Sexual Harassment of Church Employee
Alice worked for a church as a cook and assistant custodian. After repeated interference with her cleaning duties by the pastor, who seemed to doubt her ability to do certain tasks because of her gender, a second cleaning person was hired.
This individual had several very uncomfortable conversations with Alice about the "sins of the flesh," and at one point tried to convince her to go into a closed area with him. Alice refused this overture, and reported the incident and the conversations to the pastor, who told her to "brush it off." She then took her complaint to the larger church organization. At that point, the pastor became visibly angry with her, and placed her on unpaid leave while the church was investigating the situation. The individual who had harassed her was allowed to continue working. For several weeks, as the alleged investigation was ongoing, the pastor avoided contact with Alice. He then scheduled a meeting to discuss the situation, in which he insisted that both Alice and the individual who had harassed her participate. At this meeting, Alice was informed that she would no longer be performing cleaning duties, and that her harasser would take on that role. As a result, her available hours were cut in half. This was not a sustainable situation for Alice financially, also she would have to continue to work alongside of her harasser and the pastor, who had become increasingly hostile and insulting to her. As a result, she finally decided not to return to the job. Harassment SolutionWe helped Alice lay out her story in a complaint to the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination ("MCAD"), and later withdrew that complaint in order to file a civil lawsuit. After some discovery, we were able to negotiate settlement compensation for Alice to compensate her for her experience and for the retaliatory actions of church officials.
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Postscript
If you are facing pervasive harassment and are not sure if you should resign your job or take other action, it is a good idea to consult an employment attorney right away. You may be able to fashion a resolution that is private and does not require you to either quit or file a lawsuit.
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We have years of experience representing victims of workplace harassment, and we would be happy to help you. You can use the button below to schedule a call back from a member of our team, or give us a call at 781-784-2322.
