Workplace sexual harassment can have many intangible psychological and physical consequences, but survivors also face concrete financial costs in the near and long term, according to a new report.
Workplace sexual harassment can have many intangible psychological and physical consequences, but survivors also face concrete financial costs in the near and long term, according to a new report published nearly four years after the resurgence of the #MeToo movement.
“I had good health insurance for the time, good pay for the time, and I lost all of that, because of one guy,” said Sierra, a study participant who was fired from her customer service job after experiencing sexual harassment and retaliation. “ ‘I guess they saw me as a troublemaker, and that’s when I noticed my hours were starting to get so badly cut.’ ”
Her lifetime costs stemming from the harassment totaled $125,566, the report estimated, factoring in costs including lost lifetime salary and benefits, five years’ worth of medical costs and late fees on rent. Denise, 30, experienced seven months of unemployment for which she was unable to collect unemployment insurance, and then got a job as a private-sector bus driver with a lower salary, fewer benefits and no pension. If she stays in this job until retirement, her lost lifetime wages and benefits along with medical and psychiatric costs will exceed $1.3 million, the report estimated.