Release: Lawyer for accuser Charlotte Bennett condemns Cuomo's remarks on sexual harassment charges he made at May 13, 2021 press conference in NYC. The 'remarks are jaw dropping.'
Text of May 13, 2021 press release from Debra Katz.
"Governor Cuomo's remarks are jaw dropping. For someone who signed the law defining sexual harassment in New York State, and who claims to have taken the state's mandated sexual harassment training every year despite Ms. Bennett's seeing someone else take it on his behalf, Gov. Cuomo continues to show an alarming degree of ignorance about what constitutes sexual harassment.
"The law is very clear on this. If an employer make unwelcome jokes, comments, asks probing questions of a sexual nature or makes unwanted sexual propositions -- which is exactly what Gov. Cuomo has already admitted to having directed toward my client, Charlotte Bennett -- that employer has violated New York State law. There is no gray area here.
"The Governor needs sexual harassment training, now≥ His studied ignorance is truly alarming."
According to the New York State Equal Employment Opportunity Handbook, sexual harassment is defined on page 12 as follows (emphasis added):
Actions that may constitute sexual harassment based upon a hostile work environment may include, but are not limited to, words, signs, jokes, pranks, intimidation or physical violence which are of a sexual nature, or which are directed at an individual because of that individual's sex. Sexual harassment also consists of any unwanted verbal or physical advances, sexually explicit derogatory statements or sexually discriminatory remarks made by someone which are offensive or objectionable to the recipient, which cause the recipient discomfort or humiliation, or which interfere with the recipient's job performance.