by DC Jobs with Justice | Jun 24, 2014 | Projects
Written by: Nikki Lewis, Executive Director, DC Jobs with Justice and Liz Watson, Senior Counsel and Director of Workplace Justice for Women, National Women’s Law Center What do you call the person who can make you stay late at work, who decides who works the night shift and who works days, who works the cash register and who cleans the toilets? You call that person the boss. But exactly one year ago today, the Supreme Court said that if the person who directs your daily work harasses you, unless they also have the power to hire and fire you, the strong protections that are supposed to kick in when bosses harass their subordinates do not apply. Right about now, you might be scratching your head thinking that this doesn’t make any sense. And you would be right. But let us explain how we ended up with this terrible rule and what can be done about it. More than 15 years ago, recognizing the potential for bosses to abuse their power over their subordinates and that employers should be responsible for preventing this abuse, the Supreme Court put in place strong legal protections from this harassment. Then last year, a narrow 5-4 decision in Vance v. Ball State University undercut those protections by saying they only apply to harassment by bosses who also have the power to take actions like hiring or firing. The Vance decision held that the person who tells you when to show up at work and what to do when you get there is just another coworker. This means that claims of harassment by the...
