has a reported $200-million fortune.

Testifying in front of a London employment tribunal this week, Wimmer accused Lowe of peppering her with sexual innuendo, making her watch lap dances and forcing her to share office space with prostitutes he passed off as relatives.

Let’s read that last sentence one more time, shall we? Forcing her to share office space with prostitutes he passed off as relatives. OK, there are so many weird things about that sentence. First of all, why would the prostitutes need offices? If they were, uh, working as prostitutes then they probably would have needed bedrooms, not offices. If they were doing their work in the office, then did Ms. Wimmer have to watch them have sex? That is some fucked up shit right there.

Wimmer said the poisonous atmosphere ruined her health. She told the tribunal that she was speaking slowly because of medication she was taking for depression. She claims to suffer from bulimia and anxiety as a result of working at Nomos.

I don’t know either of these people personally and had never heard of them before reading this article. That said, I almost always believe an underling over a boss, because it’s much harder for an underling to get away with lying in a corporate environment. This is one lawsuit I will definitely be following.

unsafe workplace safety videos

Published on July 17, 2009 in Video. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Cracked.com has a hilarious article about some of the worst workplace safety videos ever. They feature everything from vintage mullets (the non-ironic kind) to superthick Canadian accents to people being impaled. Here’s my favorite, which is about how to handle those dames in the office who just walk around in their skirts asking to be sexually harrassed.

You can see the others – plus entertaining commentary and carefully analyzed screenshots – here.

assistant accuses CEO of rape

Published on June 9, 2009 in Assistants in the News. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

An employee of Margarete Steiff GmbH, a German-based toymaker (whose best-known product are cute, cuddly teddy bears like the one at right) is suing her former boss, CEO Martin Frechen, of rape. Jane Collins, who used to be Frechen’s personal assistant and has since been promoted to assistant US marketing manager, is suing Frechen and the company for $80 million. She alleges that while she was Frechen’s assistant, he repeatedly sexually assaulted her over a five year period.

While this story is horrible and I commend Ms. Collins for coming out about what happened to her, my first question was why does she still work for the company? Sadly, she, like many others, felt trapped in her job and desperately needed the money.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Ms. Collins, a 32-year-old mother of two, said she didn’t go to the police about the alleged rape “because I was afraid I would lose my job if I did.” She said she has continued to work at Steiff because she needs the job, and because it pays better than similar positions elsewhere.

In the interview, Ms. Collins claimed that she wasn’t able to escape. “He’s six four and very strong, and I’m five seven,” she said. The complaint alleges that during the assault, Ms. Collins repeatedly told Mr. Frechen to stop and he responded by saying that this would be their “last time together,” and that “it is OK.”

This story absolutely disgusts me, and I am willing to bet that for every Jane Collins who has the courage to speak out there are many more who still say nothing because they’re afraid for their jobs. Another defendant named in the suit is another executive who Collins says she went to about the harrassment and who did nothing. Perhaps that’s the scariest part of all – when she finally did go to someone in a position of authority at the company, that person did nothing.

I wish Jane Collins all the best of luck with her suit and hope that justice will be served.

horror story: face time

Published on May 6, 2009 in Horror Stories. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

A friend recently turned me on to the website Madison Avenue War Stories, which details some appalling stuff from assistants and non-assistants alike who work at New York’s big advertising firms. Here’s a great one:

When I worked at BBDO there was this major Creative Director, Charlie. He was legendary for his cruelty. He’d have everyone in his half of the agency come into the hall and say Pizza Hut was in trouble. He’d then say ‘if we don’t save this account, everybody look to the left of you and to the right of you and that’s who will be fired. So I’m gonna look at work on Sunday night at 7 p.m. And if you want to keep your jobs you better be there. This was like on a Friday afternoon. So everybody would work all weekend and low and behold Charlie wouldn’t show up on Sunday at 7:00 p.m. or at 8, 9 , 10 or 11. He wouldn’t come in at all. He’d be off fucking some new girlfriend of his. He was on like his 4th marriage. Then Monday we’d get in a line outside his office. Then he’d call in his favorite 5 guys who he played basketball with at lunch and they’d all come up with some dogshit spot. Then Charlie would come out into the hall and say ‘thanks everybody we’ve got it covered’. But it get’s worse. Rumor has it that during an important client meeting, a very attractive account woman came rushing into the meeting late. All the seats were filled. She said “I’ve got no where to sit”. Charlie responded, in front of the client, ‘honey, as long as I’ve got a face, you’ve got a place to sit’. The woman rushed out of the room. She sued him but settled for like 100 grand. this was before the real sexual harrasment suits started.