Retaliation in workplace sexual assault: The effect of #MeToo on federal court cases in the United States
| Published date | 01 December 2024 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/13582291241289881 |
| Author | André L Honorée,Lisa L Brady,Rusty L Juban |
| Date | 01 December 2024 |
Article
International Journal of
Discrimination and the Law
2024, Vol. 24(4) 270–291
© The Author(s) 2024
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/13582291241289881
journals.sagepub.com/home/jdi
Retaliation in workplace sexual
assault: The effect of #MeToo
on federal court cases in the
United States
Andr´
eLHonor ´
ee, Lisa L Brady and Rusty L Juban
Abstract
The number of federal claims filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
(EEOC) in the United States by alleged victims of workplace sexual assault increased
following the #MeToo movement along with allegations of retaliation by employers
against these victims for making formal claims of sexual discrimination. This study dis-
tinctively presents an examination, not of the number of EEOC claims, but instead those
claims which became federal court cases over the last three years in which a claims of
workplace retaliation were alleged because of sexual assault in the workplace. Thestudy
provides an empirical examination of numerous characteristics, related factors, and
outcomes of such retaliation cases involving sexual assault in the contemporary #MeToo
era. The implications of these diverse results are advanced along with recommendations
for employers and employees alike.
Keywords
Retaliation, sexual assault, employment discrimination, #MeToo movement, equal
employment opportunity commission claims
Department of Management and Business Administration, Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond, LA,
USA
Corresponding author:
Andr´
e L Honor´
ee, Department of Management and Business Administration, Southeastern Louisiana University,
SLU 10350, Hammond, LA 70402, USA.
Email: ahonoree@southeastern.edu
Introduction
In the fall of 2017, following the exposure of various sexual abuse allegations against the
film producer Harvey Weinstein, the #MeToo movement spread virally on various social
media channels and outlets, which led to a revitalized and broader publicdiscussion of
sexual harassment and the need for social and legal change (Nenoff, 2020). Media stories
reinforcing both the illegality and diversity of sexual harassment behaviors have often
pushed victims of such harassment into the spotlight (Gilbert, 2017). In addition, the
#MeToo movement specifically highlighted the pervasiveness of sexual harassment in the
workplace (Chawla et al., 2021;Cortina and Areguin, 2021). It is therefore credited with
doing something federal law up until that point could not, inspiring many workplace
victims to come forward to confront the sexual conduct embedded in “structural social
hierarchies (MacKinnon, 2018). For while Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is well
known for providing legal protection to address discrimination of employees based on
their race, sex, religion, color, and age, the #MeToo movement educated many victims of
sexual harassment that such behaviors are also prohibited by employment laws as a form
of sex discrimination (Alexander, 2019). As a result of this newfound cognizance,
research suggests that, since the start of the #MeToo movement, the prevalence of certain
forms of sexual harassment have increased (Keplinger et al., 2019) as have the number of
sexual harassment claims in the 2 years immediately following its onset (EEOC, 2022).
What is sexual harassment?
Sexual harassment in employment encompasses a variety of illegal behaviors and has a
few necessary conditions that must be met to bring forth legal action against an alleged
harasser. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from allowing
anyone to be sexually harassed at work by anyone else, regardless of sex, gender, or
sexual orientation. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is the
federal agency whose mission is to prevent and remedy employment discrimination, and it
provides a broad definition of sexual harassment behavior as any form of harassment of
applicants or employees because of their sex (EEOC, n.d.d). Specifically, it mentions
unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other forms of verbal/
physical harassment of a sexual nature as being prohibited. However, simple teasing,
offhand comments or isolated incidents that are not very serious are not considered sexual
harassment unless such behaviors are so frequent that they create a “hostile or offensive
work environment”or whose consequence is an “adverse employment decision”(e.g.,
termination, denied promotion). Sexual harassment is thus unlawful when either per-
sistent offensive conduct develops into a condition of continued employment, or if the
conduct is severe or so widespread that a reasonable person would consider it intimi-
dating, hostile, or abusive (EEOC, n.d.a).
While there are many reasons why the #MeToo movement successfully increased the
public’s awareness of these issues, the reasons why it resonated with so many individuals
may in fact be most due to the widespread nature of sexual harassment in the United
States. Studies suggest sexual harassment is so widespread that 81% of women and 43%
Honor´
ee et al.271
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