For years, the news media has reported on high-profile celebrity stalking cases. Most recently, Paula Abdul's stalking case -- much like the countless other "celebrity stalking stories" -- has become an attention-grabbing headline. What saddens me is how many stalking cases are not reported by the media and far too often, the individuals and entities that are silently behind the scenes aiding and abetting stalkers and allowing for stalking crimes to continue have not been exposed-- at least not until now.
Employers sometimes act as the biggest aiders and abettors of stalkers in our nation. One example is Howard University. For almost 11 years now, Attorney Dawn V. Martin, a former Howard Law Professor, continues her endless court battle in Martin v. Howard University, while pursuing justice and equality for women stalked in their workplaces.
It never ceases to amaze me how the majority of stalking victims are blamed by those who employ them for the activities of a stalker. Far too often, victims of stalking crimes are made the "bad guy" by employers when in fact it is the criminal the stalker that needs to be persecuted -- not the victim who is simply working so that they may be able to support themselves and their families.
Today, employers may terminate a women who is simply "working while female" when she is stalked in the workplace. Millions of employers -- just like Howard University – face no repercussions for retaliation against women who are stalking victims. Unless the Supreme Court reconsiders Dawn Martin’s case, on January 9, 2009, the lower court decision, at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will stand. That decision allows employers to terminate women just because they are stalking victims -- even if the woman only encountered the stalker as a result of working for that employer!
For most reading this statement, upon first glance, it would probably seem impossible that this sort of injustice could be deemed as acceptable behavior, in 2008, in the U.S. a nation that is supposed to stand for justice for all; however, civil rights violations are continuing to prevail against women in the workplace and will continue unless our nation’s law makers change it. If the D.C. Circuit Court’s decision stands as the law of this land, women who simply are "working while female" will continue to face devastating consequence by stalkers in the workplace for years to come.
I first contacted Attorney Dawn V. Martin approximately seven months ago. During that short time, posting information about her case and receiving e-mails and calls from my readers about it, I have learned more than I expected. Women's rights in the workplace are being violated across the nation.
In particular, the presiding judge in Martin v. Howard, Judge Thomas F. Hogan, seems to have a not so hidden agenda to support Howard University at all costs-- even at the cost of millions of women and generations to come. For reasons that are equally unclear, the panel of three judges (two of them while retired or on “senior status”), rubber stamped Judge Hogan’s decision, never even addressing most of her arguments or the arguments of National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL), which filed an Amicus Curiae Brief (friend of the Court Brief), in the case. These Appellate judges, Judges Edwards, Henderson and Williams, designated the decision to be “unpublished.” (This was also the case in Crawford v. Nashville, anther sexual harassment and retaliation case now before the Supreme Court.) It appears that the panel hoped that this irrational decision would simply apply to Dawn Martin, to favor Howard University, and not be otherwise noticed; but the decision was, in fact, was published by the major reporting companies, LEXIS, WESTLAW and others, that independently publish court decisions, particularly on line. The case is therefore being cited as precedent for other cases.
It is vital that employers like Howard University take stalking in the workplace seriously and quit placing the blame on the innocent victims who want nothing more than to do their job and do their jobs well. I have been stalked in the workplace. I have been terminated because of a relentless, obsessed stalker more than once. I have no doubt that if it were not for Attorney Dawn V. Martin and her courage, I would not be as hopeful as I am today for a better New Year and for a brighter future regarding the rights of women in the workplace.
Today, on the eve of the New Year ahead, the thousands of readers of my blog have the opportunity to help be part of a brighter future. It doesn't require special skill, celebrity status or any training to pick up the phone or e-mail law makers today and request that they take workplace retaliation seriously in cases involving female stalking victims in the workplace.
Women just like us must do something -- and quickly. In these last ten days before the Supreme Court’s January 9, 2008 decision on Dawn Martin’s case, we need to voice our support everywhere we can – on the internet, to members of Congress, to women’s organizations, the U.S. Solicitor General at the Justice Department, the Attorney General, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and our federal and local civil rights Commissions and organizations. We also need to fight for federal legislation that will expressly prohibit employers from discriminating or retaliating against stalking victims. A model for this type of legislation is New York City Human Rights Law, Section 8-107.1(2), which specifically states:
“It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for an employer… to refuse to hire or employer or to bar or to discharge from employment, or to discriminate against an individual in the compensation or other terms, conditions, or privileges or employment because of the actual or perceived status of said individual as a victim of domestic violence, or as a victim of a sex offenses or stalking.”
We need to let the Supreme Court and Congress know that this issue is one of great national importance. No woman should have to choose between her job and her safety. It is not just about Dawn Martin – it is about all of us!
One Person Can Make a Difference!
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