WHNetwork Blog

If you are a business owner, or even manager, this has got to be one of your worst fears. Someone files a sexual harassment claim against you. Now not only do you have legal trouble, but you envision your bank account and future going down the drain, while also having to deal with what others think, including your own family.

Yes, sexual harassment is real and there are good reasons for the laws that we have. It can damage, or even ruin, the lives of those who are affected. But what if it's not true?

I have to make it clear that most protestations of false allegations are most likely themselves false allegations. Many people who harass think there is nothing wrong with their conduct and that this which makes the accusation false. It does NOT. Also, a “false” allegation isn’t the same as “cannot be proven” which is the end result of many harassment investigations.

There are also many "misunderstandings" where someone misinterprets something or hears something other than what is really meant or being said.

I remember attending a sexual harassment prevention seminar years ago where a film clip was shown and then we were asked "Is the behavior you just saw sexual harassment?" There were about 40 people in the room. Every male said "no, it was not" and every female said "yes, it was." Hmmmm...

The following article just appeared in the San Louis Obispo Tribune. Who knows who is telling the truth or what really happened...

Dick Niner testifies that the sexual advances alleged by a former employee never happened
by Melanie Cleveland - mcleveland@thetribunenews.com - San Louis Obispo Tribune - http://www.sanluisobispo.com/183/story/647084.html

Winery owner Dick Niner testified Tuesday that sexual advances a former employee alleges he made to her never happened.

Niner’s wife, Pam Niner, also said that the former employee used her “feminine wiles” to advance in his Paso Robles-based company, and that the plaintiff acted in a “pandering” manner toward her husband when she visited the couple at their Wyoming home.

Niner, a Paso Robles winery owner and venture capitalist, is accused of making unwanted sexual advances to Tammi Herron, a former sales representative for his business.

Herron’s lawsuit also alleges that Pam Niner and Mike Musso, general manager for Niner Wine Estates, tried to force her out of her job when Pam Niner realized her husband had more than a professional interest in the employee.

Herron worked for Niner Wine Estates for four months before she resigned in November 2007.

Niner and his company deny the charges contained in the civil suit, a type of litigation that represents one side of a story.

Although he found her “attractive,” Niner said during testimony Tuesday that he never thought of her as anything more than an employee.

In Tuesday’s proceedings in San Luis Obispo Superior Court, Herron’s attorney Brian Osborne played a videotape to the jury of a deposition of Pam Niner. In it, she described Herron during her stay with the Niners in their Jackson Hole, Wyo. home as a “house guest from hell.”

Herron claimed in her original complaint that her work environment changed after she stayed as a guest in the Niners’ Wyoming home in August 2007.

Dick Niner paid for her and her children’s round-trip flights, sponsored Herron’s daughter at a Wyoming summer camp and offered Herron a place to stay for a week.

According to Pam Niner’s deposition, Herron “only spent time talking to Mr. Niner.” Herron’s behavior to her husband was “a lot of pandering … very supportive and comforting and bizarre.”

“He would be explaining business things, and she would say how brilliant he was. I thought it was absurd,” Pam Niner recalled.

Herron also spent “an inordinate amount of time in the bathroom” and “never lifted a finger” to help with household duties, Pam Niner added.

She also called Herron one of those women who “too often use their feminine wiles to get jobs and advancement. … (She is) much more interested in men who could do something for her than those who can’t.”

She denied having discussions with the general manager to pressure Herron to leave her job.

“I assumed that would take care of herself. ... I didn’t think she could do the job. It was clear she wouldn’t last long,” Pam Niner said.

When Dick Niner took the stand, he denied Herron’s allegation that he acted and said inappropriate things to her.

Herron claims Dick Niner told her he loved her while they were at the bar of the San Luis Obispo restaurant Koberl at Blue. She also contends he tried to negotiate to see her more frequently, and then later kissed her with an open mouth twice in her car as she dropped him off at the Niner Wine Estate office.

“The events (that she alleges) didn’t happen. … I’m loyal to my wife. I have been for 37 years,” he said.

The jury also listened to voicemail messages that Herron recorded from Dick Niner that she alleges took place after her resignation from the company. In them, Dick Niner expresses concern over her leaving the company and not returning his calls.

“I think I know what’s up,” he said at one point on the recording. “I think I know what you’re going to try to do, and that worries me even more.”

Dick Niner explained to the jury he was also worried she was building a case to sue the company — not from anything he said or did, but because she had received objectionable e-mails from his general manager, messages that he had requested she forward to him, but he had not yet received.

“I assumed she was upset at the way Musso was treating her,” he said.
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How do you keep yourself - and your company - safe?

-Margie