TERMINATION IN THE WORKPLACE

Termination in the Workplace

Termination in the Workplace

Termination of employment is the end of an employee's tenure with an employer. Depending on the case, the determination may be made by the employee, the employer, or mutually accepted upon by both (Wilkinson, 2004). The following paper will discuss the sexual harassment case of a 19 year old girl.

Ellie Budreau was 19 years old and had been a sales agent for only a month at Combined Insurance Co. of America when she attended her first company-sponsored conference. Later, in a claim filed against the company, she alleged that she was sexually harassed at that meeting by her district manager and four other men employed by Combined and that some of the alleged harassers paid for the abortion that they insisted she should have.

Combined, a unit of Chicago-based Aon Corp., faces complaints from about 135 women alleging harassment and other forms of discrimination. Filings in U.S. District Court in Chicago describe women being assaulted, grabbed, propositioned, and frozen out of promotions. They allege that they were paid less than male counterparts, given lesser assignments, and laughed at when they told supervisors about the treatment.

Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq., in order to eliminate discrimination because of gender, as well as other factors. The Act forbids discrimination in a broad variety of settings by separate title, including for instance discrimination in public places, public transportation, and higher education. The Act's Title VII specifically forbids workplace discrimination by private sector employers and others. Of particular import to non-US employers, the Act reaches discrimination claims arising from US workplaces operated by foreign as well as domestic employers. Further, the Act has extraterritorial application and may reach claims of U.S. citizens for discrimination that occurs while working for U.S. employers abroad. Harassment claims are first filed with the Equal Opportunity Commission for possible settlement. Absent settlement, the U.S. federal court system has exclusive jurisdiction. Discrimination suits are filed for trial in the federal district courts with subsequent appeal, afforded as a matter of right, to one of 11 Circuit Courts of Appeal, and thereafter, on far rarer occasion, to the U.S. Supreme Court.

After more than a generation, women have made progress in terms of their representation in the workplace. Yet attorneys who represent plaintiffs charging their employer with gender-based harassment find themselves very busy. “We see absolutely outrageous allegations of sexual harassment, from the highest office of the biggest companies to the factory floors,” says John Hendrickson, an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regional attorney.

Despite decades of litigation, Commission guidance's, and the Court's pronouncements outlining actions and preventive measures, sexual harassment remains a serious, persistent problem in the workplace. EEOC statistics show 10,522 claims were filed with the Commission in 1992. In 2004, 13,136 were filed. Settlement amounts at the Commission level were $12.7 million in 1992, rising to $37.1 million in 2004, and those amounts do not include damages obtained through litigation or ...