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BizarreThese truly bizarre sexual-harassment cases involve surprising offenders and atypical behavior that isn’t normally discussed in a court room.
- S.A.C. Capital Advisors LCC: Major hedge-fund company S.A.C. Capital Advisors, founded in the early 1990s, is a “$14 billion dollar group of multi-strategy, multi-discipline” company. Yet in 2007, a scandal erupted that “stunned” Wall Street. Former S.A.C. Capital Advisors employee Andrew Tong filed suit against his supervisor Ping Jiang, whom is said to have forced Tong into taking female hormones and wearing female clothing in order “to eliminate the traderâ??s aggressive male attitude so he could become a more obedient and detail-oriented player” at work, The New York Times reports. According to CNBC, S.A.C. Capital Advisors and Ping Jiang “vehemently deny the charges” and have reached no settlement with Tong.
- Koko the Gorilla: Koko the gorilla resides in comfort at Woodside, Calif.-based The Gorilla Foundation. Koko the gorilla has also been involved in a grotesque sexual-harassment case along with her handlers and their supervisor. Court TV reports that “former gorilla caretakers Nancy Alperin and Kendra Keller asked for more than $1 million in damages in their sexual discrimination and wrongful termination suit,” which claims that the two women were forced to expose their breasts to the gorilla in order to indulge her fetish. Alperin and Keller maintained that they were fired when they refused to show their breasts to the gorilla, but they ultimately reached a settlement with the foundation.
- 6-Year Old Boy v. Brockton School District: How old do you have to be in order to stand accused of sexual harassment? In this particular case, involving the Brockton School District near Boston, you only have to be 6 years old. The elementary school boy was apparently found with “his hand inside the waistband of a girl’s pants, touching the skin on her back,” a violation of the school’s sexual-harassment policy. According to the boy’s mother, however, her son “doesn’t even know what that word ’sexual’ is. I don’t see how I’m going to explain it to him,” she added. Though the school wished to press charges, the district attorney’s office deemed the boy too young to be prosecuted.
- Japanese Beard Pluckers: A female employee in Japan complained that her boss sexually harassed her when he “forced [her] to pluck his beard.” According to the Legal Herald, the man “was fined $5,000 for his conduct.”
Borderline UnbelievableThis list ranges from the absurd to the downright creepy. Read on for the details of these borderline unbelievable cases.
- Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy and the U.S. Army: In 2000, the Army’s highest-ranking female officer was Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy an “oft-touted example of how the military has become more accommodating to women,” according to CNN. Unfortunately for the Army’s reputation, however, Kennedy insists that she was inappropriately “fondled” by a male officer. After reporting the incident, the male officer was “either promoted or given a much-coveted posting” instead of being punished, as Kennedy had hoped.
- Sen. Bob Packwood: Former Sen. Bob Packwood was a Republican from Oregon who, according to CBS News, was “reelected four consecutive times, and became chair of the powerful Finance Committee.” During that time, however, Senator Packwood allegedly harassed 29 women through “groping, forced kissing and propositioning sex.” The Senate’s Ethics Committee was able to prove 17 of the 29 incidents, and Packwood resigned from his senatorial seat.
- Professor James Maas: The Center for Individual Rights asks, “was [this] famous Cornell professor a harasser or the victim of a witch hunt?” Immensely popular psychology professor James Maas was accused by former students in 1994 of sexual harassment. The case was initially brought forward to Cornell University authorities, who were not able to find any wrongdoing on the part of Professor Maas but decided to punish him anyway. The case was then taken to the courts of New York, which dismissed Maas’s lawsuits against Cornell University.
- The Archdiocese of Boston: Roman Catholics weren’t the only ones shocked when, in 2002, Boston-area priests and bishops were put on trial for ghastly accusations of sexually harassing children. Worldwide coverage was given to the scandals, which ultimately reached the Vatican and Pope John Paul II. According to The Boston Globe, the Archdiocese of Boston’s “Cardinal Bernard F. Law announced a new ‘zero-tolerance’ policy on abusive clergy and agreed to turn over the names of all priests accused of sexual abuse to prosecutors. The Archdiocese of Boston began poring through its records and suspending abusive priests still in ministry.” Hundreds of victims from all over the country began to reveal stories of sexual abuse, and the Catholic Church in America suddenly found itself under siege.
- Custom Companies Case: The Labor Law Center blog reports that top executives at the Custom Companies trucking company in Illinois “practiced sexual harassment of female employees,” including inappropriate touching and sexual jokes. The women were also “required to entertain Custom Companies customers and potential clients at a number of strip clubs on Kingsbury Street in Chicago.” After the case was examined, the women were granted more than $1 million dollars in damages.
- Deepak Chopra v. Joyce Weaver: Writer, doctor and spiritualist Deepak Chopra was involved in a set of hearings and a trial case instigated by former employee Joyce Weaver, who claimed “that she was wrongfully terminated because she had accused Chopra of sexual harassment.” After only 10 minutes, a jury dismissed the case and found Chopra innocent. Chopra himself commented that “maybe it is my karma to dismantle the corruption in the San Diego judicial system,” a system which he often referred to as “one of the most corrupt in the country,” according to Rediff.com India Abroad.
- Isaiah Thomas v. Anucha Browne Sanders: This October 2007 case pitted New York Knicks head coach and general manager against New York Knicks executive Anucha Browne Sanders. Also known as The Smiling Assassin, Thomas was found guilty of sexually harassing Browne Sanders, and Madison Square Garden, where the Knicks play, was “ordered to pay her $6 million for creating a hostile workplace and $2.6 million for retaliation.” The supervisor who fired Browne Sanders when she complained about the harassment was also fined $3 million.
- Dov Charney v. American Apparel Inc. Employees: Dov Charney, the CEO and founder of popular clothing chain American Apparel, is known in the fashion industry and beyond as an “unconventional,” sexed-up boss, according to The New York Times. But he could only get away with sleeping with employees and showing up to meetings naked for so long. In 2005, three American Apparel employees filed suit against Charney for sexually harassing them at work by giving them sex toys, making derogatory comments and more. Many have negated the employees’ claims, maintaining that the office culture at American Apparel is uniquely lax, and that the company’s marketing strategies â?? designed to attract young â?? sexy buyers naturally leak into the workplace.
For most people, a sexual-harassment case can equal a nightmare, no matter which side they find themselves fighting on. Visit the Sexual Harassment Support or My Employment Lawyer Web sites if you need to confront someone about their behavior or if you feel as though you have been wrongfully accused.
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