My wife has been sexually harassed at work but is scared to file a complaint. what can I do as her husband?

My wife works for a very large company who employs 500 people in Indiana and is owned by the Chinese. She has been sexually harassed in her job since day one. She ended up falling for the story of the married CEO/President of the company and we are now dealing with serious depression issues and suicidal thinking. This CEO is at least three levels above her in the organization and has offered her very big promotions in another state. He has called after hours hundreds of times and emails her with a separate email address about their encounters. My wife is afraid to speak up and has confessed everything to me. I have a recorded copy of her confession that she does not know about, phone records, emails, and copies of other harassment documents from within the same company. What can I do to stop this and make sure it does not happen again?

1 answer  |  asked Sep 29, 2015 09:25 AM [EST]  |  applies to Indiana

Answers (1)

Neil Klingshirn
I suggest that you help your wife find medical, emotional and legal help, in that order. Suicidal thinking is dangerous. Get to a psychologist or psychiatrist who has experience in harassment and domestic violence. Emotionally, be there for her. She is going through a very hard time and can use your support.

For legal help, call employment lawyers from Indiana who are 1) listed on this site, or 2) are members of the National Employment Lawyers Association (check the attorney directory on NELA.org,). Look up those lawyers on AVVO.com and Lawyers.com to see how their clients and other lawyers rate them. Get as close to a 10 on AVVO as you can. An "AV" is the best rating on Lawyers.com. If they are Super Lawyers, that is a good sign too. Check their websites to make sure they represent individuals.

Attorneys who represent individuals should be interested in taking this company to task. If you were in Ohio, we would meet and map out goals and a strategy. The status quo is unacceptable, so something has to change. Your wife has some legal tools available for changing how the company treats her, like a complaint of unlawful harassment, and she will have legal rights against the company if it terminates her for making the complaint. Your wife also controls where she works, so if work is killing her, she should seriously consider not going there anymore. However, that has its own set of legal and financial consequences.

Finally, recognize that, as the husband, you have an emotional stake in what happened to her at work. Do your best to not let it interfere with her making the medical, emotional and work decisions that are best for her. Support her in whatever course she charts and things will get better.

posted by Neil Klingshirn  |  Sep 29, 2015 1:33 PM [EST]

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