OPINION

Gates: Sexual harassment is never OK in the workplace

Jimmie E. Gates
The Clarion-Ledger

Would you want your wife or daughter subjected to sexual harassment in the workplace? The answer is obviously "no."

Jimmie E. Gates

Sexual harassment has been in the news recently with former Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes apparently forced out after sexual harassment allegations were leveled against him in a lawsuit filed by former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson.

If published reports are correct, an investigation by an independent law firm hired by the owners of Fox turned up other female employees who alleged they were sexually harassed by Ailes.

The allegations against Ailes also became a topic in the presidential contest between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

I thought about the Ailes situation last week when I was working on a story about the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics settling a federal lawsuit in which a top official at the agency was accused of sexual harassment.

MBN SETTLES SEXUAL HARASSMENT LAWSUIT: read story

The allegations in the lawsuit are unsettling, to say the least Obviously, I don’t know if they are true, but since the agency was willing to settle the lawsuit, it gives some credence to the allegations.

I reached out to MBN about settling the sexual harassment lawsuit and whether it would give the appearance of condoning sexual harassment. The reply I received in an email statement was, “Because the lawsuit was dismissed and the settlement terms are confidential, we won’t speculate on any possible impact, nor will we have further comment.”

I had called the spokesman for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, which oversees MBN, and explained the story I was doing. He suggested I call his counterpart at MBN. The Department of Public Safety spokesman did say as an overview that DPS doesn't condone sexual harassment in any form or fashion.

ACLU JOINS WITH KKK ON FREE SPEECH ISSUE: read story

I have covered courts for many years, and I know the terms of most lawsuit settlements aren’t disclosed. However, as I told the MBN spokesman, I was doing a story about whether the settlement would give the appearance of condoning sexual harassment. It would have been a golden opportunity for MBN to emphatically say sexual harassment isn’t condoned and if anyone engages in it he or she will be disciplined.

I know, like in most settlements, MBN probably admits no liability.

However if these allegations are true, what is most disheartening is that the alleged perpetrator of the sexual harassment was promoted to second in command at MBN after the female then-employee filed a complaint about sexually inappropriate comments during a meeting where he was one of eight men at the meeting where the woman was also present.

I would hope — since taxpayers’ money will be used to settle this case — that the state officials above those at MBN will thoroughly vet the settlement and the allegations of sexual harassment.

Sexual harassment is never appropriate in the workplace, whether it’s occuring at a private business or a public agency.

Contact Jimmie E. Gates at 601-961-7212 or jgates@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @jgatesnews on Twitter.