What women deserve

How many times should a male boss be allowed to publicly comment on a female employee’s breast size before she can sue for sexual harassment? It’s a surprisingly tough question to answer. Under current law in New York State, outside the five boroughs, people who say they’ve experienced sexual harassment can’t sue for relief unless a judge decides the mistreatment was “severe” or “pervasive” enough to create a hostile work environment — a more than 30-year-old legal standard that is a too-subjective relic of a less enlightened era.

Albany should act, now, to fix this. The model for reform is right under our nose. A decade ago, New York City wrote into local law a new standard, that a plaintiff could bring a claim against an employer when there was evidence she had been treated less well than male colleagues, provided the bad behavior rose above “petty slights and trivial inconveniences.”

The last 10 years in the five boroughs have

brought robust job growth, and no flood of frivolous lawsuits — but plenty of examples of people subjected to injurious harassment able to seek redress.

In one case, three women alleged a male doctor they worked for commented on their breasts, touched one woman’s behind, and sent them obscene emails. A court found the behavior too “sporadic” under the state statute, but qualifying as harassment under city law.

It’s not just the “severe or pervasive” standard that needs shredding.

In New York today, employers can avoid liability for supervisors who discriminate against employees as long as the employer was unaware of the behavior. In practical effect, that incentivizes employers to stay ignorant about abuse that may be happening within their own walls.

This is fairly simple: Employees who are groped or insulted or routinely demeaned in the workplace because of their sex shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to make their case in court. Fix the law.