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Women, like men, want to do their work in peace, make money and advance their careers. Being subject to harassment, however, throws all of that asunder and makes work life unnecessarily difficult. It can also result in personal, public and legal issues for the person accused of doing the harassing. That fact was illustrated this week when a Florida Keys woman walked into a federal court and filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against a well-known restaurant owner.

The case has become very high-profile because the restaurant owner is also an Islamorada Village councilman who is pursuing a position on the Monroe Board of County Commissioners.

He is accused in the lawsuit of making unwanted sexual advances towards a woman in the workplace, including allegedly touching her inappropriately in front of customers and co-workers. That behavior, according to the lawsuit, occurred across a 10-month period while she was working as a server at the councilman’s restaurant, which is called Mangrove Mike’s Café and is located in Islamadora at mile marker 82.

The councilman denies all of the allegations that have been made against him in the lawsuit.

Those allegations, in addition to inappropriate touching, include inappropriate comments directed at the woman by the councilman both at work and on social media. Worse, according to the lawsuit, the councilman allegedly reduced the woman’s hours at the restaurant after she rejected his unsavory advances, eventually not scheduling her at all and leaving her with no financially viable option but to quit.

The councilman denies that too, saying that the entire lawsuit exists because the woman is angry about not having gotten sufficient hours to qualify for unemployment benefits from the state after she quit. Naturally, the “he said she said” contentions in play will need to be sorted out to resolve this sexual harassment lawsuit.

No one wants to be fired, or terminated, from their job. However, in some cases a firing may be perfectly legal despite the former employee’s unhappiness with it. In other cases, though, a firing may be a wrongful termination. When it is, the former employee can contact an attorney and pursue legal action. The result of that legal action could be the former employee getting their job back, receiving financial compensation or both.

It is important for employees and employers alike to understand what wrongful termination is. It is typically when an employee is fired in violation of the law, in violation of company policy or in violation of the employee’s contract.

A violation of the law often involves discrimination of some kind. Discrimination can be based on sex, race, age, or any number of other protected individual or group characteristics. Wrongful termination suits that involve discrimination often make headlines and have a seriously detrimental effect on the company that fired the employee.

Additional situations that can result in wrongful termination suits include employees getting fired for being whistleblowers or refusing to engage in illegal conduct requested by someone in their company. Another situation that can be considered wrongful termination is a supervisor renders a workplace situation unbearable, for example by harassment, and the employee leaves for that reason.

Wrongful termination suits that are based violations of company policy or violations of an employee’s contract are also important. An employment law attorney can review both the company’s policy and the former employee’s contract to find violations of either. Companies that have fired an employee in violation of policies and contracts can find themselves financially liable in addition to having to give the person their job back.

Banking professionals and their customers across Miami, Florida, were shocked by the recent revelation that the top banking regulator of Florida was suspended at the end of last week. The man, who had been the Commissioner of Florida’s Office of Financial Regulation, has been put on paid leave. He has been accused of harassment of an employee.

Because an investigation is ongoing, a spokesperson for the commissioner’s agency declined to comment. The commissioner also declined to comment when he was approached by the American Banker newspaper last weekend.

However, the press release issued by Florida’s chief financial officer (CFO) to announce the suspension included a redacted version of the complaint filed by the employee making the accusation. The complaint describes behavior that, according to the employee, created an unsafe work environment.

One incident alleged in the complaint says that the employee was going to lunch with the commissioner one day when the commissioner unexpectedly said that they should go to his condominium together. The pretext for doing so was to view renovations that were being done on the condominium. However, once they were there, the commissioner asked the employee to take their shoes off. This created an uncomfortable situation for the employee.

Later, when the employee and the commissioner got to the place they were going to have lunch, the commissioner made an inappropriate reference to his parents’ private lives. That was followed by yet another suggestion from the commissioner that they again go to his condominium together.

Additional instances of poor conduct were detailed in the complaint, with the employee saying that the poor conduct amounted to harassment and hindered the development of their career. Of course, all employees have a right to a harassment-free workplace and should learn about their legal rights if they are a victim of harassment from bosses or colleagues.