Representative Cases

Sexual Harassment Case Study

1. Factual Analysis
Dr. Ann Smith began the first day of her residency at ABC Hospital during the first week of July. The director of her program, Dr. Tom Jones took an immediate interest in her. After their first meeting, Dr. Smith goes into a supply closet. Dr. Jones follows her into the closet, which is dimly lit, and massages her neck and shoulder. Dr. Smith is upset by this, but tries to brush it off since it is only her first day at the hospital. However, each time Dr. Smith comes into contact with Dr. Jones he finds an opportunity to continue his inappropriate sexual advances towards her. He caresses her hair and face, massages her neck and back, rubs her arms, and gropes her buttocks and breasts. His advances are not limited to physical contact. Instead, he makes many verbal remarks of a sexual nature. When Dr. Smith is learning how to circumcise an infant, Dr. Jones tells her to rub and caress the infant’s penis because men enjoy this type of stimulation. He goes on to say that this type of touching will make her very popular. Dr. Smith is told by a senior resident that Dr. Jones has a reputation for singling out one first year resident to sexually harass each year.

The physical advances by Dr. Jones never stop and begin to disrupt Dr. Smith’s work environment; rather than a learning environment; the hospital has now become a predatory environment. She is not able to concentrate on her training, as fully as she would like when Dr. Jones is present because she feels the need to protect herself from him. He continues cornering her in empty exam rooms, supply closets, and even his office. Each time he touches her in inappropriate and sexual ways, rubbing himself up against her, and making comments about her body. Dr. Jones relentless harassment prompts Dr. Smith to report this behavior to her advisor. As a result, her advisor, Dr. Thompson, distributes a copy of the sexual harassment policy to all members of the residency program. Later that same afternoon Dr. Jones approaches Dr. Smith in a supply closet and gropes her buttocks while pressing himself up against her. Dr. Smith, realizing that Dr. Jones’ behavior is not going to stop, reports this harassment to XWY Staffing, the company that staffs the residency program and employs Dr. Smith. She is assured by Mr. Johnson, at XWY, that her allegations will be investigated, that her name will not be used, and that she will not suffer any retaliation because of her report. The next day, she is informed by another physician, Dr. Hanson, that she is no longer welcome in the residency program at ABC. She meets with her advisor, Dr. Thompson, to tell him she is looking for other programs and requests that he speak to Dr. Jones about a letter of recommendation that she can use to apply to other programs. After this meeting Dr. Jones refuses to communicate with Dr. Smith. Any time he needs to provide her with information about the program he has his assistant call Dr. Smith. He also attempts to “freeze” Dr. Smith out of the program by talking to other physicians and residents and have them display hostile behavior towards Dr. Smith. The following week XWY holds a mandatory presentation regarding their sexual harassment policy. All faculty and residents are required to attend. Dr. Jones is absent and Dr. Smith sees another physician sign his name to the attendance sheet. Two weeks later, Dr. Smith receives a copy of the letter of recommendation written by Dr. Jones. It is extremely neutral and does not include any of the position feedback she has received in her evaluations by the faculty and senior residents. Additionally, she received a certified letter fro Dr. Jones alerting her to the fact that she has violated some of her job policies – namely that she left her pager in the break room one night and did not pick it up. The night in question was the night Dr. Smith broke her ankle, and Dr. Jones was aware of the fact that Dr. Smith would be unable to pick up her pager. After receiving this letter, Dr. Smith believes that she is being retaliation against for reporting the harassment and she looks for an attorney.

2. Legal Course of Action
After an initial meeting with Dr. Smith, it becomes clear that she is seeking a resolution to this matter that would do the least amount of damage to her career. She does not wish to pursue litigation and would like to resolve this matter as quickly and as quietly as possible. Dr. Smith is seeking to recover a year of her salary, as a physician because she believes this experience will cause her to start over in another residency program. As a result, her attorney drafts a demand letter to XWY detailing some of the allegations of Dr. Jones’ conduct and outlining how Dr. Smith would like to resolve this matter. The letter includes a monetary demand for $100,000, a demand for attorneys’ fees, and a confidentiality provision. Attached to the letter is an EEOC Complaint, which details the harassment by Dr. Jones, as well as an Original Petition that outlines the entire lawsuit against XWY and Dr. Jones. The Petition alleges sexual harassment, as well as explains the hostile work environment that was created by Dr. Jones, and lists claims of retaliation. The demand letter prompts XWY to request that the parties mediate the dispute. At the mediation, the attorney for Dr. Jones and XWY denies all of Dr. Smith’s allegations and questions her mental stability. Eventually, after working for over 9 hours to reach a resolution, a settlement agreement is drafted and signed.

3. Outcome
Dr. Smith is paid the remainder of her salary for the year and is allowed to keep her benefits. She is provided with a glowing letter of recommendation. She is also reimbursed for her attorneys’ fees and the costs of mediation. Her monetary settlement is approximately $60,000. In addition to the money paid, XWY offers to work with her to continue her residency program in an alternative manner so that she will not have to start another program as a first year resident. In return, Dr. Smith signs a confidentiality agreement and waives her right to sue Dr. Jones, XWY, and the hospital.

4. Lessons to be Learned
In this case, negotiation and mediation with XWY and Dr. Jones were the best course of action to meet with Dr. Smith’s wishes. If Dr. Smith had been interested in pursuing litigation this case would most likely have had a different outcome. An EEOC complaint would have been filed and then, once the EEOC provided Dr. Smith with a right to sue letter, a lawsuit would have been filed against Dr. Jones, XWY and the hospital. If a lawsuit were filed, this matter would have taken a much longer time to resolve and would have been more public. Additionally, if the case went to trial, there would be no guarantee that Dr. Smith would have been awarded the same type of settlement.