From New York Women’s Equality at: http://nywomensequality.org/10-point-plan/
2. Ending Sexual Harassment on the job for Every Employee (Senate Bill 5873)
- Sexual harassment disproportionately affects women in the workplace. In 2011, women filed 75% of all sexual harassment complaints filed with the NYS Division of Human Rights.
- 83% of all EEOC complaints of sexual harassment were filed by women.
- Those working for employers with fewer than 4 employees cannot file a complaint with the State because small employers are currently exempt from the provisions of State law that prohibit harassment.
- More than 60% of private employers in NYS have fewer than 4 employees.
The Women’s Equality Act would:
Extend the prohibition on sexual harassment in the workplace to workplaces with fewer than four employees
For those of you following the news lately, you know that I have opened my big mouth on this issue very publically as of late. Cait Kennedy, one of the claimants who worked for Dennis Gabryszak, is a WE Pac member. I cannot tell you how shocked and dismayed I was to hear her stories of sexual harassment. Remember folks, this is not about sex, it is about power. And until you have either gone through it yourself or had a close friend go through it you have no idea how bewildering, disempowering and financially and emotionally damaging it is to even the strongest of women.
Any steps that can be taken to call out and stop sexual harassment need to be vigorously supported by men and women in New York!