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https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-65632912

Common sense prevails! From the article:

Ms Gasparova was a project manager at the London office of essDOCS, a company that provides "paperless trade solutions". She took the firm to the tribunal claiming sexual harassment, discrimination and unfair dismissal.
The tribunal heard she believed her superior, Mr Goulandris, was "trying to chat her up" when discussing business on work calls, and claimed he would stare at her.

It was also claimed that email correspondence from Mr Goulandris insinuated a desire to "engage in sexual acts". Presented as evidence, the email from Mr Goulandris read:

"Can you please complete the following:
The solution us currently used by xx Agris companies and yy Barge lines in corn cargoes in south-north flows in the ???? waterways.
Also, can you remind me of what the balance of the rollout will be and the approx. timing. Thanks"

Ms Gasparova, who represented herself, argued the 'xx' referred to kisses, 'yy' to sexual contact and '????' as a coded way of asking "when she would be ready" to engage in sexual acts.

But the tribunal panel said it was a "genuine request for information" and did not imply any sexual nature.

Further allegations included Mr Goulandris saying "have a nice evening", in what Ms Gasparova described as "an alluring voice". And she claimed he deliberately touched her hand when reaching for a computer mouse. The tribunal said neither incident were sexual in nature and they were also rejected.

Ms Gasparova told the panel Mr Goulandris was "rich and powerful" and that a "man in his position would be too clever" to make any advances obvious.
She submitted a formal grievance letter in April 2021 against Mr Goulandris, but resigned after it was rejected, the hearing was told.

The claims from Ms Gasparova were called a "skewed perception of everyday events" by the tribunal panel, which also said she "demonstrated a tendency to make extraordinary allegations without evidence".

Ms Gasparova's claims of sexual harassment, discrimination and unfair dismissal were rejected and she was ordered to pay £5,000 costs to essDOCS.

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Type: Question • Score: 4 • Views: 473 • Replies: 18

@Mame,

Although this ONE particular article may be "common sense" to you, it also downplays the seriousness and wide spread work place sexual harassment actually is. Not even sure why you deemed this was necessary to post.

Quote:

Workplace sexual harassment is common but is rarely reported.
Thirty eight percent of all women and fourteen percent of men have reported experiencing sexual harassment at work (Kearl, Johns, & Raj, 2019).

1 in 7 women and 1 in 17 men have sought a new job assignment, changed jobs, or quit a job because of sexual harassment and assault (Kearl et al., 2019).

Sixty percent of women say they have experienced unwanted sexual attention, sexual coercion, sexually crude conduct, or sexist comments in the workplace (Feldblum & Lipnic, 2016).

In some industries, more than 9 in 10 women say they have been sexually harassed (Puente & Kelly, 2018).

Over 85 percent of people who experience sexual harassment never file a formal legal charge, and approximately 70 percent of employees never even complain internally (Feldblum & Lipnic, 2016).

The impact of sexual harassment in the workplace is real and damaging (Feldblum & Lipnic, 2016).

Employees that experience sexual harassment are more likely to report:
Psychological symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, stress, and anxiety.

Physical problems such as headaches, sleep problems, gastric problems, weight loss/gain, etc.

Impact on other employees/witnesses - The damaging effects of harassment do not just impact the employee who is the victim of sexual harassment. Those who observe it can also suffer mental and physical harm and employee morale can decrease.

Costs for businesses – Businesses can face financial costs associated with harassment complaints in addition to decreased employee productivity, increased employee turnover rate, and reputational harm.

https://www.nsvrc.org/ending-sexual-assault-and-harassment-workplace

2 Replies

@neptuneblue,

Quote:

...it also downplays the seriousness and wide spread work place sexual harassment actually is.

Does it? If anything, it demonstrates to men that in the workplace, the slightest misperception may cost you your job.

People like Ms Gasparova will help nudge people like Mr Goulandris to replace her with an AI chatbot.

1 Reply

@hightor,

Cherry-picking anecdotal stories further misogynistic stereotypes and again, downplays the seriousness of workplace sexual harassment. Not sure why you wouldn't agree but hey, you do you.

1 Reply

@neptuneblue,

Quote:

Not sure why you wouldn't agree...

Because the fight against sexual harassment in the workplace has occasionally led to situations like this one. We ought to be able to draw attention to these incidents as well as real cases of harassment, as they help define what really qualifies as offensive behavior and can help women (or men) present a more convincing account when complaining about discrimination.

1 Reply

@hightor,

When I first read your comments, I actually laughed. As in, oohhh noos! Men have to be accountable for their language and actions in the workplace! Oh, the terror of that!!

But then the thought of the Mike Pence's in this country and the ones who take situations with women to the extreme. And that's exactly what you are doing. Pointing out a cherry picked version of one event to " help define what really qualifies as offensive behavior" is counter productive.

It stigmatizes the victim into staying quiet. Here's the statistic again, since it needs repeating:

Quote:

Between 58% and 72% of workplace sexual harassment victims do not report it.

Despite the high number of women who said they experience workplace sexual harassment, the vast majority do not report what happened nor confront the responsible individual.

Common reasons include fear of losing their job, concerns about being labeled as a troublemaker, lack of faith in the human resources department’s ability to handle the claim, and lack of witnesses (i.e., it’s their word against the other person’s).

--------

In 2017, the EEOC received 12,428 claims of sex-based harassment. More than half of the total harassment claims that the EEOC received were sex-based in that year.

https://www.zippia.com/advice/sexual-harassment-workplace-statistics/

Is this a "more convincing account when complaining about discrimination" enough for you?

2 Replies

@neptuneblue,

The news article is about a tribunal in London, nothing to do with your country or Mike Pence.

The article itself was not "cherry picked" it was a headline item on the BBC website.

Sexual harassment at work is a problem, ant the actions of the above litigant have only helped to minimise the problem.

Women aren't ghe victims either, they can be perpetrators. The recent child sex abuse case over here convicted 21 paedophiles, 14 men and 7 women.

A third of the perpetrators were women.

Which roughly means men are twice as likely to be perpetrators, but women are not all innocent victims by any means.

Again, this article is nothing to do with America or Pence.

1 Reply

My transgender son has been the victim of sexual assault on three separate occasions.

All of the perpetrators were female.

0 Replies

@neptuneblue,

Quote:

Men have to be accountable for their language and actions in the workplace!

Many men remain unaware of this, even fifty years after the modern "women's liberation" movement.

Quote:

Is this a "more convincing account when complaining about discrimination" enough for you?

I don't need to be convinced. It's supervisors and people in HR who need to be convinced. In this case, they weren't.

Quote:

It stigmatizes the victim into staying quiet.

I don't think it does. It's an exceptional case and seems almost frivolous:

Quote:

Karina Gasparova also claimed that when Alexander Goulandris renamed a work file with his initials 'ajg' it was an abbreviation of "A Jumbo Genital".

Successful suits for sexual harassment are the best way to empower employees of either sex or any gender and alleviate fear of stigmatization.

0 Replies

@izzythepush,

Thank you for chiming in.

And your comments have added to the issue of why people stay silent about work place harassment. If one cherry picked unsuccessful case is enough to "minimize the problem," then the issue is far reaching than just one country's borders.

1 Reply

@neptuneblue,

It was a headline case, very frivolous indeed.

And it succeeded in making it harder for victims to seek redress.

And bringing in a load of irrelevant stuff about America only muddies the waters.

This is not America, we don't have problems with guns or evangelical fascists like Pence.

What you said about Pence was irrelevant.

2 Replies

@izzythepush,

Oh, ok.

Bless your heart...

1 Reply

@neptuneblue,

It's good that you treat this subject with the seriousness it deserves, and don't resort to snide fatuous comments.

However, despite your best efforts this thread isn't all about you.

1 Reply

@izzythepush,

I have treated this subject with the utmost seriousness, respect and factual data. Not once have I claimed anything was about me or my family.

0 Replies

@neptuneblue,

neptuneblue wrote:

Although this ONE particular article may be "common sense" to you, it also downplays the seriousness and wide spread work place sexual harassment actually is. Not even sure why you deemed this was necessary to post.

Quote:

The article does not downplay workplace harassment - it reports on a ridiculous and unsubstantiated -in fact, totally imaginary -and bizarre accusation, and in fact, this accusation actually harms people who bring legitimate charges against actual abusers. False accusations have repercussions - serious repercussions - for the accused. This is not a one-off. Reading the email the accuser presented, I couldn't find anything at all that substantiated her claims. It's a total reach.

0 Replies

@izzythepush,

izzythepush wrote:

It was a headline case, very frivolous indeed.

And it succeeded in making it harder for victims to seek redress.

I think that was the point that NB was making. Making such a completely frivolous case headline news delegitimizes workplace harassment claims in general and contributes to public skepticism when victims step forward. This shouldn't have been headline news. The only value here is the sensationalism of it. It doesn't contribute to the conversation around what is legitimate workplace behavior and what is harmful. Now it will be quoted by some as an example of how the "typical woman" reacts in the workplace and how poor men have to be extra careful in the "woke" workplace instead of being treated as the extreme oddity it is.

1 Reply

@engineer,

Are you saying that such cases should not be reported on?

What about Eleanor Williams?

I'll let you google her.

The same argument could be made about her.

If anything reporting it could deter further malicious complaints.

There have been numerous reports of bullying of civil servants by ministers.

The most recent being deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab who was forced to resign but didn't accept any responsibility at all.

Most reporting supported the agrieved civil servants, but nonsense like this can be used by people like Raab to spread the myth of snowflake civil servants.

1 Reply

@izzythepush,

No, it's news and news should be reported, but I think this case is "News of the Weird" as opposed to front page news on one of the most respected news platforms in the world. I think where this is different from the Eleanor Williams case is that Williams's accusations carried weight and had significant impacts on her victims. In this case, the company saw the case was frivolous and no one ever assigned them any merit. This case was a circus from start to finish.

1 Reply

@engineer,

When I say headline, it was a major piece in one of the sections, not the main page.

0 Replies

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