Comments on: Quid Pro Quo Harassment: Some of the saddest stories http://sexualharassmentsupport.org/blog/2009/08/14/quid-pro-quo-harassment/ Muses, ramblings, and vents on the sexual harassment issue Sun, 18 Jul 2010 14:45:53 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Jennifer, admin http://sexualharassmentsupport.org/blog/2009/08/14/quid-pro-quo-harassment/comment-page-1/#comment-8091 Jennifer, admin Tue, 12 Jan 2010 22:22:09 +0000 http://sexualharassmentsupport.org/blog/?p=639#comment-8091 This story presents a unique take on Quid pro quo. At least, I've never heard of it before. It's business-to-business sexual harassment. A woman in New Jersey who owns a tire company wants to sue a rental company when one of their branch managers cut off her business after she refused his sexual demands. "Eileen Totorello owns J.T.'s Tire Service, a South Plainfield, N.J., tire seller. She claims J.T. began doing business with the Piscataway branch of United Rentals North America, a national equipment rental company in 1998 and by 2007, sales had grown to about $29,000 per month. Totorello alleges that in 2005, United Rentals' branch manager Harold Hinkes began pressuring her for a sexual relationship and, when she refused, stopped buying her tires until she agreed to have lunch with him. After that, she claims, he continued to make advances periodically and withheld business when she declined them. Hinkes became more insistent in late 2007, groping and kissing Totorello against her will, and responded to her rejection by delaying payments to J.T and then ceasing doing business with it altogether, she alleges." United Rentals did not deny any of this. Their argument is that this was not discriminatory and that female business owners do not need protection from sexual harassment, and are not protected from it under discrimination law in New Jersey. The judge disagrees, and this woman has been given permission to proceed with her lawsuit. http://www.law.com/jsp/cc/PubArticleCC.jsp?id=1202437871667&BusinesstoBusiness_Sex_Harassment_NJ_Court_Says_Its_Real This story presents a unique take on Quid pro quo. At least, I’ve never heard of it before. It’s business-to-business sexual harassment.

A woman in New Jersey who owns a tire company wants to sue a rental company when one of their branch managers cut off her business after she refused his sexual demands.

“Eileen Totorello owns J.T.’s Tire Service, a South Plainfield, N.J., tire seller. She claims J.T. began doing business with the Piscataway branch of United Rentals North America, a national equipment rental company in 1998 and by 2007, sales had grown to about $29,000 per month.

Totorello alleges that in 2005, United Rentals’ branch manager Harold Hinkes began pressuring her for a sexual relationship and, when she refused, stopped buying her tires until she agreed to have lunch with him.

After that, she claims, he continued to make advances periodically and withheld business when she declined them.

Hinkes became more insistent in late 2007, groping and kissing Totorello against her will, and responded to her rejection by delaying payments to J.T and then ceasing doing business with it altogether, she alleges.”

United Rentals did not deny any of this. Their argument is that this was not discriminatory and that female business owners do not need protection from sexual harassment, and are not protected from it under discrimination law in New Jersey.

The judge disagrees, and this woman has been given permission to proceed with her lawsuit.

http://www.law.com/jsp/cc/PubArticleCC.jsp?id=1202437871667&BusinesstoBusiness_Sex_Harassment_NJ_Court_Says_Its_Real

]]> By: Speak Up! Blog » Archive » The Letterman affairs http://sexualharassmentsupport.org/blog/2009/08/14/quid-pro-quo-harassment/comment-page-1/#comment-6074 Speak Up! Blog » Archive » The Letterman affairs Fri, 09 Oct 2009 23:35:02 +0000 http://sexualharassmentsupport.org/blog/?p=639#comment-6074 [...] written about quid pro quo harassment already, and it sounds like the Letterman show had a culture of implied quid pro quo [...] [...] written about quid pro quo harassment already, and it sounds like the Letterman show had a culture of implied quid pro quo [...]

]]> By: VANGOGH http://sexualharassmentsupport.org/blog/2009/08/14/quid-pro-quo-harassment/comment-page-1/#comment-5600 VANGOGH Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:59:00 +0000 http://sexualharassmentsupport.org/blog/?p=639#comment-5600 I am glad that you posted this. This is some of the reason I struggled so hard when I was dealing with my SH experience. He was my production boss and even though I was directly under him I felt like he was an authority figure. I worked in sales and I call sales “legal prostitution” now because of my experience there. I felt like in order to keep my job I had to sale and in order to sale I had to deal with business owners and the business owners in my area assume that when they bought ads they in turn would get to cop a feel or more! (I think due to other women that work in sales have left a tainted legacy of “sales for sex”) I found out later that is a normal practice not an acceptable but accepted none the less? I felt threatened by his position and the fact that we were always under sales quota and in order to receive recognition and bonuses we had to sale but in order to sale we had to deal with SH? There were so many other things that went on in my head during that time I didn't know how to deal with it all. I just dealt with the best way I knew how. I am glad that you posted this. This is some of the reason I struggled so hard when I was dealing with my SH experience. He was my production boss and even though I was directly under him I felt like he was an authority figure. I worked in sales and I call sales “legal prostitution” now because of my experience there. I felt like in order to keep my job I had to sale and in order to sale I had to deal with business owners and the business owners in my area assume that when they bought ads they in turn would get to cop a feel or more! (I think due to other women that work in sales have left a tainted legacy of “sales for sex”) I found out later that is a normal practice not an acceptable but accepted none the less? I felt threatened by his position and the fact that we were always under sales quota and in order to receive recognition and bonuses we had to sale but in order to sale we had to deal with SH?
There were so many other things that went on in my head during that time I didn’t know how to deal with it all. I just dealt with the best way I knew how.

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