Do I have a sexual harassment case even though I resigned ?

I resigned from my job as a Loan Officer about a month ago. I had developed a very unique loan program from scratch and once it became successful (after over 3 years) my employer took control of it and basically brushed me aside. Since I left they have been sending me threatening letters that I cannot compete against them although my employment contract does not indicate this. They have also contacted prospective employers and 'scared' them out of hiring me using the non-compete argument that is absolutely not valid. Although prospective employers have read my contract and do not believe that my former company would win in court they still won't hire me because of the expenses of defending a law suit. That is a little background. My question is this: During my 4 years with the company my manager consistently sexually harrassed me with profane comments, inuendos, vulger email jokes, etc... There have been witnesses but I doubt they would testify against him as they still work there. The only 'proof' that I would really have would be pornographic emails that he sent me which I'm sure would still be on the company's hard drive. My concern is that he would claim that my complaint is retaliatory and, in realty, in an indirect way it may be. The fact is that it happened and I was uncomfortable with it. I didn't say anything at the time because I didn't want to face the consequences of possibly losing my job. Do I have a case or am I too late ?

1 answer  |  asked Feb 7, 2007 4:00 PM [EST]  |  applies to Ohio

Answers (1)

Neil Klingshirn
You may have a claim for interference with your employment

The claim that you may not be seeing here is one for interference with prospective employment. A prior employer cannot block your employment with a competitor by threatening to sue on a non-existent non-compete agreement. If you can prove that you would have been offered a job but for that threat, consider a consultation about pursuing the wages that you lost from that job.

We can also talk about the sexually harassing conduct that you endured during your employment. The fact that you endured it does not prevent you from recovering for it, especially because it was coming from your manager. You may even have a claim directly against the manager. Under Ohio law, if you quit recently and the interference was within the last year, you still have time to pursue both types of claims.

Regards,

Neil Klingshirn

If you would like

posted by Neil Klingshirn  |  Feb 8, 2007 10:47 AM [EST]

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