Disclosure

"Even so, one-fourth of all sexual harassment cases are brought by men. Most of those are brought against male bosses, but one-fifth are brought against women. And the number is increasing all the time, as we have more women bosses in the workplace."

"I didn’t know that."

"It isn’t much discussed," she said, peering over her glasses. "But it’s happening. And from my point of view, it’s to be expected."

"Why do you say that?"

"Harassment is about power-the undue exercise of power by a superior over a subordinate. I know there’s a fashionable point of view that says women are fundamentally different from men, and that women would never harass an employee. But from where I sit, I’ve seen it all. I’ve seen and heard everything that you can imagine and a lot that you wouldn’t believe if I told you. That gives me another perspective.

Personally, I don’t deal much in theory. I have to deal with the facts. And on the basis of facts, I don’t see much difference in the behavior of men and women. At least, nothing that you can rely on."

"Then you believe my story?"

"Whether I believe you is not at issue. What’s at issue is whether you realistically have a case, and therefore what you should do in your circumstances. I can tell you that I’ve heard it all before. You’re not the first man I’ve been asked to represent, you know."

"What do you advise me to do?"

"I can’t advise you," Fernandez said briskly. "The decision you face is much too difficult. I can only lay out the situation." She pushed her intercom button. "Bob, tell Richard and Eileen to bring the car around. I’ll meet them in front of the building." She turned back to Sanders.

"Let me review your problems," she said. She ticked them off on her fingers. "One: you claim that you got into an intimate situation with a younger, very attractive woman but you turned her down. In the absence of witnesses or corroborating evidence, that isn’t going to be an easy story to sell to a jury.

"Two: if you bring a lawsuit, the company will fire you. You’re looking at three years before you come to trial. You have to think about how you’ll support yourself during that time, about how you’ll make your house payments, and your other expenses. I might take you on a contingency basis, but you’ll still have to pay all direct costs throughout the trial. That will be a minimum of one hundred thousand dollars. I don’t know whether you’ll want to mortgage your house to pay for it. But it has to be dealt with.

"Three: a lawsuit will bring all this out into the open. It’ll be in the papers and on the evening news for years before the trial begins. I can’t adequately describe how destructive an experience that is-for you, and for your wife and family. Many families don’t survive the pre-trial period intact. There are divorces, suicides, illnesses. It’s very difficult.

"Four: because of the offer of lateral transfer, it’s not clear what we can claim as damages. The company will claim that you have no case, and we’ll have to fight it. But even with a stunning victory, you may end up with only a couple of hundred thousand dollars after expenses and fees and three years of your life. And of course the company can appeal, delaying payment further.

"Five: if you bring a lawsuit, you’ll never work in this industry again.

I know it’s not supposed to work that way, but as a practical matter,

"I’11 never be hired for another That’s how it goes. It would you be one thing if you were fifty-five. But you’re only forty-one. I don’t know if you want to make that choice, at this point in your life."

"Jesus." He slumped back in the chair.

"I’m sorry, but these are the facts of litigation."

"But it’s so unjust."

She put on her raincoat. "Unfortunately, the law has nothing to do with justice, Mr. Sanders," she said. "It’s merely a method for dispute resolution." She snapped her briefcase shut and extended her hand. "I’m sorry, Mr. Sanders. I wish it were different. Please feel free to call me again if you have any further questions."

She hurried out of the office, leaving him sitting there. After a moment the assistant came in. "Can I do anything for you?"

Chapter 11

"No," Sanders said, shaking his head slowly. "No, I was just leaving."

In the car, driving to the courthouse, Louise Fernandez recounted Sanders’s story to the two junior lawyers traveling with her. One lawyer, a woman, said, "You don’t really believe him?"

"Who knows?" Fernandez said. "It was behind closed doors. There’s never a way to know."

The young woman shook her head. "I just can’t believe a woman would act that way. So aggressively."

"Why not?" Fernandez said. "Suppose this wasn’t a case of harassment. Suppose this was a question of implied promise between a man and a woman. The man claims that behind closed doors he was promised a big bonus, but the woman denies it. Would you assume that the man was lying because a woman wouldn’t act that way?"

"Not about that, no."

"In that situation, you’d think that anything was possible."

"But this isn’t a contract," the woman said. "This is sexual behavior."

"So you think women are unpredictable in their contractual arrangements, but stereotypical in their sexual arrangements?"

The woman said, "I don’t know if stereotypical is the word I’d use."

"You just said that you can’t believe a woman would act aggressively in sex. Isn’t that a stereotype?"

"Well, no," the woman said. "It’s not a stereotype, because it’s true. Women are different from men when it comes to sex."