William J. Milani, Member of the Firm in the Employment, Labor & Workforce Management practice, in the firm’s New York office, was quoted in the Bloomberg BNA Daily Labor Report, in “Falling ‘Superstar Harassers’ Wake Companies Up: EEOC’s Feldblum,” by Paige Smith and Chris Opfer.

Following is an excerpt:

Sometimes it takes the toppling of a superstar—and the related fallout from shareholders and others—to get major companies to seriously commit to eliminating sexual harassment, a commissioner at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says. Just two recent casualties at tech giant Alphabet Inc. underscore the danger.

“No big employer is going to take positive steps unless there is reaction, from their own employees, shareholders, whoever it is,” the EEOC’s Chai Feldblum said in an interview Oct. 31. “That’s part of bringing attention.” ...

Ditch the Cost-Benefit Analysis

It’s tempting for employers to look the other way when a high producer is accused of harassment, Feldblum said.

“They make the cost-benefit analysis that it’s more costly to discipline or terminate the harasser than the benefit of actually getting rid of the person,” she said.

Inaction and cover-up are ethically wrong and harmful to employee productivity, Feldblum said. But how to proceed?

A plan helps, employment lawyer William Milani with Epstein Becker Green told Bloomberg Law.

“Many of the firms we work with are, with the blessing of senior management, putting in place protocols so that if an issue does arise at that level there’s a roadmap in terms of how we’re going to handle this,” Milani said.

A demonstrated serious commitment to change triggers a ripple effect in a company, he said, adding that companywide training is part of that commitment to action.

Jump to Page

Privacy Preference Center

When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your right to privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings. However, blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.

Performance Cookies

These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.