Sexual harassment in the workplace with Attorney Travis Hollifield

Attorney Tom Olsen: Travis, the first thing I want to ask you about is, is that sexual harassment in the workplace. Man, that seemed like such a thing back in the '50s or '60s. Does it really still go on? Have men not wised up yet that, that's still an issue going on out there?

Attorney Travis Hollifield: Tom, it's probably going on right now somewhere. Sexual harassment is one of those kinds of claims that, sadly, I think will always be with us. There seems to be some difficulty, it doesn't matter where you are, where sometimes a gentleman in the workplace aren't always act like a gentleman towards female workers, and it doesn't have to be male and female, it can be male-on-male sexual harassment, I've handled those cases, and female-on-female.

Oftentimes, it's an issue of power more than anything else. When you have unequal power in the workplace, the person on top of the power hierarchy, sometimes does not engage appropriately with subordinates.

Tom: What would be some examples of sexual harassment going on in the workplace, if somebody is calling you and saying, "This is what's going on," what would you normally hear from them?

Travis: Well, there's really two types of sexual harassment that are recognized by federal and state courts. One is, what we consider the classic quid pro quo sexual harassment, quid pro quo being a Latin term meaning something for something. "I will give you a raise if you do X, Y, and Z." Or, "You can keep your job if you do X, Y, and Z." That's something for something, or quid pro quo sexual harassment.

The other is, really, the larger claim, or the more frequent claim, which is known as hostile work environment. That is where somebody is engaging in either severe, or pervasive behavior, typically, towards a subordinate, can be a co-worker, but typically, it's somebody higher in the hierarchy with a subordinate who is engaging in behavior that violates both federal and state law with respect to this issue.

Tom: A little bit of detail about that.

Travis: Sure.

Tom: As far as, we're calling it a subordinate versus a higher up, those are the terms we're using here?

Travis: Typically, yes.

Tom: Is it verboten, all situations, a 100% of the times, never ever, ever higher up, and subordinate, even voluntarily hooking up, I guess, is the term I'm using?

Travis: Yes. No, the hallmark, Tom, of a sexual harassment claim is the welcomeness, or unwelcomeness of the attention from one party to another. If the attention is welcome, there's no sexual harassment. If it is unwelcome, then you look closer at the activity, the words, and try and make a determination of whether or not it meets the legal standard of sexual harassment.

Tom: If you're a higher up and you're becoming friendly with a subordinate, and you're thinking, "Hey, this might go somewhere, she seems to be welcoming my advancements," would you then tell the higher up, "Okay, check in with HR first, let them know what's going on, HR is going to talk to the subordinate, make sure it's welcome, and document it," you might say?

Travis: It gets tricky. A lot of companies have fraternization policies, or policies that either limit or regulate the kind of interactions that you're allowed to have with your coworkers, or your subordinates at work. Sometimes those are written down in employee handbooks, sometimes they are not. I always would tell somebody who is interested in engaging in some sort of romantic attentions with somebody else in the workplace to tread carefully, because you don't know oftentimes whether or not the object of your affection is welcoming, or not welcoming the attention, and so, therefore, there's some risk involved there, and perhaps, the person should look elsewhere for romantic engagements.

Tom: That's always probably the wise move. I'm curious to how often is there alcohol involved in this situation? I mean, on a day-to-day basis, everything is good, then all of a sudden the Christmas party happens, or they're traveling to a distant town, they're doing meetings in towns, and they're having drinks at night, and the alcohol plays into this, what might happen. How often do you hear that, that was, "Well, we were just out drinking, and everything-- Things went south quickly."?

Travis: I've certainly seen that quite a bit over my career. I'm now 27 years into this legal career of handling employment law claims, and certainly, alcohol mixing with men and women in the workplace, can oftentimes lead to, at the very least, misunderstandings, and certainly further on down the line, it can lead to claims of sexual harassment, or sexual battery, and I've certainly handled those cases as well.

Tom: Hey, folks, my guest today is attorney Travis Hollifield. He's an employment law attorney right here in the Orlando area. Travis, do you represent clients throughout the state of Florida?

Travis: I do indeed, from Pensacola to Key West.

Tom: Okay. If you've got a question for Travis, we'd love to hear from you right now at 844-580-9326. Travis, of course, your office is located here in Winter Park.

Travis: Yes, sir.

Tom: You can represent people throughout the state of Florida?

Travis: I can indeed, and I have for many years.

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