Blog
Saturday, April 03, 2010
Jesse James’ Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Returns to Haunt Him
Among the many skeletons tumbling out of Jesse James’ closet after his marital troubles, has been an old sexual harassment lawsuit filed back during the last decade. The lawsuit was filed in April 2000, by a former employee Deann McClung and alleges that James made offensive physical contact with her while she was working for him at West Coast Choppers.
According to court records, James went on to countersue McClung, but the two lawsuits were dismissed in 2001. It is highly likely that an out-of-court settlement was reached. According to McClung, she was hired by the motorcycle shop in 1999, but was terminated once she made the allegations of harassment against James. That termination came less than a year after she began working at the shop. According to the lawsuit, James made several sexual propositions and made lewd comments aimed at her in the workplace.
James is hardly the very first celebrity to be accused of sexual harassment. Last year, late-night comedian David Letterman was at the center of a raging controversy after he admitted that he had had several affairs with female employees. The affairs only came to light when Letterman was forced to come clean about the affairs after he was blackmailed.
It also raised questions about whether Letterman exposed himself and the folks at CBS to sexual harassment lawsuits, as a result of those affairs with female employees.
Unfortunately, what seems like a romantic relationship to a male superior is very often far from it for the female employee who is the object of these attentions. It’s very likely that female employees in lower positions feel the pressure to go along with the relationship because of their anxieties about their jobs. California sexual harassment lawyers had raised those questions after Letterman went public about his affairs. How much were these really “affairs” and how much was it a case of female employees being afraid to refuse the attentions of the boss, especially in a highly competitive world like late-night comedy, where women rarely, if ever, make a mark.