Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- PART I WHAT IS SEX DISCRIMINATION?
- PART II SEXUAL HARASSMENT
- 12 Workplace Affairs and Sexual Favoritism
- 13 Lolita at the Office
- 14 Sex Talk in the Writers’ Room
- 15 Sex Behind Bars
- 16 When the Supervisor Bullies Only Women
- 17 The Equal Opportunity Harasser
- 18 Periodontal Perils
- 19 Punishing Effeminacy
- 20 Late-Night Affairs with David Letterman
- 21 Why Herman Cain Has Not Been Able to Talk His Way Out of His Exploding Sexual Harassment Scandal
- 22 Why Hostile Environment Harassment Is a “Continuing Violation”
- 23 When Sexual Extortion Is Successful
- 24 The Consequences of Failing to Complain about Harassment
- 25 Who Is Responsible for Sudden, Severe Harassment?
- 26 Chinks in the Harassment Law Armor
- 27 Do Employer Efforts Prevent Harassment or Just Prevent Liability?
- 28 Who's the Boss?
- 29 Costly Mistakes
- 30 Hands Off the Merchandise
- PART III PREGNANT WOMEN AND MOTHERS AT WORK
- PART IV FEMALE BREADWINNERS AND THE GLASS CEILING
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Index
30 - Hands Off the Merchandise
from PART II - SEXUAL HARASSMENT
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2016
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- PART I WHAT IS SEX DISCRIMINATION?
- PART II SEXUAL HARASSMENT
- 12 Workplace Affairs and Sexual Favoritism
- 13 Lolita at the Office
- 14 Sex Talk in the Writers’ Room
- 15 Sex Behind Bars
- 16 When the Supervisor Bullies Only Women
- 17 The Equal Opportunity Harasser
- 18 Periodontal Perils
- 19 Punishing Effeminacy
- 20 Late-Night Affairs with David Letterman
- 21 Why Herman Cain Has Not Been Able to Talk His Way Out of His Exploding Sexual Harassment Scandal
- 22 Why Hostile Environment Harassment Is a “Continuing Violation”
- 23 When Sexual Extortion Is Successful
- 24 The Consequences of Failing to Complain about Harassment
- 25 Who Is Responsible for Sudden, Severe Harassment?
- 26 Chinks in the Harassment Law Armor
- 27 Do Employer Efforts Prevent Harassment or Just Prevent Liability?
- 28 Who's the Boss?
- 29 Costly Mistakes
- 30 Hands Off the Merchandise
- PART III PREGNANT WOMEN AND MOTHERS AT WORK
- PART IV FEMALE BREADWINNERS AND THE GLASS CEILING
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Index
Summary
The urban dictionary gives two definitions of the phrase “hands off the merchandise”: (1) a “protest/order uttered by one of either gender when someone else (usually of the other gender) wants to indulge in a little touchy-feely but [the protester's] not in the mood”; or (2) “Basically ‘Don't touch my stuff, punk.’”
Allen Manwaring, a former grocery store manager who was fired for sexual harassment, but reincarnated as a produce vendor for the very same store, might be the rare person for whom both definitions are appropriate. And the entity ordering him to keep his hands off is the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Pursuant to a recent ruling by that court, in EEOC v. KarenKim, Inc., the EEOC is now entitled to obtain an injunction that prohibits Manwaring not only from touching the mostly-teenage-girl cashiers who work at the grocery store but also from touching the produce or any other merchandise that would bring him physically into the store. In Manwaring's case, the fact section of the Second Circuit's opinion reveals a disturbing pattern of sexual harassment that went unchecked despite numerous complaints to the store owner.
The opinion also underlines the power – and obligation – that courts have to use equitable remedies when they are necessary to end discrimination. (Legal remedies typically consist of awards of money damages; equitable remedies typically consist of commands from a court to do, or cease doing, a certain action, although they can, confusingly in the employment context, also involve the payment of money.)
THE ALLEGATIONS IN EEOC V. KARENKIM: A ROTTEN FOOD TALE
Karen Connors owned and managed Paul's Big M Grocery, a store in Oswego, New York. In January 2001, Connors hired Allen Manwaring as the store manager. Within months, the two began an intimate relationship that produced an engagement in 2006 and a child. But during that time, Manwaring also became a great liability to Connors business-wise. According to evidence presented at trial, he repeatedly and pervasively harassed a number of female employees, most of whom were teenage girls at the time. The harassment was both verbal and physical, and it continued over a period of several years, undeterred by intermittent complaints and reprimands.
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- Nine to FiveHow Gender, Sex, and Sexuality Continue to Define the American Workplace, pp. 174 - 180Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2016