Sexual Harassment Mediation

What a season it has been for sex in the workplace. Sexual harassment claims involve a complainant (an employee), the accused (usually an employee), and the employer (or company). Complainants normally seek to address being violated or abused in some way and need to feel normal again. Complainants want unwelcome behavior to stop, but often don't want to put their career in jeopardy by filing the complaint, and would rather continue doing his or her job as though nothing has happened. They also may want the employer to make up for past loss of a promotion due to the alleged harassment or even back pay. Mediation can help avoid further emotional trauma, including a public trial. Likewise, the accused may welcome maintaining confidentiality of the charges to the greatest extent possible, and to keep his or her job. The accused may even find exoneration possible. Finally, all employers want to avoid liability, while maintaining productivity and upholding company policies. Because mediation remains confidential, negative career repercussions are less likely to occur. With a resolution, a victim may resume his or her job with the company. The process also allows the victim to air frustrations and self-determine remedies that allow him or her to be made whole again. These remedies are often not available in traditional litigation and can include apologies and promises of help in attaining other employment. Similarly, employers can agree to reinstate a complainant or award an previously withheld promotion. Harassers can be transferred, fired, or reeducated. Mediation can meet the accused's objectives, as well, with an opportunity to clarify his or her side of the story. The confidentiality of the proceedings allows settling the situation without public disparagement. If the charge resulted from a misunderstanding, the miscommunication can be worked out without becoming more polarized. Mediation also allows the accused to make amends for the unintentional harm inflicted. Employers find disposing of these cases through mediation quicker and less expensive than litigation and the process provides less disruption of the work force. Finally, mediation promises less stress than litigation for all parties involved. See more here-- E. Whittenbury Vol. 43, Number 4, Business & Economic Review, Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina http://bit.ly/2AhpzGM

Judge Lucy Koh Questions Tech Class Settlement

Major technology companies recently agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit in which 64,000 employees accused them of conspiring not to recruit each other's workers, suppressing compensation. The case alleged an inner circle of Silicon Valley executives communicated during a period when the interoperability of companies' products was often discussed. Embarrassing emails between company executives surfacing during E-discovery played a role in the settlement, with four tech companies agreeing to pay plaintiffs $324.5 million. Plaintiffs had planned to ask for about $3 billion in damages at trial, which could have been trebled under antitrust law. Last week, Judge Koh told plaintiffs during a hearing that they had leverage going into trial against the defendants, given the strength of emails showing former CEOs, such as Apple's Steve Jobs and Google's Eric Schmidt, were planning to enforce their no-poaching agreement. Reportedly, Judge Koh had concerns about whether the amount is really fair to the class and deferred a decision about whether to approve the deal. Though Plaintiffs' attorney said the workers faced serious risks on appeal all the way up, Judge Koh was skeptical the Supreme Court would get involved by further restricting class actions. She has previously approved separate settlements totaling $20 million reached by Disney's Lucasfilm and Pixar units, and Intuit. Apple, Google, Intel and Adobe are paying a higher premium to settle this case than Disney and Intuit did, as calculated by the number of employees from each company in the class. Avoiding executives appearing on the witness stand made a settlement attractive. The civil case followed a 2010 Justice Department case on the same matter. Trial was set to begin last month in California. See story here-- http://reut.rs/1q5cB3Y