Disclosure

"Were you in the middle of a call when she started kissing you?"

"Yes." "Whom were you talking to?"

"An answering machine." "I see." She was clearly disappointed. "Go on, please."

"So I went and got my phone and got the hell out of there.

She was screaming that I couldn’t do this to her, that she would kill me."

"And you responded how?"

"Nothing. I just left."

"And this was at what time?"

"About six forty-five."

"Did anybody see you leave?"

"The cleaning lady."

"Do you happen to know her name?"

"No."

"Ever seen her before?"

"No."

"Do you think she worked for your company?"

"She had a company uniform on. You know, for the maintenance firm that cleans up our offices."

"Uh-huh. And then?"

He shrugged. "I went home."

"Did you tell your wife what happened?"

"No."

"Did you tell anybody what happened?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I guess I was in shock."

She paused and looked back over her notes. "All right. You say you were sexually harassed. And you have described a very direct overture by this woman. Since she was your boss, I would have thought you’d feel yourself at some risk in turning her down."

"Well. I was concerned. Sure. But I mean, don’t I have the right to turn her down? Isn’t that what this is about?"

"Certainly you have that right. I’m asking about your state of mind."

"I was very upset."

"Yet you did not want to tell anybody what had happened? You did not want to share this upsetting experience with a colleague? A friend? A family member, perhaps a brother? Anybody at all?"

"No. It didn’t even occur to me. I didn’t know how to deal with what- I guess I was in shock. I just wanted it to go away. I wanted to think it had never happened."

"Did you make any notes?"

"No."

"All right. Now, you mentioned that you didn’t tell your wife. Would you say you concealed it from your wife?"

He hesitated. "Yes."

"Do you often conceal things from her?"

"No. But in this instance, you know, involving an old girlfriend, I didn’t think she would be sympathetic. I didn’t want to deal with her about this."

"Have you had other affairs?"

"This wasn’t an affair."

"I’m asking a general question. In terms of your relationship to your wife."

"No. I haven’t had affairs."

"All right. I advise you to tell your wife at once. Make a full and complete disclosure. Because I promise you that she will find out, if she hasn’t done so already. However difficult it may be to tell her, your best chance to preserve your relationship is to be completely honest with her."

"Okay."

"Now, going back to last night. What happened next?"

"Meredith Johnson called the house and spoke to my wife."

Fernandez’s eyebrows went up. "I see. Did you expect that to happen?"

"God, no. It scared the hell out of me. But apparently she was friendly, and just called to say that the morning meeting was rescheduled for eight-thirty. Today."

"1 see."

"But when I got to work today, I found that the meeting had actually been scheduled for eight."

"So you arrived late, and were embarrassed, and so on."

"Yes."

"And you believe that it was a setup."

"Yes."

Fernandez glanced at her watch. "I’m afraid I’m running out of time. Bring me up to date about what happened today quickly, if you can."

Without mentioning Conley-White, he described the morning meeting briefly and his subsequent humiliation. His argument with Meredith. His conversation with Phil Blackburn. The offer of a lateral transfer. The fact that the transfer would deny him the benefits of a possible spin-off. His decision to seek advice.

Fernandez asked few questions and wrote steadily. Finally, she pushed the yellow pad aside.

"All right. I think I have enough to get the picture. You’re feeling slighted and ignored. And your question is, do you have a harassment case?"

"Yes," he said, nodding.

"Well. Arguably you do. It’s a jury case, and we don’t know what would happen if we went to trial. But based on what you have told me here, I have to advise you that your case is not strong."

Sanders felt stunned. `Jesus."

"I don’t make the law. I’m just telling you frankly, so you can arrive at an informed decision. Your situation is not good, Mr. Sanders."

Fernandez pushed back from her desk and began to stuff papers into her briefcase. "I have five minutes, but let me review for you what sexual harassment actually is, under the law, because many clients aren’t clear about it. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 made sex discrimination in the workplace illegal, but as a practical matter what we call sexual harassment was not defined for many years. Since the middle nineteen-eighties, the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission has, under Title VII, produced guidelines to define sexual harassment. In the last few years, these EEOC guidelines have been further clarified by case law. So the definitions are quite explicit. According to the law, for a complaint to qualify as sexual harassment, the behavior must contain three elements. First, it must be sexual. That means, for example, that making a profane or scatological joke is not sexual harassment, even though a listener may find it offensive. The conduct must be sexual in nature. In your case, there’s no doubt about the explicitly sexual element, from what you have told me."