I have heard that there is a law requiring male supervisors to have a female of equal or greater position present when reprimanding a female employee. Is this true?

ANY question on law needs to include your general locale as laws vary by area.

I know of no such law, but company or union rules might require it. It also may be a smart idea depending on the nature of the reprimand. The idea may be to avoid a sexual harassment complaint.

I am a store manager for an airport retailer in Florida and in the month and a half that I've been here my regional manager has displayed not only acts of blatant sexism but also sexual harassasment and what I would consider to be indirect threats and I'm wondering if there is anything I can do about it. The Regional manager is a family friend of the president of the company so I am concerned about retaliation.

Example one: I am an out lesbian and he made the comment to one of my staff members that I don't look like much of a lesbian. My sexuality should never be a topic of conversation if I am not present.

Example two: While on the phone with his Inianapolis store who had only made $9.99 the previous day he told the male manager he was on the phone with "Tell her (the girl who had been working in the store the previous day) that she needs to put on some tight jeans or something. Whatever it takes to sell more than a $9.99 neck pillow." We were alone in the store together and I figured I could just brush it off as a joke and that he would be gone soon so I wouldn't have to hear anything more like this.

Example three: He regularly calls the women in Home Office dumb or stupid in conversation.

Example four: My keyholder, himself and I were all behind the counter and he accidentally grazed my backside with his hand. When he realized he immediately apologized but followed it up with "It's because you have that J.Lo booty." He said this in front of myself and the keyholder. I did not respond at all.

Example five: He told me a personal story about his online dating history and how irritated he was with a woman who he drove all the way to Michigan to see and she wouldn't even come up to his hotel room afterwards.

Example six: I was recently reprimanded harshly for ccing the president of the company on an email to David where I cought him lying (the president directly told me when I met him that if something was ever not getting done or not getting done right to cc him on an email.) and he immediately called me and yelled at me "If you ever email my boss about something we talked about ever again we're going to have a problem!" I reminded him of what the president had told me and left it at that. I have since sent an email to HR exclusively about this situation but not about the sexist and sexual harassing situations. I should hear back tomorrow. Should I also inform her about the sexist and sexual harassing situations? I don't want to lose my job over this. Also I believe I have the right to request a 3rd party female to be presnt if being reprimanded by a male employee. Not sure though.

I am the only female manager the company has. There was one woman prior to me in Indianapolis and I took the place of a woman who had been here for a month and went back to her old company after being harshly reprimanded by the vice president for something that turned out was not her fault. David commented that the woman in Indianapolis didn't work out because she made the uniform too skanky by always having her shirt unbuttoned and hitting on pilots and other men who came in with their wives. It is my feeling that he simply does not know how to treat women in the workplace.

The company is based out of California and follows a lot of California laws here as well.

It doesn't matter where they are based out of. It's the state's law that you have to go by. Also at the time it occurred did you say anything to indicate that this was out of line? If not then you may be making it acceptable behavior. If you haven't reported these activities to your HR department your not going to get anywhere. By not following proper channels or company policy your shooting yourself in the foot. You can't make blatant claims when you indicated it was acceptable.

Ref:

Hostile Work Environment Harassment

This form of sexual harassment involves severe or pervasive use of unwelcome and offensive language, sexual images, or physical touching that a reasonable person would find to be objectionable. Not every sexual innuendo, joke or act will rise to the level of legally prohibited sexual harassment. However, a substantial number of inappropriate comments or offensive acts can give rise to a sexual harassment claim. Where the hostile environment is being created by co-workers, as opposed to supervisors or managers, and where no other adverse action has occurred (such as reduction on pay, demotion or termination), the employee may be required to follow the employer's policies by reporting the harassment to the designated manager or Human Resources representative and allowing the employer a reasonable opportunity to investigate the matter and remedy the situation.



Florida Sexual Harassment Lawyer | Miami Hostile Work Environment Attorney | Ft. Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, FL (http://www.gallup-law.com/sexual-harassment.shtml)

Seems you are perfectly right, from your description, that there is definitely a problem here that needs to be addressed. The fact remains though that if you take this up with HR about this, for lack of a better designation, creep, then you will have to be prepared to take the flack and the consequences which may be losing your job, but you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you put him in his place, but do they know he is a sexist and just ignore that possibility?

Reports if sexual harassment should be taken seriously by Human Resource people if they are doing their job right and want a smoothly running establishment. I hope, if you carry this through that will be the case. However, and I think this has probably occurred to you that after reporting him, and he is reprimanded how comfortable would it be for you to carry on with your job?

If it were me, he wouldn't have many teeth left (in which case I would be in serious trouble for standing up for my rights), I would report it, laugh in his face and quit because that would be the only way I could handle the situation after.

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