U.S. Justice Department attorney Keisha Bell conducted interviews in early May with 12 Minneapolis Public Library workers whose sexual-harassment complaint was vindicated last year by the local office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which referred its finding of probable cause to DOJ. Bell’s recommendation will help determine whether DOJ will represent EEOC in suing the library on the workers’ behalf. If the agency declines, “we will pursue individual action,” plaintiff attorney Bob Halagan told American Libraries.
The complainants had maintained that patrons’ frequent display of sexually explicit images on Internet workstations had created a hostile work environment prior to the May 2000 revision of MPL’s Internet policy. Updated in January 2001, the new rules include a strict 60-minute time limit per user session for every six-hour period, the presentation of proper identification to use an online workstation, and the prohibition of “any activity that is deliberately offensive or creates an intimidating or hostile environment.”
Nonetheless, the general consensus among the complainants is that the revised policy hasn’t gone far enough. Halagan told AL that there’s a “significant amount of pornography finding its way into the library recently” and an ongoing concern among his clients about “inadequate security” to deal with the “abusive, violent, and predatory behaviors” that sometimes “accompany” the viewing of sexually explicit materials.
Posted May 27, 2002.