State on track for record sexual harassment complaints
HARTFORD — The week that New York’s governor left office under a cloud of multiple claims of workplace sexual harassment, Connecticut officials report that harassment filings are on track to break the 2019 record of 260.
The cases are nearly all complaints about men harassing of women, although there are instances of same-sex cases and women harassing men, the top executives of the state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities report.
It’s an example of a pair of 2019 state laws raising public awareness as well as mandatory training in the age of #TimesUp and #MeToo. Even in small companies that are exempt from training workers because they have three or fewer employees, supervisors are required to take the two-hour training kits available through the CHRO.
In some ways, New York state laws against sex harassment are tougher than Connecticut’s, but this state offers significant protections, officials say.
“No one has to endure sexual harassment in the state of Conncticut,” said state Sen. Mae Flexer, D-Killingly, co-chairwoman of the legislative Government Administration and Elections Committee, pointing out the wave of harassment charges that pushed Andrew Cuomo to resign this week in his third term.
“No one has to put up with inappropriate comments from their coworkers or their superiors, Flexer said. “No one has to put up with inappropriate advances.”
During a news conference outside the state Capitol this week, Flexer was joined by Tanya Hughes, executive director of the CHRO, and Deputy Director Cheryl Sharp, who stressed that there are legal avenues for all state workers.
“There are many work places where it is incredibly difficult to come forward and say the behavior
you have had to endure is inappropriate,” Flexer said. “I want you to know, if you are enduring that, no matter where you are, no matter where you work in Connecticut, you can come forward.”
“The situation in New York only serves to demonstrate that yet
again, this is a problem that permeates across society, across all jobs, across all titles, across all professions,” Hughes said, noting that the year the enhanced law took effect, in 2019 and 2020, the highest number ever of sexual harassment complaints, more than 260 were filed. “We are on trend to exceed that number this year.”
Hughes said that the CHRO website training has reached half a million people in the Connecticut workforce since it came online on Oct. 1, 2019.
Sharp, an attorney, said another goal is to protect victims — nearly all female — from retribution for coming forward. She described the allegations against Cuomo as “an abomination.” She noted that the annual caseload for the 80-year-old agency is about 4,500 discrimination complaints. “It takes a culture shift,” she said. “We have to stop normalizing sexual harassment in any way.”
The agency has offices in Hartford, Waterbury, Bridgeport and Norwalk. Under the 2019 law, new employees of Connecticut companies must be trained within six months of hiring.
Sharp said that like Connecticut, New York had an expansion sexual harassment law that in some ways goes beyond Connecticut’s, including a lower threshold on the number of employees where training is required. Flexer said issues going forward would include socalled non-disclosure, or confidentiality agreements.
“I think for far too long those kinds of agreements have been in place and they may not be the best thing for many victims that end up having to sign them,” she said.
Flexer said that fearful young women in their first jobs might not know the rules and protections, including legal recourse.
“Part of the strength of our law is that it allows people to file retaliation complaints, so if they’ve already filed a complaint alleging sexual harassment, they can also file a complaint of retaliation if they are retaliated against in any way for filing that complaint,” Hughes said.
“If there is consistent or persistent conduct of a sexual nature there should be some remedy to the victim of that conduct.” Sharp said.