Hari C

Both women and men marched in Los Angeles on Sunday to protest sexual assault and harassment, inspired by a social media campaign that has exposed the extent of such abuse in everyday life.

As stated in The Guardian, the #MeToo march along Sunset Boulevard follows a relentless series of accusations by men and women who say they were victimized by high-powered figures in the entertainment industry.

Harvey Weinstein, Hollywood film producer and comedian Louis CK are among the most prominent people to have been accused of sexual harassment.

According to The Guardian, the #MeToo social media movement began after a call to action by the actor Alyssa Milano, one of Weinstein’s most vocal critics, who wrote: “If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote ‘Me too’ as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem.”

Oscar-winning producer, Cathy Schulman points out the problem of sexual harassment goes beyond Hollywood and addresses those in the media saying, “What we do matters. If we can see images of real diverse people — people everywhere will learn and understand one another a little better. Demand to see what you want to see and protect women from prejudice and abuse so they can take back the workplace.”

Senator Jack Latvala was removed Monday of his powerful role as chairman of the Senate Budget Chief during an investigation into allegations that he sexually harassed six women.

As mentioned in Tampa Bay Times, Senate President Joe Negron announced that Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, will take Latvala’s place as budget chairman.

Latvala denies ever sexually harassing anyone, and told Politico that in the 16 years of his career he has “never had a complaint filed against” him.

Facebook is facing a class-action lawsuit from a former manager claiming the social network deliberately misclassified its employees to avoid paying them overtime.

As mentioned in Ars Technica, Susie Bigger alleges that she and countless other Facebook workers are illegally classified as managers as part of “defendant’s scheme to deprive them of overtime compensation.”

According to the lawsuit, the primary duties of the different titled positions are nearly identical. Their duties “involve communicating with existing Facebook advertising customers, implementing their marketing plans, and selling Facebook marketing products and services to existing customers.” The suit says a “large percentage” of their compensation comes from “commissions from the sale of Facebook’s marketing products.”

The lawsuit explains these positions don’t constitute management jobs. “Management positions lawfully enable companies to withhold overtime pay, which is one and one-half times regular pay—after an employee works 40 hours in a week.”

Attorney Gloria Allred has introduced a fourth woman alleging that Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted her after her repeated refusals.

Deadline reports, the actress Natassia Malthe, “described an incident at a London hotel in 2008, in which she was awakened in the middle of the night by Weinstein’s pounding on her door. “When I opened the door, he barged into the room,” and mentions “she did not want to have any kind of sexual relationship with him, he assaulted her against her will.”

She recalls playing “dead” during the assault.

“Hollywood men should not be allowed to force women to gratify them sexually,” Malthe added.

Weinstein denies the allegations and insists that the sexual relationships he had with any of the women were consensual.

“Treat all women like you would treat Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson,” advises blogger Anne Victoria Clark after the New York Times reported that men are becoming less likely to mentor females in attempt to rule out any accusations of sexual harassment.

“Are you a man confused on how to treat the woman you work with? Do you feel like if you can’t say or do *anything* you don’t know what to say or at all?” Clark asks in Medium blog. “Well stress no more! This life hack will have you treating women like people in no time.”

Clark advises that men should close their eyes when grabbing coffee, having a one-on-one meeting or having after-work drinks with female colleagues who they might find attractive and instead think of Johnson.

Johnson himself approves the technique and suggests that “when you men approach woman, just think of me.”

Four female journalists have filed a pay discrimination lawsuit against the Detroit Free Press.

Former and current staff members allege they have been underpaid despite doing the same work and being just as qualified.

According to Fox 2 Detroit, the highly skilled and talented women have been awarded and recognized for their work at the paper that in some cases, dates back to the 1980s.

Labor and civil rights attorney Deborah Gordon, says the four female journalists went to their newspaper guild and complained about the difference in pay when it comes to how much men and women make.

“For example, for all assistant editors – the same job title, the same job responsibilities – the median wage for men is $7.65 more,” Gordon said. “We know that for photographers – same job duties – the median wage is $4 more or higher.”

Gordon claims the union brought the pay discrepancies to the Free Press and its parent company Gannett last year, and the paper did not take action.

Photographers Kathleen Galligan, Mary Schroeder, Rose Ann McKean and Regina Bone feel they had no choice but to file a federal lawsuit – under the equal pay act.

Banana Republic has been accused of being discriminatory to one of its employees, a black woman named Destiny Tompkinshas after her manager would not schedule her for more shifts unless she removed her braids, which he described as “too urban and unkempt.”

As mentioned in NY Daily News, Tompkins posted to Facebook about the encounter at the Westchester Mall store, saying that after a visit from the district manager, who was white, the store manager, also white, told Tompkins she had to remove her braids.

The University of Louisville Athletic Association’s board voted to begin the process to terminate fame coach Rick Pitino “for cause.”

Pitino was placed on unpaid administrative leave last week after he was tied to an alleged scheme to funnel $100,000 to the family of five-star recruit Brian Bowen Jr. with cash arranged by Adidas executive Jim Gatto.

“The board requested of me and authorized me to initiate the process to terminate for cause, as defined in Coach Pitino’s employment contract,” interim president Greg Postel said after the athletic association board’s meeting.

As mentioned in NBC Sports, following an FBI crackdown into college basketball corruption last week, Pitino was placed on unpaid administrative leave after he was allegedly tied to a plan to bring McDonald’s All-American Brian Bowen to Louisville using $100,000 with cash coming from adidas executive Jim Gatto.

According to WDRB.com, attorneys for Pitino officially served a breach of contract notice to Louisville on Monday. Since the school believes it is firing Pitino for cause while only paying for 10 days of additional salary, Pitino is going for a lot more money.

West New York settled a lawsuit against the town, Mayor Felix Roque, and the current Bayonne Business Administrator Joe DeMarco for $150,000, according to the settlement agreement.

The settlement ends a complaint filed more than two years ago by Lazara Martinez, an accountant for the North Hudson town.

According to the Jersey Journal, the complaint alleged that DeMarco, who previously worked as an administrator in West New York, discriminated against her by denying her a raise because of her age. She was 68 when she filed the suit.

The lawsuit also alleged that the Roque administration penalized her for her lack of political support and that Roque’s unwritten policy was to “reward his political supporters while punishing his political enemies.”

The lawsuit alleged DeMarco favored “younger female employees” and “created a culture of sexism not different from the popular television show ‘Mad Men,’ a show depicting advertising men treating women as sex objects during the 1950’s.”

Former manager of a Florida Whataburger restaurant filed an EEOC complaint alleging the restaurant violated the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination because of race.

According to USA Today, Vanessa Burrous alleged she was retaliated against and forced to resign because she would not carry out racially discriminatory hiring practices from higher-ups. Her allegations are contained in a federal lawsuit filed Friday by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the Texas-based fast-food chain.

The restaurant’s general manager is accused of pressuring Burrous, who is white, to hire white employees but not black ones, according to the lawsuit, Among other things, the general manager, Johanna Risk, directed her to review applications and only interview applicants who had white-sounding names.

In April 2015, Burrous conducted interviews of applicants and hired eight crew members, seven of whom were black. That “infuriated” Risk and intensified her anger against Burrous, leading to repeated reprimands against her, the EEOC’s lawsuit contends.