Real Life Story of Sexual Harassment

Mia* , Waitress - Dallas, TX

Mia's supervisor and co-workers were not exactly gentlemen. Gutierrez, her supervisor, engaged in daily aggravating conduct by attempting to start a relationship with her, acting very friendly to her, inviting her to dinner, calling her at home to ask her out on a date, and complaining to her when she had a party in her home but did not invite him, discussing having sex with her, engaging in other sexual talk, and telling her to wear short skirts when working as a cashier. Gutierrez physically harassed her by getting close to her, grabbing her arm and touching her breast, and attempting to straighten her name tag on her tuxedo uniform. Gutierrez's conduct was so obvious that at least one customer and some of her coworkers commented about it. However, all of this happened over a long period of time, and when the court looked at the totality of the work environment it decided that the comments about which Mia complained were at most insensitive and rude. The court decided that they were neither sufficiently pervasive nor offensive to alter the terms and conditions of her employment and create a hostile working environment. One thing the Mia had against her was the fact that when she filed the lawsuit and gave her deposition, she either did not mention the alleged abuse by coworkers or glossed over it. When her Human Resources Director asked her to name names, she couldn't remember who besides her supervisor had harassed her. Her claim of sexual harassment based on the conduct of coworkers was found to be without merit. Furthermore, the court found that even though Guiterrez had harassed her, she had no claim because the company took appropriate remedial action against Guitterez by telling him not to call Mia at home and to attend sensitivity training.

Mirakhorli v. DFW Mgmt. Co., 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1607 (N.D. Tex. Feb. 5, 1998)

*names have been changed