Does Getting a Massage Open You Up to Sexual Harassment?
While it might sound a bit absurd, this is what an attorney suggested in court filings from a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against Massage Envy.
Many details from the sexual harassment cases involving Massage Envy are surfacing only to reveal that the company may not have acted accordingly when clients reported they were sexually assaulted during their massage. Instead, Massage Envy may have attempted to cover their tracks as nearly 180 women reported they were raped by an employee of the establishment, yet the company failed to take these complaints seriously and work with law enforcement. The company didn’t even take the initiative to fire massage therapists either, according to the Miami New Times.
The Miami New Times also reviewed court filings only to learn that “the company’s attorneys routinely blamed and harassed victims in court.” One attorney representing Massage Envy in a case dated back to December 2012 involving a Broward County, FL woman stated that “the woman should have known that getting a massage opened her up to sexual battery.” They accused her of acting in a negligent manner and contributed to the cause of injuries she filed in her lawsuit.
It was also discovered that cases lawyers representing the company for cases filed in Broward and Miami Dade County, FL “were callous to alleged victims, all while denying the company has any culpability in the assaults.” Aside from blaming these victims for being just that, a victim, attorneys went as far rehashing events from one incident that traumatized her and she felt as though she was being “revictimized” in court. Attorneys also demanded that one woman undergo a mental examination as they claimed they “needed to evaluate her condition.”
Perhaps if these incidents were presented to the public in today’s day and age, Massage Envy and the company’s representing attorneys wouldn’t have gotten away with such inappropriate behavior.
While it might be shocking to hear that the company took the approach that they did, these findings show how important it is that a person who is a victim of sexual misconduct obtain legal aid from a qualified sexual harassment attorney in Broward County.
The fact is, companies don’t want their name tarnished by cases filed against them and will often go above and beyond to prove they were not guilty of any wrongdoing. But, if you have ever been to a Massage Envy then you would know that you do have the option of receiving your massage partially clothed or with no clothes at all and perhaps many of the employees who were identified for engaging in acts of sexual misconduct took advantage of this.
Just because someone decides to get a massage, whether they are fully clothed or not doesn’t give a massage therapist the right to put their hands where they don’t belong. Therefore, if you were the victim of an act of sexual harassment, even if that act was an inappropriate comment, it is best you discuss this issue with a Broward County, FL sexual harassment lawyer immediately.
