Story of the Week

Shocking Stories of Workplace Harassment

Despite the legal protection provided employees against workplace harassment, people are often still the victims of harassment on the job. Sharing harassment stories helps individuals identify the harassment they are experiencing. Hearing about harassment stories also provides people with the strength to report their harassment to the proper authorities.

Mercy General Hospital Sexual Harassment

Ani Chopourian was a physician assistant in the cardiac unit of Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento, Calif. While there, she experienced sexual harassment from a surgeon who greeted her by slapping her backside and telling her he was horny. She was regularly referred to as a "stupid chick" in the operating room and asked if she was a terrorist. Another surgeon was prone to fits of rage. During one such rage, he stabbed her with a needle. After being fired, she sued the hospital and won a settlement of $168 million.

Aaron's Inc Sexual Harassment

In 2006, a female employee was sexually assaulted by a manager at an Aaron Rents store in Fairview heights, Ill. Although the courts found in favor of the plaintiff, Aaron's administrators actively argued that Aaron's has a strong anti-harassment policy, and the manager involved in the incident was not representative of the Aaron's culture.

AT&T Religious Harassment

Susann Bashir worked at the Kansas City office of AT&T. In 2005 she converted to Muslim and immediately started feeling hostility from her co-workers. She was the target of many harassing comments about Islam, and many of her employees critiqued the way she dressed, referring to her hijab as "that thing on her head." The final act was in 2008 when her boss grabbed her head scarf and pulled it off exposing her hair.

Washington D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation Sexual Harassment

A lifeguard working for the Department of Parks and Recreation in Washington, D.C. was regularly sexually harassed by her immediate supervisor. She verbally complained to several managers of the course of a couple months, but nothing was done. Finally she submitted a written complaint regarding the behavior. Three days after submitting the written complaint, she was fired.

These harassment stories are just a small sampling of the many that are out there. Additionally, these stories only reflect situations of harassment in which the victim sought legal counsel. There are likely thousands of incidents of sexual harassment that go unreported for a variety of reasons.