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Accused of Sexual Harassment

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wowrlly

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Sacramento, CA

A former employee of our small business is trying to sue us for "hostile work environment" There are two owners to this business, and the lawsuit is against one of the owners and the corporation. The ex-employee claims that there were things said by one of the owners in the workplace. It is completely untrue and fabricated, and we are sure that this employee is just trying to get money from us. (She filed for sexual harassment at another business in the past). We did not fire her, she left on her own. We are still only a small clothing business and just starting out with not a lot of profit yet, and we cannot afford to pay lawyers at this moment, nor does our insurance cover this. This employee never complained to any other supervisors about this issue, and there was no indication that any behavior in the workplace was unwelcome. In fact, she was at times inappropriate herself by telling dirty jokes.

So my question is, since she is suing both the other owner and the corporation, what can be done to limit the damage in our case? It doesn't seem fair that we should have to pay thousands in lawyer fees to protect us from something that we did not do because this employee is trying to get money for herself and spite us.
 


eerelations

Senior Member
How many employees does this company have?

Also, how is she "trying to sue" the owner and the corporation? Have you received a letter from the EEOC? From an attorney? An official notice of court date?

When did this employee leave your company? What was the reason she gave at the time? How long was she employed there?

Sorry to bombard you like this but we need the answers to these questions in order to form the best advice we can for you.
 

Beth3

Senior Member
First off, what precisely do you mean by "she is suing" us? Have you actually received notification that a lawsuit has been filed? Or has she only filed a complaint with the EEOC or your State's equal rights division?

In order to file suit, your ex-employee must first receive a "right to sue" notice from the EEOC or the State ERD, which means you would have received a copy of her initial complaint from the gov't months ago which you had an opportunity to respond to.
 

wowrlly

Junior Member
How many employees does this company have?

Also, how is she "trying to sue" the owner and the corporation? Have you received a letter from the EEOC? From an attorney? An official notice of court date?

When did this employee leave your company? What was the reason she gave at the time? How long was she employed there?

Sorry to bombard you like this but we need the answers to these questions in order to form the best advice we can for you.
We have about 10 employees. She left about a few weeks ago, and she did not give us a reason, we just heard from the unemployment department that she is trying to receive unemployment because of sexual harassment. She then got denied for that. She was working with us for about a year.

First off, what precisely do you mean by "she is suing" us? Have you actually received notification that a lawsuit has been filed? Or has she only filed a complaint with the EEOC or your State's equal rights division?

In order to file suit, your ex-employee must first receive a "right to sue" notice from the EEOC or the State ERD, which means you would have received a copy of her initial complaint from the gov't months ago which you had an opportunity to respond to.
I don't have the letter with me at the moment, but it was as you said a "right to sue" notice with her complaint from her attorney.
 

eerelations

Senior Member
You need an attorney, at the very least to help you decide which of the following routes is cheaper:
  1. Fighting this in the courts.
  2. Settling.
 

Beth3

Senior Member
I don't have the letter with me at the moment, but it was as you said a "right to sue" notice with her complaint from her attorney.


So you must have received a notice of her complaint from your State or the EEOC many months ago. I hope you didn't just ignore it. The cheapest time to fight these extortionate complaints is at that time by hiring an attorney to respond, in the hope that the State or EEOC will make a "no probable cause" determination. That's water over the bridge now.

What you need to do is to hire an experience employment law attorney to handle this matter for you. This is NOT a do-it-yourself job. I know you said you don't have money for an attorney but it will cost you a lot more money down the road if you don't get qualified legal representation to respond to this now.
 

Hot Topic

Senior Member
How can you have "about" ten employees? You either know how many people work for the company or you don't.

As far as the person's actions not being "fair," you have to approach the situation from a professional standpoint, not "She says I stole her marbles and I didn't do nuthin' wrong."
 

wowrlly

Junior Member
How can you have "about" ten employees? You either know how many people work for the company or you don't.

As far as the person's actions not being "fair," you have to approach the situation from a professional standpoint, not "She says I stole her marbles and I didn't do nuthin' wrong."
It doesn't matter, its under 15 employees.
Also, what I was saying is that it is not right for any business to have to put up with these employee scams. Any girl that's not happy at her job can just leave and hire a lawyer and file a bogus sexual harassment claim. The lawyer is free for her, and it might not affect large corporations, but small business who can not yet afford to pay tens of thousands for a lawyer can be wiped out.

Anyway, here is another question. What if the owner sells his share in the company and is no longer a part of it. I am assuming since the lawsuit will probably be brought up against the corporation then that probably wont be very effective. My other question is, what if we sold the business altogther, would the lawsuit transfer to the new owner? (By the way, I'm not selling the business just because of the lawsuit, we have been wanting to sell it for a while now)
 

Hot Topic

Senior Member
It may not be "fair," but not being fair doesn't automatically translate to "illegal." It's sometimes the cost of doing business. And males scam, too.
 

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