More than half of women in the United States face some sort of workplace sexual harassment. Vicky Crawford was one of those women.

But when she revealed during an employer investigation that she was being harassed, Crawford was fired from her job of 30 years. Now she is the plaintiff in Crawford v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee (“Metro”), and it’s up to Supreme Court justices to determine whether and to what extent employees are protected from being penalized for cooperating with an employer’s internal investigation of discrimination.

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Crawford wasn’t protected. But the U.S. Supreme Court has an opportunity now to reverse this damaging ruling that thwarts Congress’ goal of eliminating discrimination in the workplace. While all employees will be harmed if the ruling is not overturned, women will be particularly at risk because the decision’s greatest impact will likely be on sexual harassment cases.

The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) submitted an amicus brief in the case on behalf of numerous women’s and civil rights organizations. The brief demonstrates that sexual harassment remains a pervasive problem in the workplace, and that employees must have full protection against retaliation if the problem is to be addressed. The brief is available here.

If the Supreme Court does not reverse this decision it is likely to increase the amount of workplace harassment that goes unreported, as well as to impede employers from doing the right thing by addressing it. It is of critical importance that the Supreme Court reject the unwarranted and overly narrow interpretation of the Sixth Circuit, and fully protect employees under Title VII’s anti-retaliation provision.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 12th, 2008 at 9:00 am and is filed under Politics .