Sophia worked as a part$-$time Aisle Person for Company XYZ$.$ She$$d

worked at the same Store for $5$ years. She spoke with an Italian accent. A

group of co$-$workers would tease her constantly about being Italian and

would call her names. She was self$-$conscious about this and would often

get very upset. She was also shy and as a result didn$$t make friends very

easily. She seldom went out on dates and her co$-$workers were aware of

this.

Often there was a particular $$group$$ of co$-$workers who would share lunch

break time with Sophia and would gather in the lunch room. They would

often tell Italian jokes when they saw Sophia entering the room. Sophia

would often hear them say $$Did you hear the one about the Italian who...?$$

They would then whisper and laugh while staring and pointing at her.

Sophia often burst into tears when this happened. She dreaded walking

past them each day when she took her lunch break.

One day Sophia, $($who was often teased about being a little overweight$),$

was eating her lunch when the $$group$$ asked her what she was eating. She

ignored them. One of the $$group$$ remarked $$If you keep eating all that Italian

food $$ you will really look like a fat mama$.$ Another of the $$group$$ said,

$$Don$$t you know all Italian women are fat mamas? It$$s all that pasta they

eat.$$ They started to snicker and Sophia took her lunch, threw it in the

garbage and walked out of the room.

Things did not get any better for her. She finally decided to speak to her

supervisor $($Grant$)$ about what had been going on$.$ She told Grant the

$$group$$ constantly made derogatory remarks about Italians to her and called

her names that hurt her. She started to cry while relating some of this to

Grant. Grant said, $$This kind of thing goes on in every Store $$ people

sometimes just don$$t get along. Just ignore it and it will stop. You are just

being over$-$emotional.$$ He did not investigate her complaints, nor did he talk

to anyone in the $$group$.$

Case Study $-$ Sophia

HR $120$

Shortly after her meeting with Grant, Sophia noticed her work was being

more carefully scrutinized. Grant conducted a job evaluation on her and

was very critical of her work performance, $($this had not happened before$).$

Sophia believed the poor appraisal and her being scrutinized was a result

of her having talked to Grant. She filed an official written complaint with the

Human Resources Department. Shortly after she filed the written complaint

she was informed her hours of work would be reduced. She believed this

was in retaliation for her filing a harassment complaint. Sophia didn$$t notice

any other part$-$time staff having their hours of work reduced $1.$ Did harassment occur? $(1)$

$2.$ If yes, what type of harassment? Explain & support your view.

If not, why not? Explain. $(2)$

$3.$ Did Sophia do everything she could to prevent or stop the situation and$/$or what should she have done? $(3)$

$$

$4.$ Did Grant and the employer handle the situation properly? If yes, explain.

If not, what could he have done differently? $(3)$