A Florida state senator has been accused of multiple sexual harassment and sexual misconduct violations by six different women. State Sen. Jack Latvala of Clearwater was accused of inappropriately touching multiple women and making demeaning comments regarding their bodies. The man was accused after he put his name into the mix for upcoming Florida governor’s race.

All of the man’s accusers have chosen to stay anonymous. The choice to remain anonymous is common for women who prefer to report their harassers but not to suffer negative career consequences as a result.

The accusers say that the state senator carried out his misconduct during a period of several years. The sexual harassment included nonconsensual touching of the women’s backsides and of other private body parts. The women claimed that the state senator’s behavior degraded them, and that the senator made comments about the size of their breasts and their weight.

One of the senator’s accusers claimed that the man would give her prolonged hugs while grunting in her ear. She said that the behavior humiliated her. One of the women said that she regularly hugs some senators, and kisses some on the cheeks, but that no one else — aside from Sen. Jack Latvala — has ever touched her in her bikini zones.

It’s clear that there is serious problem of sexual harassment in all areas of employment in the state of Florida. With each victimized employee who comes forward — as the eight women in this case have done — we bring more awareness to the problem of sexual harassment. Hopefully, in time, this behavior will become less and less common as harassers come to realize that they will be held legally accountable for their actions in court.

Source: Huffington Post, “Report: 6 Florida Women Accuse State Senator Of Sexual Harassment,” Doha Madani, Nov. 02, 2017

The importance of preventing discrimination in the workplace cannot be overstated. Smart managers and executives know that denying employees opportunities and a safe workplace is dangerous to those who experience and observe that behavior.

Federal and Florida state law recognizes several populations that are more likely to experience some sort of workplace discrimination or less access to services and opportunities. These populations include women, religious groups, racial or ethnic identities and age ranges.

A watchdog organization that rates corporate equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people downgraded a major retailer from its perfect score a year earlier. The suspension of a perfect score is only the second in the report’s 16-year history.

The U.S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) pointed to significant enforcement gaps in the corporation’s non-discrimination policy, specifically with regards to sex and gender identity. The rating organization referred to limits in their protection of transgender employees.

The complaints to the EEOC came from locations in Florida and North Carolina, where some controversial laws have also made some LGBT advocacy organizations bristle. Several corporations and sports organizations have pulled investments and operations out of North Carolina as a result of these trends.

Employment discrimination is intolerable in all industries, and it is illegal under federal and Florida statutes in all workplaces. This includes protections from retaliation against those who report harassment and discriminatory practices. An attorney may help victims of workplace discrimination find the right options to resolve these incidents, from mediation to civil action.

Source: Bloomberg, “Equality Score Suspended After Employee Complaints,” Jeff Green, Nov. 09, 2017

Starting a business isn’t easy, but thankfully there are a lot of top tips for small business owners out there that can help. From lean planning tips to tips on understanding the margins of your products and services, these helpful tips can save you a fortune. However, as a small business owner, you probably have some degree of liability when it comes to the operation of your entity, but the types of risks you face will vary broadly based on your particular line of work. Some types of business operations, among them food and beverage service establishments, expose you to a considerable degree of risk, but even businesses that do not seem overtly risky can get into trouble if someone files a lawsuit against them.

While you probably cannot foresee every potential lawsuit that comes your way, there are steps you can take to limit your liability as a business owner.

Business insurance
Getting business liability insurance is one of the widely adopted risk management methods. There are several liability insurance plans that cover the costs pertaining to property damage and liability claims. The most common types of liability insurance taken by small businesses are professional liability and general liability insurance. General liability insurance can protect your business against numerous lawsuits if your product or services cause or are been alleged to have caused injury or damage to others. Professional liability insurance can protect you and your business against claims arising from failure to meet professional expectations on services.

Choosing a business structure that minimizes liability

Certain types of business structures do more to protect your personal assets than others. In other words, if you want to make sure your home, car and what have you are not at risk should someone sue your business, consider establishing it as either an S corporation or a Limited Liability Company. Many small business owners opt for S corporations because they limit your personal liability, and they also offer a number of benefits come tax time. Others opt for LLCs, which are somewhat similar to S corporations but generally less complicated. This is also helpful when making the decision to close down your LLC, as there are fewer factors involved. Companies such as Click Dissolve and many more are there to help limited liability company owners when they decide to Dissolve a California LLC, or an LLC wherever they are. This makes the process a lot less complicated, matching the choice for why business owners choose an LLC in the first place.

Additional tips for minimizing liability

While establishing your business as an S corporation or an LLC from day one will limit your level of personal liability if someone sues your company, an S corporation or LLC only limits your liability for as long as you keep up with your annual paperwork and, if applicable, any renewal fees. Additionally, if you sign any contracts with your own name rather than your business name, this, too, exposes you to potential lawsuits, so it is wise to always sign contracts with your business name.

As a small business owner, you should also be ensuring your employee satisfaction to avoid further liability as a result of negligence to your staff. For this you need to be using a great HR system, so the employees feel like they are more in control and have greater benefits for their hard work. You could choose Gusto or Zenefits or any other good HR companies to supply your employees with the satisfaction they need to work hard and limit complaints within your company.

Owning your own business can be tremendously rewarding, but it also has inherent risks. Learning how to minimize those risks is essential for protecting yourself and your livelihood.

Florida employers can clean up even the most disgusting workplace environments that are fraught with sexual harassment by taking specific steps. This is not to say that the cleanup process will be easy, or that the people who are engaging in sexual harassment will be happy about it, but it’s definitely possible to make things right at your workplace again.

Not only is it possible to clean up sexual harassment, but it’s also the law. Employers who look the other way and don’t take action to create a safe and psychologically supportive working environment for their employees could be held liable in court.

Here are five steps that employers can take to prevent sexual harassment:

Create a clear and easy-to-understand sexual harassment policy: This policy will define what constitutes sexual harassment in simple terms. It will also state that the behavior will not be tolerated and it lays out the consequences that will happen for those who sexually harass others. It also describes the way that victims can report abuse and how complaints will be investigated.

Create a sexual harassment training plan: Every employee should be trained and reminded about sexual harassment at least once a year. Employers should offer example scenarios of what constitutes this behavior.

Stay on top of what’s happening: Talk with employees regularly to make sure they’re not being harassed and to give them the opportunity to speak up.

Encourage reporting: Employees should feel safe about coming forward. Employers should encourage employees to speak up and that their complaints will be confidential.

Investigate all complaints: Employers need to take the complaints of their employees seriously. By investigating every complaint thoroughly and taking action to stop the harassment and punish the harassers, employees will gain confidence that you have their back, and harassers will curb their toxic behavior.

Florida employees who are continually subjected to on-the-job sexual harassment do not have to rely on their employers to put the abuse to a stop. Harassed employees can seek legal assistance and pursue claims against their employers to hold them financially liable for damages caused by the abuse.

Source: FindLaw, “Preventing Sexual Harassment,” accessed Nov. 10, 2017

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) defines age discrimination through the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). This federal act offers protection from age-related discrimination to anyone who is 40 years of age or older.

It is important to note that the concept of age discrimination as per the EEOC applies to those being discriminated against for being older and not the other way around. In other words, an individual cannot, under federal law, be denied an employment opportunity or a specific rate of pay because of his or her advanced age. However, an individual could be unfairly treated on the job because he or she was younger.

Age discrimination under the ADEA is defined as the unfair treatment of employees because of their ages in relation to all aspects of employment, such as pay, promotion, firing, hiring, benefits, training, conditions of work or terms of employment. Age discrimination protections also protect people from age-related harassment. Harassment might involve:

• Derogatory comments about age.
• Frequent and repetitive teasing that is annoying, offensive and/or creates a hostile work situation.
• Comments about age that cause an employee to get fired.

Finally, age discrimination could also include a company policy that’s age-related and has a negative impact on individuals who are 40-plus.

Do you suspect that you’ve suffered negative career consequences because you were 40 years of age or over? You might be able to pursue an age discrimination lawsuit in court. If your lawsuit is successful, you could receive financial compensation for the damages you’ve suffered as a direct and proximate result of the discrimination.

Source: EEOC, “Age Discrimination,” accessed Nov. 03, 2017

A woman claims that her mentor at work started treating her differently after she joined a pro-Israel group. The professor, who taught at a college for over 10 years, claims that she was wrongfully terminated due to her support of Israel. She says that her mentor stopped taking her calls, dismissed her from teaching a special class she created and that she was eventually terminated from her job — and it all began after she became a pro-Israel activist.

Initially, when she received her dismissal notice, the professor was not informed why. According to Heritage Florida Jewish News, however, the University of Maryland sent various reasons for the dismissal by email and text message. The university claimed that the professor didn’t have the necessary experience and she was neglecting her professional responsibilities.

The professor believes that reason for her termination was because of her pro-Israel stance. She has since filed a Title IX complaint with the school, saying that she was unlawfully terminated based on national origin, religion and political views. “Once my involvement with Israel became political, that is when things started to change,” the woman said. The woman said that her mentor viewed her activism negatively, instructing her to remove an Israeli flag from her office and making disapproving comments about her Israeli activism activities.

Wrongful termination happens as a result of discrimination, national origin and political views frequently throughout the nation and in the state of Florida. This kind of unlawful terminationis wrong and unconscionable, and victims may be entitled to financial compensation relating to their injuries if they can prove their cases in court.

Source: Heritage Florida Jewish News, “Professor says she was fired for being pro-Israel,” Ben Sales, Oct. 06, 2017