Lawyer Monthly Magazine - November 2019 Edition

Indeed, by embracing your role as an educator regarding the pernicious and pervasive nature of sexual harassment/ assault in the American workplace, you will be better able to contextualize and explain your client’s actions in the workplace especially with respect to conduct that a fact finder may consider inconsistent with a victim’s story: • Why did your client endure the harassment for such a long period of time? Perhaps because she feared retaliation or was under the influence of a serial predator. • Why did your client appear to voluntarily acquiesce to specific sexual acts? Perhaps because she was threatened with career stagnation or termination or because the predator targeted his prey carefully and chose a victim who, because of her background, was less likely to fight back. • If harassment was so bad, why didn’t your client quit? Perhaps because she has experienced the same sexist boorish behavior from her male colleagues in the last five jobs she has held or because she is the main source of income for her family. • Why did your client fail to complain or delay her reporting of the harassment to human resources or management? Perhaps because nothing was done when she did so previously or she feared retaliation. • Why did your client fail to confide in her spouse or partner about the sexual harassment or assault? Perhaps because she was ashamed to admit that she was powerless to stop it or because she feared being forever labeled as the victim or because she feared the reaction of her spouse or partner. LM PARISIS G. FILIPPATOS Parisis G. (Gerry) Filippatos, a seasoned and versatile New York City employment discrimination attorney, is a Partner at Phillips & Associates and manages our White Plains Office. Mr. Filippatos is dedicated to representing individuals across the corporate spectrum in all types of workplace disputes, with a particular emphasis on litigating gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and retaliation/ whistleblower cases against financial services and Fortune 500 companies, as well as negotiating executive compensation/ employment contracts and severance agreements. Mr. Filippatos has litigated labor and employment cases for over 28 years and has represented thousands of individuals and numerous companies on myriad matters involving employment discrimination, retaliation and harassment based on race, sex, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity; separation and severance agreements; executive compensation contracts; restrictive covenants; workplace investigations; and whistleblower and regulatory non-compliance claims. He has handled claims based on Title VII, ADA, ADEA, FMLA, Sarbanes Oxley andDodd Frank. Starting as an NYC Assistant Corporation Counsel, then in private practice, first as a management-side attorney, and later as an employee advocate, Mr. Filippatos has encountered employment disputes from truly varied perspectives, including as a principal litigator on a landmark glass ceiling case against Morgan Stanley, Inc., in 2004. Mr. Filippatos was born and raised in New York City, migrating along the Hudson from Hell’s Kitchen to the Upper Westside, to Riverdale, before settling in Pleasantville, New York. Mr. Filippatos studied Political Science at Columbia University, where he obtained his B.A., cum laude, with departmental honors, in 1988. Mr. Filippatos attended Boston College Law School, receiving his Juris Doctorate in 1991. Mr. Filippatos was a founding partner at another large plaintiff’s employment law firm in New York before opening his own firm in 2004. Immediately before joining Phillips & Associates, Mr. Filippatos was in-house counsel to a jointly trusteed labor-management organization where he advised on strategic issues such as regulatory compliance and organizational structure, while also teaching government and labor studies to union apprentices. Mr. Filippatos has lectured and published with the National Employment Lawyers Association, the American Conference Institute, the American Bar Association, and the Practicing Law Institute, on various topics in labor and employment law, including reductions in force; whistleblower protection; discrimination and retaliation claims; family and medical leave; violence and harassment in the workplace; case assessment; litigation tactics and strategies; EEOC, DOL and SEC administrative procedures; diversity training; and legal ethics. He is a member of the ABA, NELA and NELA/NY. He is fluent in Modern Greek. Professional Excellence By Parisis G. Filippatos & Danielle M. Patterson, Phillips & Associates 72 WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM | NOV 2019 CHANGES IN HR POLICY AND PROCEDURE While the overall employer response to the #MeToo movement resulted in a careful review and critique of current policies and the implementing of new ones, here are some supplemental helpful tips to employees and employers to ensure that the work environment is protected from incidents of sexual harassment against women: Employees—ask for training: A starting point is learning what it means to suffer from a hostile work environment because of sexual harassment. Ask for educational resources from your employer, in order to protect yourself from being either the victim or perpetrator of sexual harassment. If you work for a New York employer, it is now required by law for employers to regularly provide sexual harassment training. Employers—ensure that HR personnel are well-equipped to better manage instances of sexual harassment and a hostile work environment: Long gone are the days of the “One- Man-Show Human Resources Department.” Employers are now wising up and working to ensure that their HR teams are vast and knowledgeable of the law, and that they are collaborating with in-house counsel or external law firms that specialize in employment matters on issues pertaining to sexual harassment in the workplace.