What Should You Do If A Boss Or Co-Worker Makes Unwanted Sexual Advances?
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- New allegations of sexual harassment are surfacing against the now resigned University of Minnesota Athletic Director Norwood Teague.
On Sunday night, a Star Tribune sports reporter accused Teague of inappropriate sexual advances.
In an online story, Gopher basketball reporter Amelia Rayno described how Teague pursued her through text messages and even grabbed her two years ago.
Her account comes after two women who work for the University of Minnesota accused Teague of recently touching them inappropriately, and sending them graphic text messages.
It got people asking what they should do if a co-worker or boss makes unwanted sexual advances.
"I would say the most important first step anybody who endures this kind of treatment could do is to report it to a manager," said Michael Healey, a lawyer who specializes in employment.
He says it's important to know which manager in your workplace is responsible for handling harassment complaints, and to spend time documenting what happened.
"Create a paper trail," Healey said. "Email your manager to say, hey, this happened to me. John touched me in the kitchen, or whatever it might have been."
At the University of Minnesota, the women who made accusations against Teague provided text messages from him to support their claims.
"From an employer perspective, I would encourage and make sure all my employees know these things have a permanency to them and anything that is documented in email or texts can usually be retrieved later on," Healey said.
He added that men in powerful positions often think they can get away with things due to their standing within organizations.
But when it comes to sexual harassment at work, the law protects the victim.
"When management becomes aware and fails to correct a problem, that's when we can get into punitive damages," Healey said. "And that's where a jury in Minnesota is allowed to put down a huge monetary penalty on a corporation that's aware of and ignore sexual harassment claims."
In a statement last Friday when he resigned, Teague acknowledged wrongdoing, apologized and said he is getting help for issues with alcohol.
On Monday afternoon, Rayno wrote that she has received an outpouring of support from women across the country, since sharing her story.
She says readers are sharing tales that are emotional and heartbreaking.
