美国国家公共电台 NPR Sexual Harassment Cases Often Rejected By Courts

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Many powerful men in Washington, including here at NPR, are facing sexual harassment¹ allegations in the court of public opinion. But in actual court, such cases filed by workers against their employers are often dismissed. The way harassment is defined under the law creates a high bar, and only a small fraction of cases ever make it to trial. NPR's Yuki Noguchi has our report. And a note to listeners - this story contains descriptions that might not be appropriate for younger listeners

YUKI NOGUCHI, BYLINE²: In surveys, a quarter to half of women say they've experienced workplace sexual harassment. A tiny fraction - estimates range around a tenth - complain to their employers, and far fewer file suit. One reason - the very high rate of case dismissals. University of Cincinnati professor Sandra Sperino has read roughly a thousand sexual harassment cases that were dismissed before they went to trial.

SANDRA SPERINO: You'll see case after case where a woman was groped at work, and the court will dismiss the case as a matter of law, finding that's not sexual harassment.

NOGUCHI: In a 1986 decision, the Supreme³ Court said the behavior needs to be, quote, "severe or pervasive⁴" in order to qualify as harassment, whether it is sexual or racial. But Sperino says judges' interpretations⁵ of what qualifies are out of step with standard office policies. One case, for example, involved a male supervisor⁶ harassing⁷ a construction worker.

SPERINO: He told the plaintiff, hey, handsome, come here and sit in my lap, talked about raping⁸ the worker multiple times, talked about his genitals. And I've actually left off some of the facts, which are worse than what I've just recounted. The court dismissed that case.

NOGUCHI: The judge reasoned the two dozen incidents occurred over a 10-day period - too brief to qualify as pervasive. But in other cases where incidents occurred over longer periods, Sperino says judges often say the infractions were too sporadic⁹ to be pervasive. Laura Beth Nielsen is a research professor at the American Bar Foundation and at Northwestern University. She says the Supreme Court further raised the bar in a 2007 decision.

LAURA BETH NIELSEN: What you have to prove is that somebody's acting¹⁰ with intention, so that's a much higher standard.

NOGUCHI: There's no central database tracking employment discrimination cases, and the data are not sorted by type of harassment. Half of cases settle out of court. Nielsen's random¹¹ sampling of cases showed another 37 percent were dismissed pretrial, including, she says...

NIELSEN: ...Ones where people would go, oh, my God, you get to grope five times, and it's still not sexual harassment?

NOGUCHI: Some judges downgrade an offense¹² if the groping didn't result in direct skin contact or if there's no proof that the victim objected to the sexual advances. These opinions became calcified¹³ in law because both state and federal trial court judges would cite them as precedent¹⁴ for subsequent case dismissals. Only two percent of plaintiffs win. Deborah Rhode is director of Stanford's Center on the Legal Profession. She says judges, who are often older and male, lack an understanding of harassment's impact.

DEBORAH RHODE: Oftentimes, it takes a kind of cultural consciousness-raising moment like the one that we're having now to force a re-evaluation of standards.

NOGUCHI: Now she is hopeful.

RHODE: Everything that we've seen on the #MeToo hashtag suggests that there's a lot of pent-up fury out there. And more of these women, I think, are going to seek legal recourse, and attorneys in this social climate are going to think they're more likely to win and get substantial damages.

NOGUCHI: Indeed, Cincinnati employment attorney Randy Freking says his office has seen a large recent uptick in potential clients alleging¹⁵ sexual harassment.

RANDY FREKING: Obviously, the recent news has prompted more phone calls.

NOGUCHI: Freking says he only takes cases that have a decent shot at winning, but warns clients that even very strong cases have a good chance of getting dismissed.

FREKING: Very few people realize that judges just have this power to toss cases out, despite the fact that the Constitution has a right to a trial by jury. And for a woman who's been sexually harassed¹⁶ and been victimized by their employer like that, and then just have that OK'd by some federal judge - it just absolutely rocks your world.

NOGUCHI: Yuki Noguchi, NPR News, Washington.

(SOUNDBITE OF DAMU THE FUDGEMUNK'S "SOLITARY REFINEMENT")

1 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

4 pervasive   

adj.普遍的；遍布的，(到处)弥漫的；渗透性的

参考例句：

• It is the most pervasive compound on earth.它是地球上最普遍的化合物。
• The adverse health effects of car exhaust are pervasive and difficult to measure.汽车尾气对人类健康所构成的有害影响是普遍的，并且难以估算。

5 interpretations   

n.解释( interpretation的名词复数 )；表演；演绎；理解

参考例句：

• This passage is open to a variety of interpretations. 这篇文章可以有各种不同的解释。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The involved and abstruse passage makes several interpretations possible. 这段艰涩的文字可以作出好几种解释。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

7 harassing   

v.侵扰，骚扰( harass的现在分词 )；不断攻击（敌人）

参考例句：

• The court ordered him to stop harassing his ex-wife. 法庭命令他不得再骚扰前妻。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was too close to be merely harassing fire. 打得这么近，不能完全是扰乱射击。 来自辞典例句

8 raping   

v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的现在分词 )；强奸

参考例句：

• In response, Charles VI sent a punitive expedition to Brittany, raping and killing the populace. 作为报复，查理六世派军讨伐布列塔尼，奸淫杀戮平民。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The conquerors marched on, burning, killing, raping and plundering as they went. 征服者所到之处烧杀奸掠，无所不做。 来自互联网

9 sporadic   

adj.偶尔发生的 [反]regular；分散的

参考例句：

• The sound of sporadic shooting could still be heard.仍能听见零星的枪声。
• You know this better than I.I received only sporadic news about it.你们比我更清楚，而我听到的只是零星消息。

10 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

11 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

12 offense   

n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪

参考例句：

• I hope you will not take any offense at my words. 对我讲的话请别见怪。
• His words gave great offense to everybody present.他的发言冲犯了在场的所有人。

13 calcified   

v.（使）钙化，（使）硬化( calcify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The rock calcified over the centuries. 经过几个世纪，石头发生了钙化。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• By age 10, 50% of patients have calcified cortical tubers. 10岁的时候，50%的病人出现钙化结节。 来自互联网

14 precedent   

n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的

参考例句：

• Is there a precedent for what you want me to do?你要我做的事有前例可援吗？
• This is a wonderful achievement without precedent in Chinese history.这是中国历史上亘古未有的奇绩。

15 alleging   

断言，宣称，辩解( allege的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• His reputation was blemished by a newspaper article alleging he'd evaded his taxes. 由于报上一篇文章声称他曾逃税，他的名誉受到损害。
• This our Peeress declined as unnecessary, alleging that her cousin Thornhill's recommendation would be sufficient. 那位贵人不肯，还说不必，只要有她老表唐希尔保荐就够了。

16 harassed   

adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He has complained of being harassed by the police. 他投诉受到警方侵扰。
• harassed mothers with their children 带着孩子的疲惫不堪的母亲们