Can I sue for offensive behavior?

[sierra908]

I currently work for a husband/wife owned business with 12 employees for the past 2 years. They have had their business for 25 years and assume that all employees should be ok with anything they say or do. They treat everyone like dirt and openly reprimand anyone in front of everyon else. My problem: The husband delights in forwarding inappropriate and sometimes disgustingly sexual emails to us employees. Many are very derogatory towards women in general and he thinks it's funny. I find it not only immature but offensive. I asked him to not send these to me a while back and it stopped for a bit but now has started again. Do I have any recourse in this situation if I sue for hostile workplace or sexual harassment? Yes, I have looked for another job but those are not that easy to come by and I feel that I am stuck and must put up with this behavior because I need a job. What can I do?

[laxnrt]

Request, via e-mail, that he stop sending you those e-mails. Print all e-mails (or, if possible, save on your flash drive) related to your request as well as all offensive e-mails (before and after your request).

One word of caution: It's hard to say what constitutes "offensive" in this context. You might be hypersensitive, for example. So, you need to speak to someone else about this, just to make sure that an average person would find them offensive.

Also, it is extremely difficult to establish these cases in small companies, especially if other female employees don't find his behavior offensive. It's not that you don't have a case--it's just that it is HARD for you to establish your case when everyone says your boss is "just wonderful" and that you are being too sensitive. They are likely to do so, given that they probably need to keep their job. So, your document gathering becomes important.

[sierra908]

Thank you for your response and insight. I understand what you are saying about possibly being oversensitive but, believe me, I am very open-minded and do not offend easily but the emails he sends are really out there. Example: I am a runner and he sent an email (just to me!) with a full frontal picture of a Brazilian nude marathon because he thought I would find it funny. Well, there were lots of things bouncing in the pic, if you know what I mean, and there was nothing left to question. That was offensive and not funny. The other women here are also offended, as we've talked about it, but as you say, everyone needs their job so I doubt if they would back me up. I did send him an email a while back (in response to the marathon pic) and asked him to stop and he apologized and agreed (I saved that whole email exchange). But then it started back up again. I have saved EVERY email and EVERY pic he sends in my Yahoo account and can easily print them all out. I need my job, too, and I'm worried that I'm stuck here and just have to put up with it. Lots to to think about....thanks for your thoughts!