dr. pat issacs affidavit am law mock trial

executive director of ____

Working Women’s Research Center in Metropolitan

M.S. in ___

Industrial Psychology

PhD in ____

Psychology

Degrees from and work at _____

NYU

Book title

Sexuality in Employment: Romantic and Coercive Behaviors in the Office

Book was published in

1983

1987 article

Sexual Harassment, the Secret Oppression

1989 article

It’s No Joke - How Good Old Boys Keep Women in their Place

Amount of trials I’ve been expert witness in

50

Responsibilities at Working Womens Research Center

Supervising/training our staff of 3 psychologists+10 grad psych students AND overseeing/advising the graduate students and staff on research projects AND manage administrative matters of the center

Research focus

business-related stress problems, many which include sexual harassment and discrimination toward women in the workplace

Groups I have studied

women who have been harassed in the workplace AND men who engage in sexual harassment of women

Two types of harassment

Quid pro quo AND hostile environment

Quid pro quo harassment

the victim is requested or required to do a sexual favor as a condition of employment or in exchange for an employment benefit —> if the victim doesn’t comply she may suffer tangible employment consequences (decrease in pay or losing job)

hostile environment harassment

a situation where the victim is subjected to constant unwelcome sexual conduct in one or more forms. —> must be so severe as to create an abusive work environment —>irregular comments of a sexual nature that offend a person is NOT sexual harassment

years that studies of government offices here in empire county were done in

1981 and 1988

__% of the female government employees polled said that they have been victims of sexual harassment

42% (empire county stat)

my own studies show that sexual harassment in the workplace takes place in over ___% of all the offices I studied

83

Emotional symptoms of sexual harassment

low self-esteem, a feeling of powerlessness, fear, anger, nervousness, anxiety, decreased job satisfaction, diminished ambition, and depression

Physical symptoms of sexual harassment

headaches, nausea, weight change, backaches, and changes in sleep —>all stress related symptoms

“reasonable man’s” point of view

linked too closely with a workplace insensitive to women to be able to identify subtle forms of sexual harassment —> based on the male’s notion of what behavior should be like

“reasonable victim’s” point of view

can better address the significant delay women face in the workplace —> with this pov, emotional weaknesses and sensitivities of the victim are considered —> asks the judge/jury to imagine themselves as the victim

days the 2 one hour interviews with elyse roberts were done on

10/27 and 10/31

what elyse roberts described to me in her interviews

family history, work environment, the actions of her coworkers and supervisor and her resulting feelings

type of harassment i think elyse roberts is a victim of

hostile environment

results of elyse roberts sexual harassment

severe emotional distress —> low productivity and poor performances on the job were a result of the hostile environment

what made her condition worsen?

neither her supervisor nor her personnel director took any action to help her situation

“excellent” example of hostile environment sexual harassment

the displaying of pictures from the sports USA swimsuit issue —> deeply offended elyse and resulted in extreme emotional distress