Facing the scandalous report alleging that he displayed inappropriate behaviour, often sexual in nature, toward several women while in office, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo has now resigned. Here one has a governor who claimed to champion women’s rights, but one who also had an office was considered “toxic” by the affected women. While it appeared that Cuomo advanced a feminist agenda, there are those that now argue that it was just smoke and mirror politics. Once again, it takes a high profile case to demonstrate that sexual harassment in the workplace continues to be an issue of major concern to both employers and employees.
Interestingly enough, Statistics Canada just released a report that concluded that one in four women and one in six men reported having experienced inappropriate sexualized behaviours at work in 2020. Inappropriate sexualized behaviours are defined to include inappropriate verbal or non-verbal communication, sexually explicit materials, and unwanted physical contact or suggested sexual relations. The survey also found that people with formal authority in the workplace ― such as supervisors and bosses ― were often the perpetrators of inappropriate sexualized behaviours. Women most often identified a man as the perpetrator of all three types of the above defined inappropriate sexualized behaviour. In addition, because the harassment that they experience at work is most often by a superior, people are reluctant to come forward fearing negative consequences for their careers if they did so.
Today, many jurisdictions require that employers have some form of written harassment policy in place and that it is clearly communicated to all employees, including management. As well, most businesses must have an independent harassment complaint process in place to allow employees to come forward in a confidential and timely manner. However, as the Statistics Canada survey indicated, approximately one-third of women and one-quarter of men surveyed said that they had not received any information from their employer on how to report sexual harassment and sexual assault. Furthermore, such impartial complaint mechanisms should also deal with matters regarding discrimination on the basis of actual or perceived gender, gender identity or sexual orientation.
What is truly sad about the Cuomo case is the fact that it took so long to finally surface. It took no fewer than five district attorneys who made preliminary inquiries into Cuomo’s alleged sexual harassment, now detailed in the scathing 165-page report released last week. The report from state Attorney General Letitia James’ office found Cuomo sexually harassed at least 11 women — including nine current or former state employees — in violation of state and federal law. Apparently, his resignation won’t end a bevy of pending investigations into him and his administration. According to those in the know, the investigations and litigation could enmesh Cuomo for months or years after his scheduled departure from public office in two weeks.
What is interesting is that Cuomo was in his third term as governor, having been first elected in 2010. One has to ask in this “#me too” movement era, why it took so long — some ten years — for these alleged complaints to come forward, and why it took an investigation by the Attorney General’s office to finally reveal the harassment complaints? I would hope that there will be some form of formal inquiry into the whole process itself, examining why these women had to allegedly and silently endure what they endured over those years under question. Moreover, as the above noted survey illustrates, the issue of harassment in the workplace is much broader than we think. This is despite all the legal protections against such harassment for both men and women that now exist in most jurisdictions. Hopefully, the Cuomo case will encourage governments, organizations and businesses to once again examine their harassment policies and complaint processes.
FROLITICKS 
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