Brittany Murphy Sexual Harrassment Claim

Brittany Murphy Sexual Harrassment Claim


Review of Brittany Murphy’s Sexual Harassment Claim

There are two type of theories on which an action for sexual harassment may be brought: quid pro quo sexual harassment and hostile environment. The quid pro quo generally involves the employer requiring some type of sexual activity from the harassed as a condition of employment or workplace benefits. The hostile environment addresses an offensive work environment to which one gender is subjected but not the other (Bennett - Alexander, & Hartman., 2012, pp. 402-403).
Brittany Murphy was dealing with a hostile environment related to inappropriate behavior from her co-worker Robert Singer. She saw him staring at a photo of her in a bathing suit that was located on her desk. Twice he made offensive comments about her chest that made her very uncomfortable. He made remarks like, “Your breasts are amazing. I would love to see you in even less than what you are wearing in that photo.” That comment made her sick and she asked him to stop making them because it made her feel upset.
In another instance, the same photo came up missing and reappeared on her desk the next day. She later found out that he had scanned the photo of her on his computer and saved it as a screen saver. While investigating her picture on his computer she found a file with a picture that he had altered to expose the upper part of her body. She was so distraught that she could not even function at work, and was absent for several days. When she confronted Robert about the situation, Robert went to her supervisor complaining that she decided to not relay his messages, which was untrue.
Brittany was afraid to report the situation so she told her co-workers about Robert’s computer and the things he was saying to her. The circumstances began to get worse and she decided to tell her supervisor, Dwayne Miller about Robert’s behavior. The reply from Dwayne was “Oh no, he is not up to the same stuff again. I cannot believe he did not learn his...

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