Date: November 22, 2011
King 5 Seattle News spoke with TELG Principal R. Scott Oswald about workplace harassment in the midst of the Herman Cain sexual harassment scandal.
Quoteworthy:
"Commenting on someone’s attractiveness, their size, etc. is demeaning."
R. Scott Oswald
[TRANSCRIPT]
TELG Principal Attorney R. Scott Oswald Interviewed by King 5 Seattle News on the Herman Cain Sexual Harassment Scandal
(Transcribed by The Employment Law Group)
Voiceover: Number one at five. King 5 News starts now.
King 5 News Anchor: One of the women who accused Herman Cain of sexual harassment may soon tell her side of the story as a presidential candidate faces new allegations. As King 5’s Mimi Jung reports, this could be a wake-up call about how easy sexual harassment can happen in the workplace.
Herman Cain: Excuse me, excuse me.
Mimi Jung (Reporter): Herman Cain avoiding questions about the latest allegations from a third woman who claims he made unwanted sexual advances as the former CEO of the National Restaurant Association.
Cain: That is the D.C. culture: guilty until proven innocent.
Jung: Today, Cain linked his ordeal over sexual accusations to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in 1991, doing an interview with Thomas’ conservative activist wife, Virginia.
Mark Block: I would challenge anybody that has these statements to be made to come forward with the person making the statements. Face Mr. Cain.
Jung: One of Cain’s accusers does want to talk publicly, and tomorrow, the restaurant association might release her statement. The Cain campaign saga might have managers thinking twice about their behavior in the workplace.
R. Scott Oswald:Commenting on someone’s attractiveness, their size, etc. is demeaning.
Jung: Scott Oswald, an employment lawyer who often deals with sexual harassment cases, says these days, managers are a lot more careful about what they say or do.
Oswald: Corporations have done a much better job of training their employees on what is appropriate in the workplace and what isn’t appropriate in the workplace. So, there’s much less of the kind of banter type harassment situations now than there were 10 years ago.
Jung: Little did Herman Cain know that what happened more than a decade ago while he was head of a big corporation could ultimately threaten his dreams of winning the presidency.
Mimi Jung, King 5 News.
King 5 News Anchor: If the restaurant association releases a statement by Cain’s accuser, it could detail for the first time what the presidential candidate did a dozen years ago that prompted a financial settlement.
