Despite federal, state, and city laws offering safeguards for employees to protect against sexual harassment, it’s still a huge problem for workers just like you across the nation. Every day, women and men are being subjected to unwanted sexual advances, assault, inappropriate comments, and hostile work environments. Harassers have the power to not only terrorize your job site but traumatize you emotionally. The sexual harassment lawyers at the NYC law firm of Derek Smith all too often see the trauma that workplace abuse causes.
In 2011, there were 11,364 complaints of sexual harassment made to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: 84 percent filed by women and 16 percent filed by men.
A telephone poll of 782 U.S. workers, performed by Louis Harris and Associates, revealed that:
- 31 percent of female workers reported that they had been harassed at work,
- 7 percent of male workers reported that they had been harassed at work,
- 62 percent of those reporting they had been harassed took no action,
- 100 percent of the women harassed reported that the harasser was a man, and
- 59 percent of the men harassed reported that the harasser was a woman.
Of the women who had been harassed:
- 43 percent reported that their harasser was a supervisor,
- 27 percent were harassed by an employee senior to them,
- 19 percent were harassed by a co-worker at their level, and
- 8 percent reported being harassed by a junior employee.
If you have been harassed, you are not alone. The actual numbers of sexual harassment may be much higher, but many men and women are afraid to speak up.
You don’t have to be a statistic — a sexual harassment lawyer in NYC can be your confidant and advocate. Your lawyer helps you file a case and win fair compensation for lost wages, emotional distress, and attorneys’ fees, when appropriate.
The Derek Smith Law Group, PLLC handles a multitude of cases that involve sexual harassment in Manhattan and the greater New York City area. For further information, please feel free to call us at 800-807-2209 for a free consultation.
