SEXUAL HARASSMENT

[hallie]

I live in a senior complex and one of the male tenants have harassed some of the female tenants. He went so far as to grab an 85 years old woman, pinned her hand by her side and kissed her on the mouth. The last women the approached has MS and in a handicapp chair and he pinned her down an ask her to do unspeakable things to him and it tramatized her so much that she needed medical attention and suffers from panic attacks that trigger asthma attacks. She reported it and three incidents before her had been reported (to the manager) and it was not until her report that he was given a warning. She believes, since the broke his lease, that he would be evicted. She want to file negliigence charges against the complex because she believes that if they had acted before to complaints she would not have been accosted.
Does she have a legal case? She has tried every thing else with no results and was told she could move by manager.

While it is a good idea to report these incidents to the management, you also need to report these to the police department. The management may need police reports to prove allegations such as these. Without these, it is your word against this man's. It can be difficult for them to evict based on another tenant's allegations without supporting evidence. This may be why they could only issue warning. Report this, then give copies of the police reports to management so they can take action. Have other tenants who have been accosted by this man report it also.

I would also call Senior Services or some other program from the Department of Aging in your area. A Senior Center or local library could give you this number. It sounds like this man needs to be evaluated for his problem. It could be a medication problem (conflicting meds or a lack of meds) that is causing this bizarre behavior. Or it could be something more serious. Either way, you need the police and senior services to step in to help and enable management to act. Please call today.

[hallie]

Atleast 5 women made a report, but only one made a complaint in writing and that was when management acted with a warning.
Police department would not even take a report. She did not want them to act on it but wanted a report for future reference.
His excuse was that he do not remember harassing these ladies. but yesterday he was confronted and he admited that the remember exactly what the did and did not even offer an apology.
Ladies have been to every organization known, even one of the Senator who said he would follow up on the incident.
There was more than one report of the incident made. Women are very angry that management should have acted on the 1st incident reported.

All reports must be made in writing. Without a written report, you have no evidence that any report has ever been made. Since there has only been one report in witing, there has only been one documented report. Get all the ladies to make these reports in writing. That will give management some evidence to take action.

[Get all the ladies to make these reports in writing.]


I agree that is the only way to handle it properly--if they will do so.

[hallie]

I just found out that this man teaches at one of the local elementary school. I had let it go but now I am looking into filing negligence charges against the complex because if they had acted on the first three incidents, I would not have had to suffer the harrassment which let to panic attacks that led to asthma attacks which I am taking medication for how.
I may not win the case but I will bring attention to him.

"I may not win the case but I will bring attention to him."

True, but if you bring this attention to him and lose the case, expect a second case to be filed by his attorney against you (for either slander or liable depending on how the case is reported).

You need documentation before you even think about filing any case. If all you have is one written report, and no one else will step forward to write another, expect to lose. Management cannot act on a verbal report as there would be no evidence of any incident. You must file written reports on these incidents before management is allowed to act. If they acted without evidecne, they would be sued by the man himself. They are walking a fine line between his rights and yours. I'm sure they want him out as much as you do. But without evidence, they can't do anything. If you ladies do not stand up for yourselves and write these reports, management's hands are tied. Spend your time encouraging everyone who has been accosted to write a report to management NOW!