Employee wins sexual harassment case. (Employee is a prostitute)

[Cue music]

We’ve had some pretty wild, prurient, “where does he get his material” workplace posts here at The Employer Handbook. Remember the one about the female accountant who won the right to legally masturbate at work? And then there was the one about “exotic dancer” harassment.

But those were David Wooderson compare to today’s Ron Woodroof.

 

In what has been dubbed a “world’s first” — ya think?!? — a prostitute has prevailed in a sexual harassment action against her boss, a brothel owner.

Insing.com reports here about a case in which a brothel owner reportedly told one of his prostitutes that he could do what he liked with the women who worked for him. Over a three-month period, the older man allegedly belittled and frightened the woman until she felt unsafe and on edge, became depressed and turned to alcohol.

Based on these facts, the tribunal found in favor of the prostitute and awarded her a little of $26,000.

Now this case was decided in New Zealand where prostitution is legal. But let’s assume that a similar case arose in a Nevada county where prostitution is also legal. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects women (and men) against sexual harassment in the workplace.

In the New Zealand case, the tribunal underscored, “Sex workers are as much entitled to protection from sexual harassment as those working in other occupations. The fact that a person is a sex worker is not a licence for sexual harassment – especially by the manager or employer at the brothel.”

This maxim would apply with equal force to a brothel worker in Nevada. Title VII, like the New Zealand law, protects employees from unwanted sexual advances, comments, etc. Having sex with customers is a prostitute’s job. Getting harassed because of her sex by the boss is not and could easily be considered unwelcome.

Whew…I can’t believe I just pulled off a post on prostitution and employment law.

Where’s my Pulitzer!!!

(h/t Employment Discrimination Report)