In The New York Times, Professor Minna Kotkin Offers Tips on How to Deal with Workplace Sexual Harassment

Professor Minna Kotkin was quoted along with other national legal experts in a New York Times article offering guidance on what to do when faced with workplace sexual harassment.

“Write down everything and put everything in writing,” said Kotkin. “You don’t just go and talk to H.R.”

Kotkin also advised that freelancers facing harassment should carefully check Department of Labor guidelines about independent contractors to determine their legal status. “If you’re called an independent contractor but you’re sitting in a company’s offices and using their computers, you’re not and you can bring an action,” she said.

In a recent op-ed that appeared in The Washington Post, Kotkin highlighted the ways in which harassment cases involving high-profile figures such as Harvey Weinstein, Bill O’Reilly, and Roger Ailes shed light on the much larger issue of how confidentiality agreements and other legal maneuvers keep this conduct under the radar and perpetuate the problem. She was also quoted in The Washington Post article about the role of nondisclosure agreements in sexual harassment cases.

Kotkin is the director of the Law School’s Employment Law Clinic and teaches New York Civil Practice. She has written and lectured extensively on issues of employment discrimination and clinical legal education.

When You Experience Sexual Harassment at Work, The New York Times, Nov. 10, 2017