Victims of sexual harassment face more than just employment discrimination. The burdens of unlawful workplace harassment can leave mental and emotional wounds that never heal. Sometimes, they can even be physical.
Don’t suffer sexual harassment alone. There is a way you can help yourself. Call the sexual harassment lawyers in North Bergen at Morelli Law Firm. We’ve helped people in New Jersey and across our practice region deal with sexual harassers.
How Can I Make My Harasser Pay?
It’s natural to want to seek compensation for what happened to you. If they committed a sexual crime, we can put you in touch with resources for protection and how you can ask the state to press charges against your assailant.
If it doesn’t rise to the level of a crime, you may be able to make them pay you financial compensation with the help of our sexual harassment lawyers. Workplace sexual harassment is illegal and you have the right to seek justice in this manner.
Even if you were to lose your case, just the stigma of having a lawsuit filed against your harasser can follow them for the rest of their careers. If you wish to do something about your harasser, speak with our sexual harassment lawyers and let us evaluate your claim.
Proving Sexual Harassment
A sexual harassment claim is a type of tort claim. Under tort law, there are four primary things we have to prove to win a case, though two of them are slightly different in a sexual harassment situation.
Duty
While your assailant may not have a duty of care toward you, we need to prove there is some sort of relationship where you two could come into contact. In a workplace situation, we have to prove they work at your workplace and you would have had contact with them in some fashion.
Sexual harassment by text, phone, and email all count. Even customers coming to your workplace counts as a relationship. We just have to show there was a way for you to come into contact with your harasser.
Breach
Next, we have to show that the accused person committed sexually harassing behavior. Your testimony is a starting point, but we can go well beyond that with the help of the EEOC and state labor agencies. They will perform an investigation of their own and can bring us evidence to strengthen your claim.
Injury
Breaching professional propriety alone may be enough to get them in trouble, but it won’t be enough to win a lawsuit. We must show that the ways they committed sexual harassment affected you personally.
This is a wider scope than it may seem. If you overhear dirty jokes on the job, that could create a hostile work environment that meets the level of sexual harassment. They don’t have to be targeted at you.
On the other hand, you can’t sue because you’ve heard a rumor of sexual harassment happening to someone at your job. You have to be affected.
Damages
Finally, we have to show how you were hurt. In extreme cases, this could be a physical injury, but for most workplace claims, it’s emotional and mental damage that needs compensation. The negative consequences you’ve experienced due to harassing behavior are called damages.
Part of the job of your North Bergen sexual harassment attorney is calculating up the costs of your trauma. That way, when we press your claim, we can seek a fair amount of compensation.
North Bergen Sexual Harassment Lawyer Near Me 877-751-9800
Can You Protect Me From Further Harassment?
Yes, but to a point. It is illegal for any workplace to take retaliatory action if you open a sexual harassment claim. Any HR department worth their salary knows that if they try, they could be on the hook for major financial losses.
If you are harassed further after opening your claim, report it to your lawyer for further advice. If you choose to leave your job or you’re forced out, we can add the costs of seeking a new job to your damages.
If you feel you are physically in danger or feel you cannot work while your harasser is still on the job, you may be able to get an order of protection. This would make it illegal for your harasser to approach you even on the job. A smart HR team would also take steps to separate you and the parties you’re accusing.
Seek Advice From a North Bergen Sexual Harassment Lawyer
Sexual harassment should not be ignored. If you think you have a claim at all, reach out to one of our sexual harassment lawyers in North Bergen at Morelli Law Firm. You can get a free case evaluation without obligation to see if you have a case and what to do next.
By pursuing a claim, you could set in motion a wave of change at your workplace that could save others from the pain of sexual harassment.