- Written By: N. Madison
- Edited By: Jenn Walker
- Last Modified Date: 06 February 2012
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2003-2012 Conjecture Corporation
A harassment lawsuit is a case brought before a judge because a party feels he has been harassed in some manner. If the party who files the lawsuit, typically referred to as the plaintiff, is able to prove his case, stiff penalties may apply for the accused party. For example, a person who is convicted of harassing another may go to jail. In some cases, however, the penalty is monetary in nature, and the defendant ends up paying a fine or compensating the plaintiff in some other manner. Some harassment lawsuits are even settled out of court to save the defendant or the company involved the embarrassment that may come with public loss of the case.
There are different types of harassment, but generally a harassment lawsuit begins because a person repeatedly behaved in a manner that was perceived as intrusive or threatening. If the accused person's words or actions made another person feel less safe or secure, there may be a basis for a harassment lawsuit. In some cases, making certain gestures and intruding on another person's privacy may be considered grounds for a harassment suit as well.
Sometimes a person will seek a restraining order to deal with harassment that has caused him to feel threatened. If a restraining order is granted, it requires the accused person to stop his actions and stay away from the petitioner. In some cases, it may also cover phone calls, restricting the accused not only from physical interaction, but also from talking to the petitioner at all. If the person accused of harassment violates the terms of the restraining order, he may be given a jail sentence.
Sometimes a party who feels he’s been harassed may file a lawsuit against the person who harassed him. Generally, a person files such a lawsuit because the accused party caused some type of harm, which can be physical or emotional. For example, threats to cause physical harm may count as harassment as can touching another person in an unwanted manner. In lawsuits involving sexual harassment, a person may be guilty of harassment for rubbing his secretary’s shoulders when she did not want him to or for repeatedly making suggestive comments.
There are different types of damages that may be awarded in a harassment lawsuit. If physical harm results from harassment, even that brought on by emotion upheaval, the plaintiff may be awarded compensatory damages. In such a case, cash is awarded as compensation for losses. Nominal damages may be awarded if there was no physical harm, but the plaintiff’s rights were violated. In some cases, punitive damages are awarded as punishment for the deliberate acts of the harasser.
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anon245688
Post 7 |
I have someone who texted inappropriate things that personally put me down. I asked for it to stop and let the police know and she was stupid enough to keep going so she now has legal issues over it. I also may file a civil suit just because it was so bad. |
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anon232841
Post 6 |
I have one set of neighbors who calls the cops on me and my roommates from doing everything from talking on our porch to smoking a cigarette outside. We don't have crazy parties and we both get off work at 10 and when we see each other we normally share a cigarette on our front porch. Our other neighbors are friends of ours and will come over too. They have never had a problem with us. Since this year that one set of neighbors has called the police to our house over 40 times. Can this be construed as harassment? |
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anon205966
Post 5 |
It is very difficult to be a Supervisor in today's climate. An employee walked off the job twice over not being approved for vacation when he did not have the vacation time accrued, then when he was terminated for cause, he stated he was forced to walk off due to a hostile environment. I sided with the superintedent and took heat for it. Where is the personal responsibility? |
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anon183821
Post 4 |
I have an ex landlord who let us rent from him for a year with our mixed breed puppy, then he realized how large he was and said we had to get rig of it. We told him no and moved. He then sent an anonymous newspaper clipping to our new landlady where someone is questioning if the landlord could be held liable if the dog attacked someone. The clipping said "sometimes" if the dog has a history of aggression (mine doesn't he is neutered house broken has his shots). The wife of the man who does carpentry work for our landlady sent me an email telling me yes, he did send the letter to my landlady and that since we were moving he was going to try to follow us to the new landlady's home and harass us again. Would we have a case? |
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cupcake15
Post 3 |
@SauteePan - I know what you mean, but I guess it depends on the situation. My friend’s former boss was hit with a sexual harassment lawsuit from multiple employees within the organization.
The company fired my friend’s boss and settled with the victims. In this case the lawsuit helped get this person out of the organization which was a positive thing because so many of the employees at the company were so miserable with him.
The employees became instantly more productive the minute he was gone so sometimes a lawsuit helps a company make better decisions. |
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SauteePan
Post 2 |
@SurfNTurf - I agree with you and have to say that harassment at work is really stressful for the employee because the employee is dependent on the job in order to pay his bills but the harassment makes him or her not want to go to work.
I think that the employer has a lot of power in these situations and some managers or supervisors might take advantage of it because they know that the employee needs the job.
It is also hard for the employee to prove something like sexual harassment unless they had a conversation taped or an email that they kept. This is the other problem with these harassment cases because the person accused of the harassment will deny everything.
The only other thing that you can do is keep a written journal for evidence so that you can eventually go to your human resources manager about the incidents and if the company does not help you then you can go to an attorney with your notes and file a lawsuit.
I would give the company a chance first to resolve the problem because suing the company is a big step and many people find that after they do this they may have difficulty working in the same industry again because the lawsuit tends to scare other employers. |
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surfNturf
Post 1 |
I think that there is a rise in workplace harassment lawsuits because I think people are becoming less tolerant of it. I also think that most responsible companies have a workplace harassment policy and conduct yearly orientations for all employees to ensure that the policy is enforced.
Workplace harassment lawsuits are really embarrassing for a company and it really puts the company in a vulnerable position which is why a lot of these cases are settled out of court. A company knows that if the employee harassment lawsuit went to a jury trial, the jury would probably side with the employee making the company look even worse.
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