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This is a story to warm your heart this holiday season. It's a story
of a sister who cared enough to combat injustice publicly. It's a
lesson in how to answer the question "So what are we going to do about
it?" by giving those responsible for the injustice some serious
heartburn. It's a tale of hanging in there long enough to be effective
in fomenting the change that's needed to bring about fairness and
justice.
Rebekah Spicuglia is media manager at the Women's Media Center
(full disclosure-I'm on the WMC board and that's how I heard about
this). Furious that her sister had been sexually harassed repeatedly,
yet repeatedly disregarded by mangement when she reported it, Rebekah
decided to tell the world about it in the Huffington Post Tuesday:
When my sister, Rachel Spicuglia, a five-year employee of Chili's
Restaurant (owned by Brinker International), reported to her manager
the escalating sexual harassment she was receiving from the cooks,
which had culminated in an assault that morning in the walk-in
refrigerator, the manager asked Rachel if the offending employee had
gotten a "full cup" when he had grabbed her breasts...Rachel ended up taking a leave of absence, filing EEOC Charge of
Discrimination on August 12, but she continued to work with Chili's to
arrange transfer to another store. The transfer was approved, but
Rachel's calls to the store manager were never returned, and on
December 9, Rachel received a letter from her health insurance, saying
that her medical benefits were denied, due to the fact that she was
terminated from her job...Apparently, Chili's was unable to fire Rachel
during her leave of absence, but under Georgia law, unlike other
states, you can suffer sexual harassment and be fired.
So Rachel, an exemplary employee who had received many awards from
the company and recognition from her colleagues, lost her job while the
cooks who harassed her went unscathed. She understood her
responsibility to report the harassment and began telling her boss last
spring when the first incidents occurred. But it turned out not to be
so simple or straightforward when her managers failed to take the
appropriate steps.
Rachel's lawyer, Steve Mixon, notes: "You can't just sue. You have
to go through the EEOC [Equal Employment Opportunity Commission], which
can take a month, or multiple months to have an investigator assign to
your case." Mixon noted that it is in the interests of the employer -
in this case Brinker International - to procrastinate, as many
witnesses who might be willing to come forward are transient due to
typical staff turnover in the service industry.This is a direct result of the slashing of EEOC budget under the
Bush Administration, which lacks the funds and staff it needs to
protect women like Rachel. It has not only been under a hiring freeze
since 2001, it has dramatically cut staff, most of them in enforcement.
There are a mere 5 investigators covering the entire state of Georgia,
as well as large portions of South Carolina. Needless to say there is a
backlog of thousands of cases. Potential new cases are put off by the
difficulty of filing, and often they are told to return or call back at
a later time, because there is no one to do the intake.
In that scenario, women often become doubly victimized: first when
the harassment occurs and then when the system that should protect them
not only fails to do so but actually treats them as though they are the
troublemakers.
They say that sunlight is the best disinfectant. So when the powers
that be didn't respond properly, Rebekah decided to try dragging the
facts out into the bright lights of the public square--the virtual
square of the blogosphere in this instance. Within a few hours, the
post received dozens of comments, most of them from people hot under
the collar with Chili's. Then she did something else that made all the
difference: she gave readers a simple but concrete way to take direct action by telling Brinker's what they thought about the situation. (Take a moment to click that link now.)
Pretty soon, someone using the moniker BrinkerSpokeswoman posted this:
In response to the article concerning Rachel, several important
facts warrant clarification which could have been accomplished by
contacting our media relations team prior to publishing the story.
Rachel has not been terminated and remains a full-time team member at
Chili's. We apologize for any confusion which arose from her
interaction with one of our benefit providers. We are working with that
provider to clarify her continued employment at Chili's. Just as
important, Brinker does not condone sexual harassment or retaliation
and has strict policies and procedures in place for dealing with such
claims. We work to train all team members on this issue to create a
greater understanding of its effect and consequences.
Rachel has her job
