The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
‘This can happen anywhere’
For women across state, abuse is pervasive
A small business owner begged his employee to have sex with him. He asked her to watch him masturbate in his office. Heunzipped his pants and made comments about her breasts. He asked her to take her clothes off so he could masturbate.
She repeatedly denied him and refused his advances. He left her one choice.
She quit.
A female restaurant worker slipped on a wet floor and injured her knee. She filed a worker’s compensation claim and took time off to heal. When she returned, her supervisor regularly yelled at her, berated and mocked her in front of other employees and changed her schedule to reduce her tips. He began hugging her tightly from behind, rubbing his hands up and down her body, despite her objections, and he started a rumor she was sleeping with another employee.
After months of verbal harassment and unwanted physical contact, she reported the problem to restaurant management. When nothing changed, she had no choice.
She quit.
A woman hired as a marketing contractor for a major telecommunications company was physically and verbally harassed for the better part of a year by her male supervisor. He would grab her when she walked by, attempt to hug her and touch her breasts instead, pull her hair when she wore it in a ponytail, and make sexually suggestive and objectifying comments about her body. When she complained to human
resources, nothing happened. Then, another highpowered male executive grabbed her and tried to kiss her at a conference. She slapped him and walked away, but that was the final straw. She had no choice.
She quit.
In all these cases, once the victims had given up their jobs, they filed complaints against their former employers with the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities for violating the state law that prohibits discriminatory employment practices, including sexual harassment.
In two cases, the commission assessed the complaints and mediated a confidential settlement between the employee and the employer. The third has been tied up in an expensive and ongoing Superior Court battle since March.
These incidents only begin to scratch the surface in understanding the pervasiveness of sexual harassment and abuse in workplaces across Connecticut, and the ways it oppresses victims — usually women — stripping them of their sense of security, opportunities for advancement and, often, a stable income.
A Hearst Connecticut Media review of 100 CHRO complaints filed with the state over the past five years shows workplace sexual harassment does not discriminate, and it’s not contained to the widely reported stories from Hollywood and Congress.
The complaints show it happens in small businesses, in large corporations, in government, in courtrooms, in restaurants, in hospitals and nonprofits. It happens at the highest levels — in executive offices — and it happens in minimum wage, entry level jobs.
Of the cases Hearst reviewed, 10 percent of complaints were made by government workers, while the remaining 90 percent worked in the private sector across all industries, including financial services, retail, health care, transportation, technology, manufacturing and more. The restaurant and hospitality industry had the highest rate of complaints — 18 percent of the complaints came from workers in this field.
Every month in Connecticut, the records show, women are groped, sent obscene texts, verbally objectified and assaulted by coworkers and supervisors, and most are subject to multiple forms of sexual harassment.
It’s not just Harvey Weinstein or Matt Lauer or Bill Clinton or Donald Trump. It can also be the restaurant manager or the female executive or the hedge fund associate or the small business owner. The one thing they all have in common is a position of power and authority.
“Handling hundreds of cases, I would say I see sexual harassment walking through my door on a weekly basis,” said Nina Ovrutsky, an attorney at the New York Citybased firm, White, Hilferty and Albanese. Ovrutsky is currently representing a victim of harassment against the Connecticut Judicial Branch in U.S. District Court.
“This happens absolutely everywhere,” Ovrutsky said.
It’s not always blatant physical abuse, either. Workplace harassment can be verbal, both direct comments and general insults that create a hostile environment. Whether it’s physical contact or unwelcome general comments to no one in particular, it is ongoing.
An analysis of the complaints shows 54 percent of victims were subject to verbal sexual harassment and 25 percent of cases involved unwelcome physical touching such as hugs, shoulder rubs and brazen groping. Women said they were raped or assaulted in 12 percent of complaints. In 10 percent of cases the harasser sent the victim sexual texts, photos, emails or videos, proving sexual harassment was not contained to the workplace. In 4 percent of complaints, the harasser masturbated, exposed themselves or watched porn at work in the presence of the victim.
In more than half of the complaints, victims said they were retaliated against for speaking up about the harassment they received. Retaliation included docked pay, being forced to face their harasser, transfer to a new office, increased verbal abuse, and, in 28 of the 100 cases, the victim was terminated.
Following CHRO investigations, 11 of the 100 cases were dismissed because the harassment could not be substantiated. In two cases, the CHRO was forced to dismiss the case because the complaints were filed more than 180 days after the alleged harassment occurred.
“It can be something as innocuous as someone just commenting to you at work, but it’s the frequency and sometimes it’s the close proximity,” said Tanya Hughes, executive director of the state CHRO. “It doesn’t have to be of a sexual nature. It can be offensive remarks about women in general. The harasser can be a woman or a man. It can be as simple as teasing or offhand comments. Things like that do happen on a very frequent basis.”
But victims are often discouraged from coming forward. They don’t know who to tell or where to start. They believe they are alone, and that no one will trust their story. And they fear retaliation.
The Time’s Up Act, passed in the spring with bipartisan support, went into effect Oct. 1 aiming to change that. The new law includes the most substantive updates to the state’s workplace discrimination laws in years: It expands sexual harassment training requirements, enhances the CHRO’s authority, extends deadlines to file complaints and pursue criminal prosecution, and allows victims of workplace discrimination to seek punitive damages.
In the sample of cases reviewed by Hearst, the people — overwhelmingly women — who reported sexual harassment had a more than 1 in 4 chance of being fired. In the cases where they kept their job, women were often relocated from the office or shift when they were sexually harassed, despite their objections. In many cases, when they no longer felt safe in the workplace, they quit, the records show.
Even when they need the job. And they always need the job.
While many of the women who filed complaints over the past five years have been silenced by confidential settlements, fear of further retaliation or an inability to secure employment, others were willing to speak openly about their experience.
Jasmine Bass had only worked at a KFC in New Haven for a few weeks when her managers began flirting with her and sent her a sex tape. When she objected, they removed her from the shift schedule and she was left without a paycheck. She was infuriated by her treatment and hopes reporting her harassment and discussing it publicly will protect other women.
“I just felt like they were going to do it to other people,” Bass said.
Like Bass, all of the women who spoke to Hearst hope their stories will encourage other women to come forward, or at least let them know: They’re not alone. Some asked not to be named for fear of retaliation or because they reached a confidential settlement with their employer. But for those who were able, they shared their name and their story knowing the path forward may not be easy.
Jessica Bianco needed her job as an administrative assistant at the Rockville Juvenile Matters Court, and she loved the job, too. But two years in, her supervisor, Jonathan Garow, started sending her inappropriate text messages, and making sexual comments about her appearance, she said. The harassment got so bad she took medical leave from the toll her workplace took on her mental health, and to avoid seeing him. Eventually, she quit.
“I felt really alone. Afraid. I didn’t want to say anything because I have two kids, I need a job, I didn’t want to get fired. Even though I didn’t want to work with him,” she said.
A year later, she has a good job, and another victim of Garow’s is suing him in federal court. She knows she’s not alone, and she’s furious.
“I’m not there and he still is and that really pisses me off,” Bianco said. “I think it’s important for people to know that this does happen everywhere.”