Sexual Harassment Lawyer Blawg
A witness has come forward and sworn under oath that a former employee of SCA Pharmaceuticals was sexually harassed and openly mocked by coworkers because he was a gay man. The following is taken from the Complaint against SCA filed in Federal Court and the Witness’s sworn statement. The names are redacted.
It was a recurring “joke” for The Harasser and his friends to ask The Employee how his girlfriend was doing, and who he would “chagachaga,” while thrusting their hips, to indicate they were referring to sex. The Harasser would rub his genitals, approach The Employee tell him to look down, gesture to his penis, chuckle and walk away. Since the harassment took place in front of a supervisor, The Employee believed that SCA was aware of it. Nonetheless it continued. In his sworn statement, The Witness describes seeing the Acting-Supervisor laughing along with offensive comments:
I witnessed our Team Lead . . . laugh along at these comments. . . .
I witnessed the Employee get visually upset by the comments the Harasser and others made to him. [He] would tell them that he was fed up, it’s not funny, stop, or ask the Harasser and others why they were still talking about him. They continued to make comments . . . .
In addition to the comments and “jokes,” the Harasser would constantly stare at the Employee. It was not just a glance. It was a fixated stare. I believed that he was either trying to intimidate or sexualize The Employee, as if he was a piece of meat. It made me uncomfortable to witness. . .
I believe The Employee reported The Harasser to Human Resources because Jennifer Diamond from SCA’s Human Resources department held a meeting with me. . . .
I told Ms. Diamond what I witnessed, including [the] frequent offensive jokes and comments . . . and how the Harasser constantly stared at The Employee.
I told Ms. Diamond that The Harasser was making it uncomfortable to even be in the same room as him.
Ms. Diamond did not ask me to make a written statement about what I witnessed.
The Employee was told to stay home while they conducted their investigation. SCA never informed The Employee whether it had disciplined The Harasser. Although The Employee told HR that he did not feel safe working around The Harasser, and HR admitted they should be kept separate, SCA assigned The Harasser to tasks which put him near The Employee. The Harasser continued to watch him in the locker room, bathroom, and when bent over to put on his work boots. The Witness states that The Employee called him daily expressing his fear and distress:
[The Employee] called me almost every day after work to vent and complain about what was happening to him, how SCA was not taking the situation seriously, and how even though [The Harasser] was supposed to be kept away from him, no one was enforcing it . . .