Harassment in the workplace: Five Portland employment lawyers on how businesses need to react

Markowitz Herbold employment attorney, Laura Salerno Owens, is interviewed by the Portland Business Journal about harassment in the workplace. 

As the #MeToo movement continues to unearth headline-grabbing workplace harassment cases, we asked several Portland-area employment lawyers for ways every business can help prevent harassment and react to claims in their offices.

Every day, it seems, a new revelation is unearthed outing the bad behavior of men in power.

These accusations of abuse — rattling the studios of Hollywood, the halls of Congress, the TV news desks of New York — have spawned the #MeToo movement, a rolling tide of once-silent abuse victims and their supporters that collectively this week were chosen as Time magazine's "Person of the Year."

But just because the headlines gripping the nation include big names from big places, you shouldn't think your office here in Oregon or S.W. Washington is free from the circumstances that lead to abuse.

To help you both avoid abuse in the workplace and properly handle accusations when they occur, we asked five Portland lawyers who specialize in either employment law generally or harassment claims specifically, to offer some tips for business owners. 

To read the entire article click here.

Originally published in the Dec. 8, 2017 Portland Business Journal.