New Law Targets Sexual Harassment in California Agriculture
| Jurisdiction | California,United States |
| Author | By Delia Barnett and Meredith Johnson |
| Publication year | 2015 |
| Citation | Vol. 29 No. 2 |
By Delia Barnett and Meredith Johnson
Delia Barnett is the Director of Litigation for the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation. Prior to joining CRLAF, Ms. Barnett had her own firm in Pasadena, where she specialized in class and collective actions on behalf of low-wage immigrant workers. Meredith Johnson is the Litigation Fellow at the Impact Fund, where she works on employment discrimination class actions. Prior to joining the Impact Fund, Meredith clerked for the Hon. Richard A. Paez on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. She graduated from Stanford Law School in 2012.
For many white collar workers in today's business world, blatant sexual harassment is something we see on "Mad Men," not something we face in everyday life. The cat-calling, innuendos, groping, and other unwelcome advances so common a generation ago are no longer tolerated in most office environments. The labor and employment bar can take a great deal of credit for this transformation. Plaintiffs' attorneys have brought meritorious cases, defense attorneys have warned about the risks of ignoring misconduct, and both sides have promoted equality in the workplace by helping our clients understand their rights and shoulder their responsibilities.
But it is time we did more. The unfortunate reality is that for many low-wage workers, particularly those in the agricultural industry, sexual harassment is still tragically commonplace.1 Extreme poverty, isolation, and fear of deportation keep many victims silent and their predators undeterred.
Last year, California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation's Legislative Director, Mark Schacht, joined forces with State Senator Bill Monning (D-Carmel) to work for the passage of S.B. 1087, a new law aimed at eliminating sexual harassment of farm worker women. Effective January 1, 2015, S.B. 1087 mandates annual sexual harassment prevention training and testing for Farm Labor Contractors (FLCs); annual training of FLC supervisors; and regular training of farm workers themselves on how to prevent, identify, and report sexual harassment. The bill also makes more than a dozen other needed changes to the state Farm Labor Contractor Act, including authorizing the Labor Commissioner to take adverse license actions against sexual offenders.
The entire labor and employment bar needs to support this law so that California agriculture can become a place where women workers are accorded the respect and dignity they deserve.
As employment practitioners, we know that the law has evolved dramatically in the years since the Supreme Court first recognized sexual harassment as a violation of Title VII in Meritor Savings Bank, FSB v. Vinson.2 In Meritor, the Court ruled that sexual harassment was unlawful whether it took the form of a "quid pro quo" or a "hostile work environment."3 It reaffirmed this principle several years later in Harris v. Forklift Systems, Inc.4 Throughout the 1990s, the Supreme Court continued to develop and expand sexual harassment jurisprudence, recognizing the unlawfulness of same-sex harassment in Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc.,5 and addressing the standards for employer liability (and affirmative defenses) under Title VII in Faragher v. City of Boca Raton,6 and Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth.7
Against this backdrop of developing case law, several high-profile events brought sexual harassment into the public spotlight. In 1991, Anita Hill offered riveting testimony against Clarence Thomas during his confirmation hearings. A few years later, in 1994, a jury awarded $7.1 million in damages to a legal secretary who had been harassed by a partner at Baker & McKenzie. During that decade, a flood of multimillion-dollar lawsuits were filed against major employers throughout the United States, often accompanied by banner headlines.8
The development of a robust jurisprudence and increased public awareness led to improvements in the work environment for many women, which should be a source of pride for the entire employment bar. On the plaintiffs' side, advocates have filed, publicized, and litigated thousands of lawsuits challenging workplace harassment. They have spoken out publicly, lobbied in favor of new legislation, and educated employees about their right to a workplace free of harassment. On the defense side, counsel regularly advise employers about the risks—financial and non-financial—of failing to comply with sexual harassment laws. Defense attorneys also conduct training and workplace investigations, draft protective personnel policies, and design complaint, investigation, and disciplinary systems.
These efforts have had "a...
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