Allegations of workplace harassment and discrimination occur in various working environments in San Diego. They affect all types of professionals, regardless of their qualifications. Accountants have not been spared in this matter. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and other government agencies that advocate for safe workplaces receive many reports of workers who face workplace discrimination or harassment. They hold employers responsible for damages their employees incur due to unsafe or unconducive working environments.
Different professionals work hard to secure employment in various industries. Sadly, some are forced to quit or are terminated without a valid cause because of their physical appearance, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, gender, nationality, or age. The EEOC ensures compliance with anti-discrimination and anti-harassment laws in workplaces. Employers are mandated to ensure that their workplaces are conducive for everyone, regardless of how different a person is from the rest of the team. When a mistake or oversight happens, you can be held responsible for the resulting damages. This can affect your finances and reputation.
It helps to know you can seek assistance if your assistant or anyone in your workplace files a lawsuit against you for workplace sexual harassment. Our attorneys at Empower Sexual Harassment Attorneys are willing and ready to take the necessary steps to protect your rights and fight any unfair allegation or unreasonable demand against you.
Workplace Sexual Harassment and Discrimination Cases
Everyone dreams of a safe working environment. It makes their working days bearable and ensures they remain productive throughout their sessions. When your workers feel safe and motivated, they benefit you, the employer, and your clients. They can complete their tasks on time and grow through various ranks to attain higher positions within your accounting firm. However, this is difficult to achieve if an employee feels harassed or discriminated against by an employer, supervisor, or colleagues. This can affect their working morale and productivity and even cause them to quit without meeting their work or career objectives.
The EEOC is a government agency that advocates for a safe working environment and equal employment opportunities for all employees. Everyone should feel secure and accepted in their working environment, regardless of religious beliefs, ethnicity, sexual orientation, nationality, and other differences from other workers or employers. The agency prohibits harassment and discrimination in workplaces and tasks employers to ensure harassment and discrimination are unheard of in their businesses. The agency also advocates for compensation for victims of work-related harassment and discrimination. If your worker experiences workplace harassment or discrimination, they may have legal grounds to sue you for failing to provide a safe work environment.
The EEOC seeks to protect workers from all forms of discrimination and workplace harassment, for example, sexual harassment. A worker can face sexual harassment because of their sexual beliefs, sexual orientation, gender, or religious beliefs. They could experience this through an unwarranted sexual advance from a colleague or supervisor or a request for sexual favors. This happens to employees of all levels, whether entry-level juniors or senior employees in your company. Their harasser can also be their senior or junior. Workplace sexual harassment can also happen to males and females alike, and the person discriminating against or harassing them can be of the same gender as them or of the opposite gender.
Laws against sexual harassment prohibit a lot of acts or behaviors. For example, they prohibit a person from making sex-related comments or teasing another person, especially when it is clear that the comments or utterances make the other person uncomfortable. Some people go to the extent of touching others inappropriately in the office or any other working environment. A victim of sexual harassment can show displeasure or even ask their harasser to stop. Sometimes, such cases are reported to supervisors, managers, or employers. As an employer, you must take the necessary action to prevent sexual harassment in your workplace.
If your workers have tried to protect themselves from workplace sexual harassment without success or have reported it to you without assistance, they can report it to the EEOC. They will specify the sexual harassment act committed against them and demonstrate that it is a repeated act by the same person or people within your business. They will also prove that their harasser’s actions created a hostile or unwelcome work environment. Then, you will be held responsible for their damages.
The EEOC provides a detailed guideline that victims of workplace harassment can follow to pursue a sexual harassment case against their boss. If you have failed to make your workers’ working environment safe or conducive, you are responsible for any damages they sustain while working in that unconducive environment. The EEOC will review their case to assess whether it meets its legal criteria for suing an employer. If their case is credible, you will be expected to compensate them for what they have lost through workplace harassment.
What Constitutes a Sexual Harassment Case Against an Accountant?
If you suspect sexual harassment in your workplace as an accountant, you must take action to stop it before it affects your workers. You can do this by educating your employees about the dangers of workplace harassment and their rights. You can also take action against perpetrators through warnings or terminations, or take measures to protect victims by advocating for their rights. Your goal as an employer is to ensure all your workers feel safe as they discharge their duties. Listen to your workers when they report suspected harassment cases, and take action to maintain a conducive environment for all.
However, a worker can file a sexual harassment case against you if they feel that you have not done much to keep them safe. It could be that your workplace regulations are insufficient to ensure their safety, or you have not done much to protect them against their harasser. When a worker brings a case against you, you will be held responsible for all the damages they suffer through harassment. It helps to seek the guidance and counsel of a sexual harassment defense attorney to determine your rights and options.
Your attorney’s first task would be to determine the claim’s credibility. When a worker files a sexual harassment case against you with EEOC, they must provide details about the case, including the nature of the harassment and how long it has happened. Your attorney will use that information and conduct an independent investigation to determine the credibility of the matter. Their findings will form the basis for your defense when your worker files a lawsuit against you for compensation.
If your attorney finds out the claim is credible, they will gather evidence to counter it or support your actions to push for a favorable resolution. You will likely lose a lot if your worker wins against you in the lawsuit. It means you will compensate them for all the damages they have sustained while working in an unconducive workplace. This can result in a significant financial loss for you or your business. A skilled sexual harassment defense attorney will find the best strategies against the claim to fight for a favorable result.
How An Accountant Can Win a Sexual Harassment Case Against Them
A sexual harassment case against you will likely affect your reputation. When individuals and businesses seek accounting services, they prefer to engage a reputable person or business. A sexual harassment lawsuit will portray you or your business as unprofessional or incompetent, making it difficult for you to retain clients or attract new business. A lawsuit like this could also affect your finances, primarily if a civil court awards your worker all the damages they have included in the claim. You need the assistance of a competent sexual harassment attorney to avoid these and other severe repercussions.
Your first step should be to hire an attorney to understand your legal situation, options, and defense. Do this immediately after being notified by the EEOC of a pending investigation against you. This will happen after your worker files a claim with EEOC for workplace sexual harassment. Hiring an attorney early in the legal process ensures you are well-prepared with evidence and compelling statements during the hearing. The judge will consider the strength of your proof and statements to determine the case.
Working with a skilled attorney also improves your chances of success in a sexual harassment case. Skilled attorneys can use the right defense strategies to win even the most challenging sexual harassment case. Here are some of the strategies your attorney can use to push for a favorable result in your case:
By Challenging the Case’s Objectivity
A skilled attorney will focus on the reasonable person standard of a case during the defense. Claims against workplace sexual harassment are mainly evaluated under this standard, meaning that the conduct the alleged victim terms as sexual harassment must be objectively offensive to everyone else, not just to the employee. What the employee terms as harassment must meet the standard of workplace sexual harassment set by the EEOC. The conduct must be offensive to other people, not just the worker.
Your competent attorney will use statements to counter the allegation and gather evidence to support their defense. They can examine the context of the alleged harassment to determine whether it was an isolated case or a pattern. If the victim works in the same office or environment with other workers, do they, too, find the conduct inappropriate?
They can also invite an expert to give their opinion on the matter. Expert testimonies are widely accepted in civil cases to support or counter a claim. An expert can analyze the conduct to determine whether it is objectively offensive to a reasonable person. If it only seems offensive to some people but not everyone, the conduct does not qualify as workplace sexual harassment.
If your attorney successfully challenges the objectivity of the claim, the judge can rule the case in your favor.
By Questioning the Worker’s Perception
So much happens in a working environment, especially when there are different kinds of people with varying skills and qualifications and from various backgrounds. People make all kinds of comments to one another. Just because a worker makes a sexual-related comment against another does not mean they are harassing them sexually. A worker can misinterpret an act or comment as sexual harassment and even file a case against you for compensation. Their perception of the entire matter could be mistaken. A skilled attorney will ensure this does not cause you to pay for something you are not responsible for.
A skilled attorney will review the evidence the victim has brought against you to understand their perception of workplace sexual harassment. Suppose the case is based on the victim’s objective interpretation of the matter or events, and they do not have solid evidence to support their claims. In that case, your attorney can argue that they do not have a valid claim to push for a favorable resolution.
A skilled attorney can also conduct a media check or medical canvass to learn more about the employee’s perception of sexual harassment. They can table evidence like personnel files, emails, and supervisor files or look for videos that could help the court understand what the employee views or terms as sexual harassment. Their findings could counter the actual definition of workplace sexual harassment as stipulated by EEOC.
A worker’s perception of workplace sexual harassment must tally with the reality for them to have a solid case against you. If there is misperception or misinterpretation of events, they cannot adequately support the claim to ensure the court holds you responsible for their damages. If the employee cannot demonstrate actual events while working or in a work-related event, their claim is invalid.
By Highlighting Your Positive Response
A skilled sexual harassment defense attorney will also focus on your response to negotiate for a favorable outcome in your case. They will focus on what you have done in the past to keep your working environment safe or what you did after receiving a report about a suspected case of workplace sexual harassment. Your response matters greatly, as it could determine the strength of your worker’s case or your defense.
If you took action to remedy the situation, it could be a mitigating factor in your case. A mitigating factor will favor your defense and could trigger a fair resolution. For example, suppose your employee reported they were facing sexual harassment, and you took swift or appropriate action to protect them, like reprimanding the perpetrator. In that case, your attorney can bring this up during the hearing to support your defense.
Also, having an anti-harassment policy in your workplace can help prove your effort to keep the workplace safe for all workers. Your attorney can table your policy and point out that you regularly train your employees on anti-harassment to push for a favorable outcome.
Additionally, they can demonstrate your willingness to cooperate during the investigation process. If you took action after learning about the employee’s claim against you by investigating the matter or cooperating with investigators, this can trigger a positive outcome in your case. Anything you do to help the case portrays you as a good employer willing and ready to stop workplace harassment and discrimination.
By Fighting The Claim
You can win a sexual harassment case by fighting the claim against you. In this case, your competent attorney will focus on the facts of the claim to counter parts or the entire claim. For example, they can cite that the claim is untrue. A worker can file a false claim against an employee to retaliate against changes in the workplace or termination. For example, if you terminate a worker for a valid reason, they can retaliate by filing a sexual harassment claim against you.
A skilled attorney will take time to gather evidence and prepare compelling statements to ensure you are not held accountable for a false claim. If the employee claims their termination was unlawful, your attorney can provide supporting documents proving it was lawful. The evidence could also counter claims that the termination was discriminatory. They can offer investigation reports, communication records, and proof of actions taken against the employee to prove that everything that happened to the worker was lawful.
Factors that Can Help Your Sexual Harassment Defense
A work-related sexual harassment lawsuit can affect even the best accountant. Once you acquire the necessary skills and certification to discharge your services as a certified accountant, you must only remain credible and reputable to retain your license and find jobs easily. However, claims of discrimination or harassment can significantly affect your professionalism, reputation, and license. If you fail to make your working environment accommodative for your workers, your reputation is at risk. You could also be forced to compensate them for all their damages.
However, you can build a solid defense against a sexual harassment claim. Here are some of the factors that could help you push for a favorable result:
Work with a Competent Attorney
A competent defense attorney is critical in a workplace sexual harassment case. They will review the claim against you to determine its validity, help you gather evidence, and work on your defense for a successful fight during the trial. They will also provide the support, guidance, and counsel you need to make the right decisions during all legal processes.
However, your chance of enjoying these services increases when you hire a skilled and experienced defense attorney. They must be trained to handle workplace harassment and discrimination cases and have relevant experience handling similar cases as yours. They must understand workplace discrimination laws enough to ensure they are correctly applied in your case.
Cooperate During Case Investigation
When EEOC receives a claim against you from your worker, investigators will be appointed to investigate the matter. This is how the commission determines the validity of a case. The investigators can call to ask questions and request some documents for review. Cooperating with them during this process is critical, ensuring they obtain the solid information needed. If you fail to cooperate, it could mean you are guilty or hiding something.
Your attorney can help if you are afraid of speaking to the investigators. Also, they will protect you from self-incrimination or from providing information that could compromise your case.
Follow The Due Process
The EEOC provides guidelines that employers facing workplace sexual harassment lawsuits must follow after being notified of a pending investigation and hearing. Do not deviate from these guidelines, as this could compromise your situation further. Any mistake you make can affect the outcome in your case. For example, you can refrain from negotiating with the victim directly, as this could be seen as harassment. If you need to speak to the victim, you can do so through your attorney.
Also, ensure you provide the documents on time to avoid legal issues with EEOC. An experienced attorney will ensure that you get the procedure right. If they have handled similar cases in the past, they should know what to do at every process to ensure that the case moves smoothly.
Provide Correct Information
Being truthful is essential when facing a lawsuit. Ensure the information you provide to the EEOC and the civil court is truthful. Support every factual information with a document. Although exaggerating some facts appears to improve your winning chances, it can ruin you. Remember that the commission will appoint skilled investigators to investigate the matter before determining the case. EEOC investigators are very thorough and can find out any information you attempt to hide or forge.
Find a Competent Sexual Harassment Defense Attorney Near Me
Workplace sexual harassment cases against accountants are not unusual in San Diego. A worker can file a claim against you for sexual discrimination even if you are not the perpetrator. California employers are responsible for protecting their workers from workplace harassment and discrimination. When a worker files a claim against you with EEOC, you could be held accountable for all the damages they have suffered through workplace sexual harassment. In addition to paying a hefty compensation, a case like this can ruin your reputation. However, you can change its outcome with the assistance of a competent sexual harassment attorney.
At Empower Sexual Harassment Attorneys, we understand how hard you have worked to build your business or career. We know how a claim like this can ruin your business’s finances, your personal finances, reputation, and license. We can partner with you to fight the claim against you for a favorable resolution. Call us at 619-604-3027 to understand your situation and our services more.
