'Maybe this kind of work isn't for you'

摘要

This issue has been cited in judges' decisions in many sexual-harassment cases. This year, a Louisiana appellate court reversed the decision in EEOC v. Boh Bros. in which a male ironworker, Kerry Woods, originally won his lawsuit against Boh over sexual harassment by a male supervisor in Louisiana. The judges reasoned in their ruling that, since there was no evidence the harasser was attracted to the victim and the victim did not deviate from gender norms, there was no support for a Title VII case against Boh (ENR 8/13 p. 18). Data from the sampling of sexual-harassment cases filed against construction companies since 2002 support the notion that these cases, particularly ones based on male-on-male sexual-harassment charges, have difficulty getting to trial. About a third of the cases were granted summary judgement-a judge's decision to rule in favor of the defendant before the jury is allowed to return a verdict. Almost one out of 10 cases were dismissed before a jury verdict. Fewer than one out of three were denied summary judgment, meaning they went to a jury trial.