Woman sues Chaska man, Home Depot for sexual harassment

An Oronoco woman who claims she was sexually harassed and abused by a supervisor while working at the Home Depot store in Rochester has taken her claims to civil court.

[This and that]

I must be very naive because quite honestly, this case reads like the early sexual harrassment cases of the late 1970s and 80s. I thought by now, employers knew the specifics about sexual harrassment. I mean, if this guy and company are found guilty, they must be truly living under a rock.

[quiggleydownyond er]

here comes a long big mess,someone will have to unweave

[cash]

Well, he's innocent until proven otherwise but yeah, I thought people knew better by now.

[Average Joe]

"The complaint said Bruce felt she had to perform sexual favors for Lamb to get her hours changed. She said she was terminated shortly after she rejected Lamb's request for sexual favors in late 2007.
The complaint alleges Home Depot engaged in unlawful employment practices by terminating her in retaliation for her refusal to submit to advances from Lamb, allowed an environment where a supervisor could make such demands and violated the federal Family Medical Leave Act."

Im just stating my opinion here...but i would be willing to bet that they were at item at one point and that she was quite ok with that....it seems unreasonable for a company to dismiss an employee because she wouldnt do something sexual...think about it...could you picture your boss doing that???

[Twins2009ROck]

You can get in trouble for looking at boobs??? You might as well lock up every guy in America!!!

[Nota Sheep]

So everyone here automatically takes HER side? Interesting.

He probably is guilty, but she also probably failed to follow the proper procedure for reporting things that the company had implemented, which would leave her with no case.

[RIOT]

Not saying that it could not happen, I'm not that naive however the reporter has naturally slanted it to make the supervisor and Home Depot be guilty. When they report such things why can't we have fair and unbias, here's the facts as presented by both parties. Inuendo terms where "she felt" that makes me suspicious, also a company these days just can't terminate someone with no cause. They know this and I don't believe that Home Depot is that incompetent. How do we know that there was not a mutual relationship between them and she did something that could not be swept under the rug so they did have to terminate her. Too much what if, inuendo not enough fact.

[ISRW]

Nota Sheep wrote:

So everyone here automatically takes HER side? Interesting.
He probably is guilty, but she also probably failed to follow the proper procedure for reporting things that the company had implemented, which would leave her with no case.

I've been on the margins of a harassment case that affected a close friend of mine, and in the aftermath of that I heard various people's stories one way or another. Across several employers -- small, large, profit, nonprofit, various industries -- I don't remember any of them that actually went according to anyone's official policy. The whole situation is fraught with factors that get in the way, preventing people from following the letter of whatever policy.

Honestly I'm not sure what can stop an accusation from devastating the accused, even if they're entirely innocent, based on what little I've seen. My friend was accused as part of a group of people -- the accuser didn't know which one had misbehaved, persisting in asking for "hugs" at work and being generally smarmy in other ways. He went through several months of being treated, by the HR department, like a pariah, and eventually was fired for another cause.(After the accusation the company started to track his every entry or exit from the building, and they fired him for a handful of late arrivals supposedly.) The whole thing was miserable. At the end my friend and the person who'd complained were commiserating with each other over how it had played out -- which, again, would be very much against policy I'm sure.

You always want to support a victim, but today's policies aren't doing their job very well I'm afraid. They're a sort of tar baby; once you're in, there's no way out, no matter what.

[Horace the Cheese]

Proof is needed before judgement is rendered.
But speaking hypothetically, unless she went above her manager's head, Home Depot itself is not liable. Their HR dept would not have been aware of any impropriety, if they were not informed of it, and therefore would not be in violation.

The steps to report/deal with harrassment (sexual or not) at work is:
1. Report it to your manager.
2. If you can't, because your manager is the one doing the harassing, or if s/he doesn't do anything about it, go to THEIR manager.
3. If that STILL doesn't work, go a level higher, AND to HR.
4. If that doesn't work, or if, at any point during this process you get fired unfairly, then hire an attorney.

That is, of course, unless you are just wanting to sue and get paid.

Oh, and while a male that would act in this fashion is indeed "scum", it is by no means "typical" for men in general to act this way. Please keep that in mind, Judith.

[Sure it is]

45 y/o? well..........let's see a photo and we'll be the judges!

[AS if]

Let's see a photo of this 45 y/o.....or is she just tired of working and is looking for an easy out?

[Mohmmad]

I hope my ship come in America also. If someone bother me bad, I hope to sue. Then, I live easy life. I love America.

[p t bull]

You mean I don't have to perform sexual favors to get my schedule changed? Dayum, see you on the day shift!

[p t bull]

I know of a former employee of home depot--or menards, can't remember--who got fired for reporting employee theft to management. The store assistant managers interrogated this teenage guy like they thought they were baretta and tried to get him to perjure himself in a written statement--when he refused to sign, he was fired on a pretext. Must have been buds with the thief or something...

It happened some years ago, but the moral of the story is, there can be some real cons and scumbags behaving like miniature dictators in some retail stores, so allegations like this are entirely plausible.

[p t bull]

scum? s c u m blanked out?

[p t bull]

scumbags s c u m b a g s must have been the prohibited word...

[THE Radest Rethuglican]

p t bull wrote:

**** s c u m b a g s must have been the prohibited word...

Enjoying that new photo next to your screen name.

[miguel ledesma]

I have been working in Home Depot for almost 20 years and I've seen the high concern from this company to prevent and stop any sort of harassment.At least I can assure you that having worked in two Home Depot stores the environment has been allways treat and harassment free.

[Observer2]

miguel ledesma wrote:

I have been working in Home Depot for almost 20 years and I've seen the high concern from this company to prevent and stop any sort of harassment.At least I can assure you that having worked in two Home Depot stores the environment has been allways treat and harassment free.

Home Depot is indeed highly involve in HARASSMENT AND EMBRACING A HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT
. MANAGERS JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO OR HOW TO GET IT DONE.