Maybe a coworker’s comments keep getting more personal. Maybe someone touched you, propositioned you, or made you feel like saying no could affect your job. Samson Spiegelman offers trauma-informed advocacy to California workers experiencing sexual harassment to help them understand their rights while making sure their voices stay heard.
Sexual Harassment, Legally Speaking
Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination prohibited under California and federal employment law. It can include unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or other verbal, visual, or physical conduct of a sexual nature. Legally, cases generally involve either quid pro quo harassment, where a workplace benefit or consequence is tied to sexual conduct, or a hostile work environment, where sufficiently severe or pervasive conduct changes the conditions of your work.
In real life, it might look like a supervisor pressuring you to go out with them, sexual messages from a coworker, unwanted touching, repeated comments about your body, or consequences after you reject an advance. Samson takes a trauma-informed, client-centered approach to these cases, giving you space to explain what happened and helping you connect that experience to the legal protections that may apply.
Do I Have a Viable Sexual Harassment Case?
You may know that someone’s behavior made you uncomfortable, unsafe, or pressured without knowing whether it qualifies as harassment. What matters can include what happened, how often it happened, who was involved, the workplace power dynamics, and what your employer did after learning about it.
It may be worth talking to Samson Spiegelman if:
- You received unwanted sexual comments, messages, advances, or propositions
- You experienced unwanted touching or other physical conduct of a sexual nature
- You were pressured to engage in sexual or romantic conduct by a supervisor or coworker
- You were offered workplace benefits or opportunities in exchange for sexual conduct
- You faced threats or negative job consequences for rejecting sexual advances
- You experienced repeated sexual jokes, images, gestures, or conversations at work
- You reported sexual harassment, but your employer failed to respond appropriately
- You experienced harassment from a supervisor, coworker, customer, or other work contact
- You faced retaliation after reporting, rejecting, or opposing sexual harassment
How Samson Can Help With Sexual Harassment
Talking about sexual harassment can mean revisiting experiences that were humiliating, frightening, or deeply personal. Samson takes a trauma-informed, client-centered approach that gives you room to tell your story without being rushed or reduced to a legal claim. He helps you understand which details matter while keeping your experience at the center of the process.
Samson reviews messages, emails, complaints, personnel records, and other evidence, documents the timeline, and identifies harassment or retaliation claims. He also communicates with your employer, helps preserve and develop evidence, negotiates for compensation or other meaningful outcomes, and pursues litigation when necessary. Throughout your case, Samson helps you make clear, informed decisions.
What Are the Potential Remedies in Sexual Harassment Cases?
If you experienced sexual harassment at work, a successful claim may provide different forms of relief depending on what happened and how it affected you. Some remedies can address lost income or career opportunities, while others may compensate you for the emotional impact of the harassment or help address problems within the workplace. What remedies may be available depends on your claims, evidence, employer, and how the case is resolved.
Potential remedies may include:
- Recovery of lost wages and employment benefits
- Compensation for future lost earnings when available
- Compensation for emotional distress and other non-economic harm
- Reinstatement, promotion, or other employment-related relief when appropriate
- Punitive damages when the legal requirements are met
- Recovery of attorney’s fees and litigation costs when available
- Negotiated settlement or severance compensation
- Corrections to employment or personnel records
- Changes to workplace policies, practices, or reporting procedures
- Training or other measures intended to address workplace harassment
- Other negotiated terms appropriate to your circumstances
Hire Samson to Be Your Gay Lawyer!
If someone at work crossed a sexual boundary, pressured you, or made you feel unsafe, you deserve to tell your story to someone who will actually listen. Samson Spiegelman offers unapologetically queer, progressive, trauma-informed advocacy for sexual harassment cases, helping workers understand their rights without losing sight of the person behind the legal claim.
Spiegelman Law works on contingency, so we only get paid if you do. That helps give you a fairer chance when you’re up against an employer with far more money and resources to fight with. You don’t have to decide whether what happened was legally sexual harassment on your own. Contact Samson today for a case review and tell us what happened.
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