~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE WASH RAG published by Women Against Sexual Harassment ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Available on-line ASAP at http://www.washrag.org/ or http://members.tripod.com/~WASHRAG/ along with earlier issues ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Subscribe to e-mail version of this newsletter by going to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WomenAgainstSexualHarassmentNationaland and joining the group. Recent issues are posted here immediately when completed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Issue 11, Number 2 June, 2003 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Contents Harassment in a Pharmaceutical Company Taking Off The Gloves New Jersey State Police Update In The Media More On Non-Traditional Forms Of Harassment Local Stories Violence Against Women Act Humor and Harassment New Resources ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Harassment in a Pharmaceutical Company ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In the year 2000, I was a victim of sexual harassment and retaliation in the work place. It all happened while working for a big pharmaceutical as a Medical Sales Rep. I was doing an outstanding job, in fact, they gave me one of their best territories. When I complained to the company that my supervisor was constantly harassing me, they tried to cover everything up by saying that it was all in my head, they refused to let me talk about it. The company then retaliated against me and sent me to another territory two to three hours from my house without offering moving expenses, with less medicines than what I used to sell, therefore, less money. They told me that if I did not like it, I should quit. In this case, the retaliation was worse than the sexual harassment, because they are supposed to protect everybody from a HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT and have ZERO TOLERANCE for any type of abuse, with open doors for any type of complaint. They also offered me money to keep quiet and leave the company, but I declined. My supervisor kept harassing me, and told me that she was more powerful than I was, and she was going to destroy me because I was brave enough to talk and stand up for myself. Her behavior was at all times offensive, and I told her so over and over, but she would not stop. The company did not conduct any type of investigation, and when other people wanted to talk about it, they were told to keep quiet. I have been diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder due to these episodes for the past three years. The company FORCED me to leave the job. At that time, I filed for a Federal Lawsuit for the damages caused by Schering Plough Pharmaceutical, who discriminated against me, harassing me by reasons of sex and discharging me, all in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 USC 2000 e, et seq. (Title VII), double damages are sought under Laws 69, 100, and 17; the mental anguish and suffering are claimed under Title VII, FRCP 54, and law 69 as a matter of rights and regardless of any temerity criteria. The Civil No. of this case is 01-2014 (HL) under the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, Alice M. Lee vs. Schering Plough. The trial by jury was going to be held on 11/4/02 at 9:00 am. The day before, the case was mysteriously dismissed after the judge had the petition of dismissal on his desk since May 2002. The defendants were at all times begging the judge for more time because they were not prepared for the case. They were terrified, because their client’s depositions were contradictory and it looked pretty bad; in fact, the company fired my supervisor a week after her deposition. She lied about many things that the company’s lawyers did not know about, she also said that I was a bad employee, without knowing that my lawyers had an evaluation written and signed by my supervisor, establishing that I was a great employee. She just could not defend herself, because she forgot that detail, and denied it until my lawyers showed her and her lawyers the great evaluation that was given to me as a year review. They almost had a heart attack. After that big cover up, Schering Plough did not know what to do but beg, because they were so afraid to go to trial, therefore they did a pretty great job by convincing the judge to drop the case. I think that in such a serious case like this one, I deserve a TRIAL BY JURY. I already filed for an APPEAL in Boston. I pray everyday, the judges will deal with the appeal fairly, by paying close attention to the serious mistakes that Schering Plough did by NOT conducting a serious investigation, plus they know that they are GUILTY by terminating the author of the CRIME. I want a fair trial, I want justice, and at the end, I can help other people that are going through the same situation as well. I graduated from the University of Central Florida, paying for all my education alone, with no help, working two jobs forty to sixty hours a week, with a refrigerator always empty, studying full time, and struggling through college to make ends meet. Now, I ask myself — for what? — When I am not being able to even use my degree that cost me so much money. I am only thirty-three years old, diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder, along with anxiety and panic attacks. I never suffered from any of these before. I am taking many medications that in the long run can damage your organs, make you dependent, causing liver disease, respiratory problems, heart related problems, weight fluctuation, memory loss, irritability, thin skin, slurred speech, all of this can also trigger mania as a major side effect that in the end can have some deleterious effects. Among them are: Prozac 90 mg, Ambien 10 mg, and Xanax 2 mg. If I do not take these medications, I start shaking, and I also get other side effects, so at the end, it is a lose/lose situation. Because of this case, and my fighting for justice, I am losing my marriage. My physician indicated to me that I could not work until I get better, I am losing sleep, I can not have kids because of the medication and I do not have any kids yet, and that breaks my heart. I think that one of these days I can probably lose my life, too, because I do not have anything to live for. Suicide is not out of MY picture. It does not matter how much I try, I am still sick. People pay too much attention to cardiovascular diseases or diabetes among others, but nobody pays enough much attention to DEPRESSION, that in fact is a detrimental disease as well. Maybe it is because you can not see it from the outside, and what makes it worse, is that the scars of sadness and pain are on the inside. Nobody can see them, but you can feel them killing you slowly and painfully, and that can make your loved ones not understand your behavior, therefore they suffer even more. It is easy to tell that person to snap out of it, but something like this has to happen to you in order for you to understand. The less JUSTICE, the more dysfunctional people can become, and then, there is the cry for help, which sometimes can be too late. According to the judge and the defendants, you should have thick skin, but how thick is thick? Especially when you are a victim of CONTINUOUS SEXUAL HARASSMENT. The company does not want to hear what you have to say, acting like they do not care about their employees, and to top it all off, you get retaliation in return. In my opinion, that can make your skin thin, because the situation made you SICK, and DISGUSTED. Schering Plough does not want to admit these horrible incidents, because they already did the damages, and it is time to cover up all their big mistakes, otherwise, they will get more stains of bad publicity, and more lawsuits. Where is the justice system? What they did to me was abusive, and I am NOT going to let it rest until I get justice. I will keep fighting until the end. Wouldn’t you if it happened to you or somebody that you love? Does the justice system work? Or is it only for rich people? I need Your help. In a strong case like this one, a person deserves to go to trial. I want the jury to decide, not a biased judge that is good friends with the defendant’s lawyers. Everybody in Puerto Rico knows that, but everybody is afraid to talk. I believe in freedom of speech, communication can always make a difference, I do not understand why some people do not use it, if they did, the world would clear up misunderstandings. I WANT JUSTICE! Who knows how many people go through the same continuous sexual harassment every day, but they are terrified to talk, because if they complain, they might encounter RETALIATION, and lose their income. I lost everything EXCEPT MY VOICE! Alice Lee (954) 662-6963 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Taking Off The Gloves ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Reading this narrative from Alice Lee, I am painfully reminded of my own feelings when I was exposed to sexual harassment. It also reminds me that our constitution guarantees us equal rights, which we are not getting. It seems to me that it is time to take off the gloves and to ask organizations like the ACLU and the United Nations to take note of these human rights abuses against women. I took the time to get addresses for both, which appear at the end of this publication. Do I feel guilty for asking people to complain to organizations which might result in international embarrassment to the United States? Not really. I and many others have tried desperately to rectify this problem, which is basically a human rights abuse. Many women, especially women from financially challenging backgrounds like Alice Lee, are forced to chose between prostitution and losing all of the things that they have worked for years to obtain, a profession, a good salary and all that can buy, and self-respect. The story is told over and over by many women. This would not be so infuriating to me, but if you ever watch programs like “Cops,“ you know that the police leave no stone unturned in tracking down those dangerous women, working prostitutes, and putting them in jail. Yet, when an employer requires his female employees to exchange sex for job favors, nobody raises a finger to prevent this, and the woman, should she decide to protest, will probably lose her job and is forced to find funds to hire her own lawyer. In fact, some police departments (see New Jersey State Police Story) have themselves been accused of sexual harassment. Either exchanging sex for profit should be illegal both on the streets and in businesses, or it should be legal both places. Is it any better than women in Rumania or Czechoslovakia being kidnapped and held in brothels, forced to service a stream of abusive clients, never allowed time to enjoy? It is a different country, but it is the same problem. When our government, which has lost its seat on the United Nations Human Rights Commission, takes upon itself the task of “liberating” the people of Iraq, who apparently did not and do not want to be liberated, it needs to have a reality check. Are the Iraqis better off now than they were before? Not according to what has been on the news. Before we start to force our political system on others, we should be sure ours is better than theirs. Many women are virtually held in sexual slavery by their employers, and our government needs to explain this to the world before it goes on any more incredibly expensive forays to reconstitute the world in our image. Or perhaps this military action was just a red herring to try to cover up the many injustices which are common in this country, so the powers that be can ride a wave of patriotic popularity back into power in the next elections? I think that any woman in a sexual harassment situation should attempt making a police report against their employer early on. I wish I had. I firmly believe that the justice system should be held to task: a person should make every attempt to get redress through the justice system, but if it isn’t working, you just have to go to a higher authority. If it is an embarrassment to the U. S. Justice System, then they should take a good look at themselves and make the necessary changes so these abuses do not go unpunished. Considering the amount of sexual harassment that is common in this country, our government has little to brag about or to offer other governments with regards to what they refer to as “freedom.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ New Jersey State Police Update ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I would like to give you some further information about my case. The article you did before mentioned Capt. Frederick Madden the acting superintendent of State Police. He now has withdrawn his name for becoming the superintendent and now plans to run for the US Senate in New Jersey. It is awful to think that this individual that knew of the abuse that happened to me and did nothing, can now have the potential for becoming a US Senator. My case had been thrown out by the courts for statute of limitations, however I recently hired a new attorney and got it re-instated. The state wanted to throw out any and all things that occurred prior to 1997. Which of course was when most of the abuse occurred. The state is the one who has delayed this court case so that they could use statute of limitations to get it thrown out. They continue to stall and delay and have refused to give me my day in court. They continue to deny all allegations even though I had a witness who testified in comp court on my behalf. The individual who testified for me has been retaliated against for doing so and to date they are trying to fire this individual. I just wanted to give you some what of an update on what was happening. My health is still deteriorating and I am still suffering from the depression and anxiety and the panic attacks have become more severe. I am still on high levels of medications. Some days are better than others however, I have become more house bound for fear of more retaliation. I have had troopers sit in front of my home and follow me when I go out, I believe to use as a scare tactic. My fiancée has been held at gun point and told to drop this lawsuit. The sad truth is you can not report this behavior because the state police and the attorney generals office are linked and condone this behavior. Currently, nothing is happening with my case. I did switch attorney's, so it is like beginning the process all over again. My court date is years away. However, I don't even think God knows what or when things are going to happen. One of my defendants, Frederick Madden, is running for State Senate in New Jersey. Which is just unbelievable. A man who did nothing and let me get abused by his subordinate. It is fitting he would become a politician. Dirty is dirty no matter where you go. I have tried to get my story into numerous local papers, however it has been difficult, because it seems that the state of New Jersey controls what is printed. I can't prove it, however, it is my opinion. I am however, investigating on getting a book written, however it is expensive,. and with my attorney fee's, that alone is killing me. Not to mention medical bills, etc. My case is pretty much at a stand still. My attorney has filed motions for production of documents, however the state has not given up everything that they were supposed to. So it is going to be a battle just to get the information from them. Depositions will be beginning, which in a way is a joke because we know that they are going to lie, because they already have. I have approximately 30 people to depose at 250.00 per deposition....which is crazy. The state of New Jersey believes if they bleed you dry of all your funds, you will eventually drop your case. Remember they have hundreds of attorneys on there side, and all the resources to keep up the fight for as long as they see fit. They have told me in the past that they would tie up my case for the next seven years. Just because they can. I firmly believe that you cannot get a fair trial in the state of New Jersey. Because the whole system is corrupt. The state police are in the local newspapers everyday for wrong doing and nobody seems to care. (but they won't allow my story to get printed). It has been five years with no end in sight. I am still on Social Security Disability and am still undergoing psychiatric treatment, not to mention loads of medications. Jennifer Morse email: nja6372(bleep)aol.com 609 888-0330 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In The Media ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ President George W. Bush has proclaimed March 2003 as Women's History Month. The latest edition of Department of Labor Women’s Bureau e-News is now available on the Women's Bureau homepage or by using this link: http://www.dol.gov/wb/media/newsletter/e-news6artl-01.htm From the NOW newsletter: Thanks to your calls and emails, the Senate passed its version of the resolution to officially declare April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month last week. Now we need to convince House members to follow the Senate's lead. According to the Miles Foundation Newsletter, the number of cadets associated with the Air Force Academy who have been sexually assaulted continues to grow one month after breaking national news (56 as of March 14, 2003). Recent press conferences conducted by Secretary Roche and General Jumper hinted at changes, including the separation of male and female cadets in dormitories; consideration of all cases as criminal; and to throw out the "bum rapists." The Welfare Mothers’ Voice has undertaken a strike against poverty, and also to stop the Iraqi conflict and bring the young people fighting there home. Because the bulk of the combatants are from low income families, the two are obviously related. An April 11, 2003 Argus Leader editorial by Jan Jarboe Russell claims that sex-crime smugglers are creating modern slavery. She states that selling human beings is the third largest money maker for organized crime. Law and Order SVU on March 14, 2003, was about spouse abuse. The perpetrator was a highly regarded community leader who local law enforcement did not regard as a danger to his wives, although one went into hiding and another was murdered. CSI Miami on June 2, 2003, was the story of an environmental lawyer poisoned by radiation by a man she had enlisted to help her get information on a polluting business. When he made advances towards her, she ignored them, and he took revenge by giving her such high dosages of radiation normally used for treating cancer, that it killed her. On March 18, PBS had a special about a domestic violence shelter in Florida called “The Spring.” The shelter offers a wide spectrum of services including a school for children caught up in domestic violence situations. According to the narrator, the FBI says that one woman in two will be abused during her life. 60 Minutes on March 9 had a story about Qatar, the Persian Gulf Sheikdom, which has held elections where women can vote and hold public office, are encouraged to get an education and hold down jobs. A special April 22 NOVA on PBS was titled “The Secret of Photo 51.” According to this program, the double helix model of DNA could only have been discovered because of a photograph made by Roslyn Franklin, a researcher who took a photograph which indicated this was its configuration. Crick, Watson and Wilkins who got the Nobel Prize for the discovery, had been on the wrong track, and once they saw her photo and data, they based their model on her photograph as well as her data, which Watson, who was her supervisor, secretly gave to the others. She had even published about this, but she died of cancer at the age of 37 in 1958. Watson wrote a book about their work, The Double Helix, in which he was very critical of Franklin, and gave her virtually no credit for her contribution. It is a great relief that Eric Rudolf, who bombed two women’s health clinics among others, has been caught and will face justice. A female relative of two friends had given information about his whereabouts to authorities. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ More On Non-Traditional Forms Of Harassment ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From Anne of DAWN: Electronic harassment has happened to me too. Once in Panama, when I heard strange noises in the middle of the day, and simply took my writing materials out to the RV parked in the yard, to work there all afternoon. It wasn't repeated. Another time since living here, and I think I know the creep doing it by various strange telephone effects, who was trying to drive me out of a sales job. (They all just wanted me to do the work on volunteer basis, while they got the commissions so I'm better off out of it.) He succeeded, but got fired himself later. I did NOT hear "voices." The first was an escalating buzz, running ever louder and then starting over to repeat, on and on, until I left the building for a few hours. The second, he taped women's voices sending "official" type messages (sometimes with a British accent. Real, not faked) and sent them to my telephone. During hours very late or very early, when the normal person wants to sleep. From Blanche Chavoustie: One man died and 15 others were sickened from drinking tainted coffee after Sunday services April 27. Five days later, a longtime worshipper, Daniel Bondeson, 53, shot himself to death and left a suicide note that convinced investigators he was involved in the poisonings and may not have acted alone. Also from Blanche: . . . all my toenails fell out. Recently, a doctor told me that could only happen if I was on chemo or radiation therapy. When I insisted that I never was, he said, "Well the only other thing that could cause that is arsenic poisoning." Another web site for electronic harassment is at http://www.raven1.net/. Eleanor White, who runs the site, has been a long-time victim of electronic harassment of epic proportions. It is our contention that harassment of this kind should be considered as sexual harassment, because the motivation for it is sexual in nature. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Local Stories ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On May 12, 2003, KCAU in Sioux City had a story about sexual harassment in Sioux City schools. The abuses noted were bad language and physical contact which are against school policy but happen all the time. Students can be suspended if they are caught. They talked about abusive relationships in school and also how to stop controlling boyfriends. Allegations of sexual abuse at the South Dakota School for the Deaf in Sioux Falls was mentioned on several news broadcasts. They said it is hard to determine if it happened. It especially hard because they need interpreters to talk to the children. The victims were said to be quite young. Both KMEG and the Argus Leader carried stories around the middle of May about some women working as coaches at USD who claimed they were fired because of gender discrimination. They sued the University and won awards up to $225,000 to two of the women, Mary Mock and Diana Cole. KSFY had a story on April 21 about a McKinney who was charged with sexual contact with an 8 year old step-daughter, and also showing her pornographic materials. David Paul Oalman of Woodstock, Minnesota, was sentenced for inappropriate contact with young boys, according to an April 29th story carried by KSFY. According to the story, he offered them money for sex. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Violence Against Women Act ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I received a publication of the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress titled CRS Report For Congress from Senator Tim Johnson, D SD. It is titled “Violence Against Women Office: Background and Current Issues.” (Order Code RS21259 Updated April 2, 2003) It re-authorized most of the original Act’s programs and created new programs which address sexual assaults on campuses, aid for victims of violence with civil legal concerns, provide transitional housing for victims of domestic abuse and protection of elderly and disabled victims of domestic violence. It also created a pilot program for safe custody exchange for families of domestic violence and a domestic violence task force, authorized studies of the effects of violence against women and changed federal criminal law on interstate stalking and immigration. This issue was originally addressed by President Clinton and his Attorney General, Janet Reno and supported by President Bush. The director of the office is appointed by the president. There are some concern that the office might be eliminated because of political changes. The latest DOJ proposal would leave the office as is, renaming it the Office on Violence Against Women. Current director, Diane Stuart, contends that VAWO should remain within the OJP structure, with a budget of $400 million, it needs OJP’s infrastructure. Lynn Rosenthal, director of the National Network to End Domestic Violence argues that the office had more clout when it was not under OJP. This remains an issue under discussion. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Humor and Harassment ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As almost any public speaker will probably tell you, humor is an extremely effective way to make a point. It is almost impossible to find anything humorous about sexual harassment, especially if you are a victim. But I think I have a classic piece of humor which describes the humiliation and frustration of a person victimized by sexual harassment in a humorous way that cannot help but get through to individuals who take it casually. I tuned in to NBC on 6/1/2003 around 8:00 PM after America’s Most Talented Seniors to watch what the TV guide I have indicated would be a rerun of Law and Order, to be surprised that it was a AFV look-alike; titled “People making fools of themselves” or something similar. I didn’t really pay that much attention, because I was just watching it because there wasn’t anything else on. It was funny, funnier than AFV, where most of the humor seems to be kids being cute, which they probably are to their parents, but it gets sort of boring watching other people’s kids being cute after a while. But the climax was one of the funniest film clips I have ever seen, and now, almost a week later, I still burst into laughter every time I think about it. A farmer is in his pasture, stops to relieve himself and after he has dropped his pants, a donkey pastured there becomes enamored by the sight of his bare buttocks (fuzzy dot in place.) The donkey follows him persistently, preventing him from either escaping or pulling up his pants, which are effectively hobbling him around his ankles. The audio was apparently cut, I’m sure whoever was filming it was probably egging the donkey on. Finally, the donkey mounts the farmer, knocking him on his face spread eagle, and lands full on his back in the appropriate position. The sequence is cut at this point, I suspect that what followed was so obscene as to not pass the censors, as lax as they are on today’s TV. What harasser, when looking at this, could avoid identifying himself with the donkey, and identifying his victim with the farmer. To show this to teenaged boys, managers who supervise women, and sexual offenders could not help but impress on them how they degrade their victims, and in addition, are making asses of themselves. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ New Resources ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights United Nations Office at Geneva 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, Fax: + 41 22 917 9022 (particularly for urgent matters) E-mail: tb-petitions(bleep)ohchr.org Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women c/o Division for the Advancement of Women Department of Economic and Social Affairs United Nations Secretariat, 2 United Nations Plaza DC-2/12th Floor, New York, NY 10017, USA American Civil Liberties Union 125 Broad Street, 18th Floor New York, NY 10004 U.S. Department of Labor Women's Bureau 200 Constitution Avenue, NW - Room S-3002 Washington, DC 20210 Telephone 1-800-827-5335 or (202) 693-6710 Fax (202) 693-6725 www.dol.gov/wb Subcommittee Hearing on Domestic Violence Opening statements and press releases concerning the Total Forces Subcommittee hearing on domestic violence on March 19, 2003, are available at: http://armedservices.house.gov/schedules/2003.html Scroll down to Total Force Subcommittee, March 19, 2003 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WE’RE ON THE WEB http://www.washrag.org/ and at http://members.tripod.com/~WASHRAG/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This on-line version of THE WASHRAG is being sent to you free. A print version can be obtained by subscribing. In the US, send $10.00 to Women Against Sexual Harassment, P. O. Box 164, Canton, SD 57013-0164. Outside the US, send $20.00 to join. For a sample issue, send a #10 sized SASE. For a Publisher98 print module, e-mail washragezine(bleep)yahoo.com E-mail comments can be sent to washragezine(bleep)yahoo.com. Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WomenAgainstSexualHarassmentNational to sign up for a free e-mail subscription to the W.A.S.H. Rag If you do not wish to receive further copies of this newsletter, unsubscribe at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WomenAgainstSexualHarassmentNational ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ copyright 2003 Tesseract Publications, P. O. Box 164 Canton, SD 57013-0164 (605) 987-5070.