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July 22, 2008
Chen and Sethi on Effects of Sexual Harassment Law
Daniel L. Chen (left) and Jasmin K. Sethi (right) have posted on SSRN their working paper on The Effects of Sexual Harassment Law on Gender Inequality:
Interpreting antidiscrimination law to forbid sexual harassment has been one of the key practical contributions of feminist legal theory. Unlike other employment laws, sexual harassment law is generally considered "good" social policy and has not come under fire for its potential negative consequences in the way that other employment protections, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act and maternity mandates, have. Yet, economic theory, at first glance, suggests that the potential effects of forbidding sexual harassment may be similar to those of other employment mandates. It may exacerbate gender inequality overall because it could be viewed as a tax on the hiring of women. If a compensating differential for harassment exists, wages for women who took jobs with harassment when it was legal should fall when harassment is illegal. We identify the impact of court made sexual harassment law on gender inequality by using the fact that federal judges are randomly assigned to appellate cases along with the fact that female judges and Democratic appointees decide sexual harassment cases differently than do male judges and Republican appointees. We find that sexual harassment law does not appear to exacerbate gender inequality. It increases female wages and employment relative to that of men. It also increases the proportion of female managers relative to male managers. These findings are more consistent with legal theories that characterize sexual harassment as a form of economic warfare by men battling to preserve their jobs than with compensating wage differentials models suggested by economic theory.
It's an interesting study.
MM
July 22, 2008 in Scholarship | Permalink
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Comments
I fired a woman employee recently for incompetence. She signed a non-disparagement agreement and then proceded to email all our clients disparaging comments about the company. The terms of her severance was that she'd get paid if she signed the non disparagement agreement.
If I don't pay her the severance, despite her violation of the agreement, she can easily sue for sexual harassment. We'll have to settle.
Previously I had a male employee sue his female boss (my partner) for sexual harrassment, because he wasn't getting his bonus, because he was being fired for incompetence. We settled.
This happens ALL THE TIME. Just the threat of it puts a chill on business. Its used as a form of blackmail constantly. Its impossible to disprove and its a huge waste of time.
I try to create a workplace free of sexual harassment, of course. I have women, men, people of all ages and nationalities working at my companies, and always have. I have always hired based on skill and enthusiasm.
But unfortunately now I can never sit in a room with a door closed with a female employee. I need to have a witness at all times. I know several other employers who do the same thing. My cost to have a female employee (who despite the case above, sue or threaten to sue for sexual harassment far more than men) is far higher than a male employee. It has nothing to do with pay, it has everything to do with potential for being sued.
This study clearly did not examine the chilling effect this has on business and how it makes employers think twice about who they hire.
Posted by: kalber | Feb 21, 2009 4:19:33 PM
