"Mothers don't play nice — they fight for what's right." Welcome to “Fight Like a Mother,” the podcast for people who've been wronged and need to know what to do next. Hosts Amy Carter and Heather Davis from Carter Law Group, a Texas-based firm focused on personal injury and employment discrimination, are legal moms and big sisters talking to real people, not other lawyers. In this episode, they introduce "Am I the Asshole?," a segment that will feature a different scenario each episode along with their motherly – and legal – perspective. Tune in to hear their insights about an anonymous writer on Reddit who was told that she had no case after being sexually assaulted at work. Spoiler: They’d take the case.
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Got screwed at work.
Wondering if you have a case?
Speaker:Lawyers Amy Carter and Heather Davis
break down the real life legal nightmares
Speaker:that make you say what the,
Speaker:because mothers don't play nice,
they fight for what's right.
Speaker:Hey everyone, welcome to
our inaugural podcast,
Speaker:Fight Like a Mother,
Speaker:the podcast.com where you go to
get motherly advice if your mom's a
Speaker:lawyer and maybe a little
unhinged. So with that opening,
Speaker:we should probably.
Speaker:Explain why we are we doing
our first day of filming on
Speaker:December 17th, 2025,
Speaker:which is also our holiday
firm's Christmas party.
Speaker:So we are all decked out in our
very ugly Christmas sweaters,
Speaker:although I love the
Grinch, so mine's cute.
Speaker:I bought mine last night because I don't
really own an ugly Christmas sweater,
Speaker:but I don't know about you guys, but
I don't love the holidays and so.
Speaker:I do.
Speaker:You'll learn that we are diametrically
opposed and lots of things and this is
Speaker:one of them. So anyway, welcome
to the inaugural podcast,
Speaker:which will be shown to you in January
and it's very on brand for us to be
Speaker:wearing Christmas sweaters and wishing
you a merry Christmas in January.
Speaker:We did have a moment where we were like,
Speaker:are we going to bring other clothes for
the podcast filming before the party?
Speaker:And we were like, you know what? I feel
like this is how it's supposed to be.
Speaker:And so this is how it will be.
Anyway, my name is Heather Davis.
Speaker:I am a partner and chief operating
officer at Carter Law Group,
Speaker:started by Amy Carter right here.
Speaker:And I am Amy Carter
and we're both lawyers,
Speaker:so that's part of our
qualifications for this.
Speaker:But I am the mother of two grown
children who are mostly productive
Speaker:adults. So I feel like
that's a good qualification.
Speaker:And Heather here is in the midst of, I do.
Speaker:I also am a lawyer. Spoiler alert,
Speaker:and I have three children
all under the age of 10.
Speaker:So I don't know if I would qualify them
as productive human or participants of
Speaker:society yet, but they're not. Well,
I was going to say they're not menas,
Speaker:but honestly,
Speaker:anyone who knows my children
might disagree with at
least two of them when I say
Speaker:that they're good people and they're fun
to have around and I love them dearly.
Speaker:They're.
Speaker:Great entertainment value.
They are, they're solid
entertainment value. Alright,
Speaker:so we haven't figured out
all the different ways that
things are going to work,
Speaker:but one of the things that we will be
doing on this podcast is talking about
Speaker:real legal issues and from the
perspective of moms and from the
Speaker:perspective of lawyers, from the
perspective of maybe overworked,
Speaker:unhinged people. So.
Speaker:That how this kind of came to be is Amy
and I obviously both work at Carter Law
Speaker:Group. We've worked here for years,
we've been in attorneys for years.
Speaker:I'm on my 11th year. I don't know if you
want to participate in that. I don't.
Speaker:Actually know. I was licensed
in 97, I graduated in 97.
Speaker:I was licensed in February of
98. I took the longer than 11.
Speaker:Years. It's.
Speaker:Really been a long.
Speaker:Time. So we celebrated our sixth
anniversary this year, which was great.
Speaker:And we do personal injury and we started
doing employment a couple years ago
Speaker:and employment discrimination practice.
Speaker:And we have been talking on and off about
this for years and that we feel like
Speaker:there's a really big gap in
accessibility for legal services.
Speaker:And obviously none of this podcast
is the legal advice. We're not your.
Speaker:Lawyers. But lemme say that one
more time. This is not legal advice,
Speaker:but it is.
Speaker:We will be talking about things that we
see coming up a lot to give you sort of
Speaker:background information so that you can
call a lawyer and know what questions to
Speaker:ask about the facts of your case.
Speaker:Podcast is very hot right now.
Speaker:A lot of lawyers have podcasts
talking to other lawyers,
Speaker:and we wanted to start a podcast
talking to non-lawyers as
Speaker:kind of moms and big sisters.
Speaker:And this is the information that we
would want you to know if you were one of
Speaker:our loved ones because you are.
Speaker:I don't know you that well,
so I wouldn't go that far.
Speaker:But I will say one of the segments that
we're going to have consistently on the
Speaker:podcast,
Speaker:I don't know what we're going to name
it typically it's called "Am I the
Speaker:Asshole?" And I'm actually
probably fine with that,
Speaker:where we find something on Reddit or
somewhere on the internet and sort of talk
Speaker:about that scenario and what our
motherly advice is and what our
Speaker:lawyerly advice is and maybe at the
end what our unhinged advice is.
Speaker:So I pulled up one last night from
Reddit and it says, lawyer says,
Speaker:I have no case.
Speaker:This is a title lawyer says I have no
case sexual harassment at workplace.
Speaker:And then it says I was sexually
assaulted at my workplace,
Speaker:went on stress leave and been
diagnosed with PDSD from it.
Speaker:Multiple other people have also
been sexually assaulted company,
Speaker:had no sexual harassment policy
in place currently on work cover.
Speaker:I don't know what work cover means.
Speaker:I have spoken to a lawyer and they
have told me I have no case against the
Speaker:company because they did not know about
the manager's behavior. Is this true?
Speaker:So there's a lot there to unpack.
Speaker:I feel like we should start
with the emotional part of it.
Speaker:That's always what gets
me first. As Amy knows,
Speaker:I get very invested in all of these cases,
Speaker:which is why we're careful about the
number of cases that we have at any time
Speaker:because they involve a lot of emotional
attachment because clients deserve that.
Speaker:Especially the sexual assault cases.
Speaker:So there are some sort of key things
about this post. The first one,
Speaker:just talking about the emotions around
reporting because depending on the
Speaker:facts of your case,
Speaker:it can be really important whether you
reported it to your employer when you
Speaker:were sexually harassed.
Speaker:I was thinking about this
recently inherited from my sister,
Speaker:my 16-year-old niece and 9-year-old
son. And my youngest is 25,
Speaker:so it's been a minute since I've
been doing the parenting thing.
Speaker:But I was picking her up from her
first day at a new high school.
Speaker:She just moved in with me and I
was like, how's it going, whatever.
Speaker:And she was talking about in a
very sort of stoic way about her
Speaker:art class and the special needs young
man in her arts class who had decided on
Speaker:the first day that he was enamored
with her. And then the next day she
Speaker:was like, I'm trying to be nice,
but I don't really know what to do.
Speaker:And he had made art for her and he
kept playing with her hair and she was
Speaker:clearly uncomfortable and I was trying
to decide what I was going to do from a
Speaker:parenting standpoint with reporting,
Speaker:and she didn't really
want me to escalate it.
Speaker:And ultimately the art teacher
recognized what was going on and talked
Speaker:to the special needs teacher
in the class and said,
Speaker:we have to move him because she
observed that my niece Bella was feeling
Speaker:uncomfortable,
Speaker:which is the best case scenario in that
situation because it's a public school,
Speaker:everyone gets to go to school
and they sort of saw the issue
Speaker:and addressed it without anyone
having to report anything.
Speaker:That doesn't always
happen in the workplace.
Speaker:Has.
Speaker:Anything like that ever happened to you?
Speaker:So something like that did happen to me
in high school where there's a special
Speaker:needs child who decided that I was
the love of his life. And again,
Speaker:a teacher noticed the issue
before I had to do anything.
Speaker:But when you're in that
situation, it's very much like,
Speaker:am I overreacting? Is this as
bad as I'm thinking that it is?
Speaker:What if they don't believe me? If I say
something, what if they just tell me,
Speaker:Ugh, it's okay. You're just
going to have to deal with it.
Speaker:All of those things kind of rush through
your head, especially when you're 15,
Speaker:16, 17. Those things carry into adulthood.
Speaker:And so the issue with reporting is that
you're inherently asking a victim to
Speaker:feel comfortable enough
to go to somebody and say,
Speaker:this bad thing is happening
to me and I need your help.
Speaker:And not all workplaces or school
systems or families to be fair
Speaker:allow for that kind of
communication. So one,
Speaker:if you're in charge of that
in your workplace, fix it.
Speaker:Make sure that you have a comfortable
environment where employees feel like they
Speaker:can come and talk to you about issues.
Speaker:But as an employee who has no control
over that situation, you're really stuck.
Speaker:You're stuck with whatever
situation that you're dealt with.
Speaker:And thankfully there's been
recognition here recently,
Speaker:I would say going back, but five or
six years or so, maybe closer to 10,
Speaker:my whole.
Speaker:Even in Texas, which is not the most.
Speaker:Progressive state facts, that
it can take victims a long time.
Speaker:It can take them a long time to not
only remember what happened themselves,
Speaker:but recognize it and process it in a
way that would allow them to talk to
Speaker:somebody else about it and then actually
take the steps to go and talk to
Speaker:somebody else about it.
Speaker:And so you've seout to accommodate for
the fact that it can take people a while
Speaker:to feel comfortable to want to report.en
a whole movement of states that are
Speaker:pushing out statutes of limitation
and pushing out these kind of notice
Speaker:requirements and stuff like that,
Speaker:even when it comes to notifying about
filing administrative claims for sexual
Speaker:harassment,
Speaker:pushing all those deadlines and stuff
out to accommodate for the fact that it
Speaker:can take people a while to feel
comfortable to want to report.
Speaker:And so it's really hard to
talk to people who are like,
Speaker:I just came around to recognizing what
happened to me and you're telling me that
Speaker:it's too late. That doesn't seem fair
and it's not fair. And it sucks. It does.
Speaker:And I will say this about the
law, we joke all the time,
Speaker:if you ask a lawyer a question,
we're not going to give an answer.
Speaker:This person was like, is that true?
The answer is always going to be,
Speaker:it depends because the law is supposed
to be a balancing act and it's been sort
Speaker:of a living creature
that's developed over time.
Speaker:And so it's always sort of balancing
people's rights versus the other side's
Speaker:rights and trying to
figure out how to balance.
Speaker:How that.
Speaker:Yeah. And in this case,
Speaker:so Texas has extended to the deadline
for you to make a claim with the EOC or
Speaker:the TWC for sexual harassment,
Speaker:but it still requires you to
talk to your employer before you
Speaker:quit or have a lawsuit.
Speaker:And the idea behind that is
the employer purportedly,
Speaker:the employer is supposed to have
an opportunity to fix it again,
Speaker:like Bella's situation, your situation
in high school, it would be much better.
Speaker:This is my opinion because
I'm a more progressive person.
Speaker:But if the employer was responsible
for sort of paying attention and
Speaker:identifying, oh,
Speaker:this might be an issue and doing something
about it without requiring the victim
Speaker:to report, but that is
not where the law is.
Speaker:No. And I don't think it'll
ever, if we're being honest,
Speaker:I don't think it'll ever get to that
point. If you pull the emotion out of it,
Speaker:you can kind of see some of the logic.
Speaker:But I always want to first
address the emotion of that post.
Speaker:It's a really hard situation.
Something bad obviously happened.
Speaker:She tried to do the best thing that she
thought in not only processing what she
Speaker:went through, but making sure
that she was protecting herself.
Speaker:And then to be told, the first person
that you talked to, you fucked this up.
Speaker:That's rough.
Speaker:And I will say,
Speaker:Heather and I have talked about this
a lot about what we tell people.
Speaker:One of the things that we tell people
a lot who've reached out to us before,
Speaker:anything's changed in their
work circumstances, they're
being sexually harassed,
Speaker:sexual assault and sexual harassment
are very different things in Texas,
Speaker:and we will talk about
that in just a minute.
Speaker:But they're being sexually
harassed and we are saying to them,
Speaker:before we can do anything for you,
you have to go report it. Honestly,
Speaker:I would like to be able to say,
Speaker:and usually the employer does the right
thing and they do an investigation and
Speaker:whatever, but realistically speaking,
Speaker:because what happens is they do an
investigation, they go talk to people.
Speaker:Your workplace is going to know that
this happened sort of situation.
Speaker:We tell people,
Speaker:you really need to be prepared to find
another job because it will either be
Speaker:uncomfortable for you or a
lot of times the employer,
Speaker:your supervisor is friends with the
person. That's why they were getting away
Speaker:with it in the first place. And so then
they start retaliating against you.
Speaker:HR is its own thing over
here and it's saying,
Speaker:we're going to do an investigation,
we're going to go talk to people,
Speaker:but we all know the people you work
with have emotions about it too.
Speaker:It may have emotions about the perpetrator
and might start taking it out on you.
Speaker:And so there is a separate cause of
action for retaliation. And honestly,
Speaker:those are the more typical cases
and the best cases legally.
Speaker:So what we tell our potential clients is
you have to go report it and go through
Speaker:that whole process. And a lot of times
I feel like we're revictimizing people.
Speaker:Well, we are. And I will say Amy and I,
Speaker:we make a concerted effort to educate
all of the members on our team and our
Speaker:clients on not re-traumatizing
our clients when they call in.
Speaker:It's very important to me.
Speaker:I give CLEs about it in different
bar associations across the state.
Speaker:It's very important, but there's an
element of it that you can't avoid.
Speaker:I have to know what happened.
You have to report it.
Speaker:These are requirements and it stinks.
Speaker:But it is one of those unavoidable
aspects of the entire situation.
Speaker:That sort of,
Speaker:I guess the mom advice of this
episode is that I know that it's hard.
Speaker:I know that it's uncomfortable and you
may want to talk to a lawyer about the
Speaker:specific facts of your case
before you go report it.
Speaker:Because a lot of times you do just
have to suck it up and go make the
Speaker:report to HR and then let the
chips fall where they may.
Speaker:If you talk to an attorney and you find.
Speaker:Somebody who's on your side, I think
it does help if you feel like, okay,
Speaker:well even if HR doesn't believe me,
Speaker:or even if whoever gets mad at me or my
coworkers get pissed and start making
Speaker:it, at least I've got
somebody in my corner.
Speaker:And if you found a good
plaintiff's attorney,
Speaker:they'll make you feel comfortable that
they're in your corner no matter what
Speaker:else happens.
Speaker:Right? Unfortunately,
Speaker:I mean that's sort of our motherly
advice for the day is that you do have to
Speaker:report before you can move
forward in most cases.
Speaker:But if you want to see if that's
required, reach out to a lawyer.
Speaker:Most lawyers in that space give free
consultations and we'll kind of walk you
Speaker:through what's required
for the facts of your case.
Speaker:Now looking at the facts of this case,
Speaker:Heather and I were talking about it and
we were like, we would take that case.
Speaker:In a heartbeat. I would sign that case.
Speaker:Up without her having gone to hr.
And there are a few reasons why.
Speaker:So what I remembered is that
the attorney told her there
Speaker:wasn't any notice, but she specifically,
Speaker:and I'm only working with the facts of
what were online from this anonymous
Speaker:post, right?
Speaker:But she specifically said in the post
that there were other people who had been
Speaker:sexually harassed. Even if that's all
the information I got on an intake form,
Speaker:we have a questionnaire on our
website that people can fill out,
Speaker:even if that's the only
information that I had,
Speaker:I'm still signing that
case up to investigate it.
Speaker:And she also said that it was because
they did not know about the manager's
Speaker:behavior, which kind of makes it
seem like the harasser was a manager.
Speaker:So let's talk about that first.
Speaker:I said before that there's a difference
between sexual assault and sexual
Speaker:harassment In Texas, all the case
law says it's the groman of the case,
Speaker:meaning that it's what does groman.
Speaker:Mean? Again, really like the
ultimate issue. So caveat here,
Speaker:we're obviously both attorneys in Texas,
Amy's also licensed in California,
Speaker:but when we talk about this
is what the law generally is,
Speaker:most of the time it's going to be Texas
and a lot will clarify if it's not,
Speaker:and a lot of places it's very similar,
Speaker:but Texas is the majority
of our background.
Speaker:Gravamen is the heart of the
issue, the meat of the issue.
Speaker:What is it stripping everything else away?
Speaker:What is it truly at the end of
the day? And so it's this topic,
Speaker:we've talked about this before, can
be 47 episodes, the sexual harassment,
Speaker:sexual assaults, the gray areas there.
Speaker:But the true issue in Texas when you're
dealing with a sexual assault in the
Speaker:workplace is Texas case
law is going to look at,
Speaker:it's like a multifactorial
test and be like,
Speaker:was it really harassment that
evolved into sexual assault?
Speaker:In which case we're going to treat it
as harassment under the Texas Labor Code
Speaker:and that stuff,
Speaker:or was it an actual sexual assault?
Speaker:And so we're going to treat it as a
civil case under those statutes and.
Speaker:Remedies. Some examples of this
from cases that we've dealt with,
Speaker:we had a young woman who
her first day on the job,
Speaker:she was attacked by a coworker
who wasn't a manager and that
Speaker:we treated like sexual assault.
Speaker:Other cases we've had some
cases involving under,
Speaker:it gets really gray when you're
dealing with underage victims.
Speaker:And if it happens over time,
Speaker:if it's grooming or if it escalates over
time where it starts with something a
Speaker:little off color or she asks you
out on a date and you say no,
Speaker:and then it's uncomfortable and then they
continue doing it and it escalates to
Speaker:a place where it's assault,
Speaker:meaning that they physically
touched you in an unwanted way,
Speaker:the law is probably going to
deal with sexual harassment.
Speaker:And this notice issue is different for
those two different kinds of cases.
Speaker:Yeah, for sure. Sorry,
Speaker:I'm also realizing as we're doing this
that my A DHD is going to become very
Speaker:apparent throughout the filming.
So I apologize, I cannot sit still.
Speaker:A DHD Queens will help me out on that.
I'll try my best in most situations,
Speaker:but I'm going to fail. So let's pretend
like I didn't even make that promise.
Speaker:I think that we've got three cases that
obviously we really can't talk about the
Speaker:situations of it,
Speaker:but keeping it at like 30,000 feet
really play out the differences in these.
Speaker:So we've got us call her Janie.
Speaker:We've got Janie who she true
kind of sexual assault. Yes.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:It's hard when you're trying to make up
non case telling facts off the top of
Speaker:your head. You do it.
Speaker:So the case we just talked about
with an actual sexual clear sexual
Speaker:assault, my first day of work, someone
pulls me into the bathroom and rapes me.
Speaker:That is a sexual assault case.
Speaker:And the notice requirements
to the employer for that
are usually new or should
Speaker:have known.
Speaker:The whole idea of notice is that you're
giving the employer an opportunity to
Speaker:fix the problem either before it
happens or immediate for it to not
Speaker:go forward. You're giving the
employer a chance to fix the problem.
Speaker:So in that case, with a sexual
assault, it's new or should have known,
Speaker:which means that the employer
knew that this guy or this gal
Speaker:is a predator or they should have
known because it's a situation where,
Speaker:and there's been a lot of movement in
the law about what employers have to do
Speaker:from background checks
and that kind of thing.
Speaker:So should they have run a background
check and known that this guy was a
Speaker:convicted sexual
predator? Or in this case,
Speaker:were there other situations where the
employer should have discovered that this
Speaker:person is a sexual predator?
Speaker:And it sounds like there at least could
have been because it sounds like the
Speaker:other people had reported.
Speaker:So the worst sort of facts for that
is a number of people were sexually
Speaker:assaulted by this guy, but then nobody
ever reported it. So the employer says,
Speaker:oh, we never knew. That becomes much
less believable at some point. And.
Speaker:So it becomes untenable. For
instance, in another case that we had,
Speaker:there was a situation where the
facts developed where the manager
Speaker:had heard rumors that an
employee had previously
Speaker:been convicted of sexual abuse of a child.
Speaker:And as the facts developed in
that case, it was like, okay,
Speaker:we ended up eventually
taking the deposition of the
manager. The manager's like,
Speaker:oh yeah, well, I had rumors of X,
Y, and Z. Well then what did you do?
Speaker:Did you do a background check at that
point? Did you do anything to follow up?
Speaker:So the more and more you kind of
unravel those strings, it becomes.
Speaker:More untenable so that he's got worse.
Speaker:Because she also had heard rumors that
he was dating the underaged girl that he
Speaker:was managing and had heard rumors that
he was a sexual predator of children and
Speaker:chose not to do anything.
And so in those cases,
Speaker:while our client did not
report the behavior to anyone,
Speaker:the employer still had notice.
Speaker:And that's true for a sexual harassment
case there too, as the ongoing behavior,
Speaker:if we can show that the employer should
have known because of a string of
Speaker:situations that this person was
a problem or that there was a
Speaker:specific issue. Let's talk
about notice in a different.
Speaker:Context.
Speaker:We've had another case where
we represented a man or
represented a man who had
Speaker:witnessed the sexual harassment
and assault of a coworker,
Speaker:basically went to report that,
Speaker:but in the context of that
is no longer working there.
Speaker:And so the question in that
entire situation is, well,
Speaker:if that person had never done it before,
Speaker:then we never had the ability to fix it,
Speaker:and if we didn't have
the ability to fix it,
Speaker:then we didn't do anything
wrong because you didn't work.
Speaker:And so the fact that you don't
work there anymore isn't our fault.
Speaker:For retaliation. I don't remember
the case that you're talking about.
Speaker:I'm assuming he no longer
works there. He was fired.
Speaker:So retaliation covers protected activity.
Speaker:So it could be that I as a sexual
harassment victim go in and
Speaker:report it to HR and then they start
retaliating against me. Maybe not hr,
Speaker:but instead my supervisor who
was friends with the guy who was
Speaker:harassing me starts doing
anything that actually changes my
Speaker:work situation. So it's, it's things
like demotions before you have a lawsuit,
Speaker:there's a whole sort of range
of things that are required,
Speaker:but you start seeing things
that feel retaliatory.
Speaker:That is one kind of retaliation case.
Another is what you were talking about.
Speaker:I'm not the person who was harassed
or was discriminated against,
Speaker:but I went and reported it to hr,
Speaker:which is a protected activity and then
became the victim of a retaliation
Speaker:case. And I was fired because they were
like, we don't want to talk about this.
Speaker:We don't want to deal with this. And so
then that person has a retaliation case.
Speaker:The victim may still have a sexual
assault or sexual harassment case,
Speaker:but the person who did the reporting
will have a retaliation case if they were
Speaker:retaliated against after
engaging in protected activity.
Speaker:Now,
Speaker:there's one more circumstance that we
know of that we're going to talk to you
Speaker:about where notice is not really required.
And that's flagged in this post too.
Speaker:It is. So in this post,
we have the employer,
Speaker:she talks about it being a manager.
Speaker:This is another one of those situations
where it's easier to talk to a lawyer
Speaker:about the facts of your case. And again,
Speaker:we're not giving legal advice because
every fact scenario is so different.
Speaker:And this is another situation where
the law has developed over time,
Speaker:and it's not like it can depend on little.
Speaker:Specific.
Speaker:Facts about whether or not the
person who actually committed
Speaker:the transgression was a manager
for purposes of liability.
Speaker:So in Texas, it's like a
principal or a vice principal,
Speaker:not in a school context,
Speaker:but were you high enough up in the
company to where basically your
Speaker:actions can be imputed or
taken to be a company's action
Speaker:almost, right? And so
when you have a manager,
Speaker:an owner, an executive type thing,
Speaker:we're always going to run through this
analysis of can they be a principal
Speaker:or vice principal? Can they be held
liable even when there's no notice?
Speaker:Because I can basically put you in
the company's shoes as that actor
Speaker:and kind of tag it that way. So her post,
Speaker:just for the basic
facts that she provided,
Speaker:raises enough questions where I'm like,
we need to sign it up and investigate.
Speaker:Maybe she's in a state where
this isn't true. I don't know,
Speaker:but I would certainly have a different
opinion than the attorney in that post.
Speaker:So there are multiple
layers in all of this.
Speaker:Another reason to sort of talk to
lawyers, but one of the things that we do,
Speaker:and we have on our firm website,
Speaker:I don't think we have it
on our podcast website.
Speaker:We have a downloadable sort of PDF
on how to report and the things that
Speaker:you need to be doing after
you've reported. So again,
the tough advice is yes,
Speaker:to maintain a lawsuit
and to protect yourself,
Speaker:you really do need to report to
HR to your supervisor or whatever.
Speaker:It's funny because companies have these
zero tolerance policies. Yeah, I'm.
Speaker:So sorry.
Speaker:I'm going to backtrack here real quick
and I want to highlight something else
Speaker:that's in her post. Girl,
Speaker:y'all 2026 who doesn't have a
sexual harassment policy anymore?
Speaker:That's basic.
Speaker:So going all the way back to creating
an environment where your employees
Speaker:feel like they can come and
talk to you about this stuff.
Speaker:Not having a sexual harassment
policy feels crazy to me at this
Speaker:point. I think any.
Speaker:Large corporation is going to have
a sexual harassment policy. We have.
Speaker:10 How many employees?
Speaker:Like 10 employees. We have a, we're
a law firm who does this, right?
Speaker:So I think yes, if you work
in a large corporation,
Speaker:I think in some ways that will give you
a one 800 number or something like that
Speaker:and you can make an, you maybe
even be able to do it anonymously.
Speaker:It really depends on how
your company handles it.
Speaker:We've had some cases where they can make
anonymous complaints about stuff and
Speaker:they just have to put in
some basic information so
that people can investigate.
Speaker:And so that's fine too. I'm sorry if
that came across as judgy or shaming.
Speaker:I'm certainly not trying to, but
you got to, if you own a company,
Speaker:and by that I mean you have one employee,
even one, even if it's yourself,
Speaker:I would just write, it's no skin of here.
Speaker:Write a sexual harassment policy,
Speaker:develop a procedure so everybody knows
and everybody feels comfortable and
Speaker:everybody knows also that
you're taking it seriously.
Speaker:I feel like I saw this
TikTok today where it was,
Speaker:we hear a lot where it's like one in four
women are sexually assaulted in their
Speaker:life. One in six men are going to
be sexually assaulted in their life.
Speaker:The statistic we don't hear
on the other side is how many,
Speaker:you don't hear the one in whatever men are
Speaker:perpetrators. That statistic
isn't one that we hear.
Speaker:And I think we've been doing
a really, and women too,
Speaker:one in however many women are
perpetrators or predators.
Speaker:We've been doing a really good job,
Speaker:I think as a society of pulling towards
trusting victims, believing victims,
Speaker:giving victims a space to talk
comfortably and honestly and openly
Speaker:about what's happening and
not immediately shaming them.
Speaker:I'm not going to say every part of the
world or country or Texas is like that,
Speaker:but there are good pockets and I
don't know where those pockets are.
Speaker:But okay,
The good pockets. Yeah,
Speaker:I still really think it is
incredibly difficult and you
Speaker:can expect to not be believed.
Speaker:And I do believe that a lot
of times the really egregious
Speaker:actors are people with a lot of power,
Speaker:and so it's even harder to
report. And so that's true.
Speaker:If you work at a large conglomerate,
then calling the HR people or whatever,
Speaker:you're still going to have to deal with
your small team of people once you've
Speaker:made the report.
Speaker:But I think it's much more difficult
in a business where some guy started a
Speaker:business and he's the owner
or his son is working.
Speaker:We had these situations where the
sun is working there and gets drunk
Speaker:at the Christmas party.
Speaker:And the true fact at the end of the
day, we said this in the beginning,
Speaker:is that we tell all of our clients, if
you're going to move forward with this,
Speaker:you need to be prepared
to find another job.
Speaker:And that just for a lot of them
feels like a whole other blow. Like,
Speaker:I didn't do anything wrong. I
didn't do anything to bring this on.
Speaker:I didn't make any mal
action. I didn't do anything,
Speaker:and I am going to be the
one that suffers. Again,
Speaker:because how many settlement agreements
have you seen where it doesn't end in a
Speaker:mutual separation?
Speaker:I have zero. I have not seen any.
Speaker:I haven't seen any, and I haven't heard
of any. I haven't talked to an attorney.
Speaker:I have heard of some, but they're
usually federal employees, honestly.
Speaker:So I think that the realistic
sort of nitty gritty advice
Speaker:is that you do have to report to
have a lawsuit, and when you report,
Speaker:you should at least expect some
bad things to sort of happen.
Speaker:And so finding another, just being
prepared to end your employment, not.
Speaker:Finding another job, right? Let's
clarify that, right? You can't,
Speaker:before you just walk in and
quit, please talk to an attorney.
Speaker:This.
Speaker:Goes back to the whole notice issue.
Speaker:Of if something happens at work. I mean,
Speaker:these cases are really hard because that's
another piece of advice that we have
Speaker:to give to people constantly.
Speaker:So you've reported and they've
done their investigation,
Speaker:and now they've started retaliating
against you, but they haven't fired you,
Speaker:so it's just uncomfortable.
Speaker:Your supervisor is saying shit under
his breath about you in meetings.
Speaker:They're not inviting you to.
Speaker:Lunch anymore.
Speaker:They moved you to a different place.
Speaker:All these people are blaming you.
Everybody really loved the aggressor,
Speaker:and so it's your fault that they're not
there anymore. It happens all the time.
Speaker:And so then you have to go report
that so that they can fix that.
Speaker:Because if ultimately you just say, I
can't do this anymore, I'm quitting.
Speaker:That's called constructive
discharge. And while it doesn't.
Speaker:Make it not a case, it makes it
a lot harder. And so our law mom,
Speaker:advice to you is please just talk
to somebody before you do that.
Speaker:We have loved ones, very close, loved
ones who just quit in blazes of glory.
Speaker:I'm not saying that they quit after
a sexual harassment or anything,
Speaker:but don't be that person. Don't just
walk in and quit in a blaze of glory.
Speaker:Think about yourself first and
in thinking about yourself first.
Speaker:You have to protect yourself, your
future, your claims, and talk to an.
Speaker:Attorney about that.
Speaker:It is a very sort of complicated area
where the law has unfortunately given the
Speaker:employer a bunch of different steps
where they get out of jail, free card.
Speaker:So you kind of have to
navigate that whole process,
Speaker:and that includes reporting everything,
Speaker:keeping a journal of everything that's
happened so that you have sort of it in
Speaker:real time. And you can remember
keeping anything in writing.
Speaker:I would say we have a lot of people
who secretly record conversations,
Speaker:and that can be a problem.
Speaker:And so before you go in and
you're recording conversations,
Speaker:you need to talk to a lawyer about
whether that's legal in your state,
Speaker:whether that's appropriate, whether
that'll be held against you in some way.
Speaker:Or maybe you have a handbook that
specifically says X, Y, and z.
Speaker:Texas is a one party state, right? There
are some other states that are too,
Speaker:which means if one party
to the conversation knows
that it's being recorded,
Speaker:it's okay, but that doesn't mean
that it's okay in every circumstance.
Speaker:Then it doesn't mean that there aren't
more specific rules or regulations that
Speaker:could apply to what you're specifically
doing. So it's all a jumble.
Speaker:The one party thing is I have to be part
of the conversation If I'm recording
Speaker:it, I can't put a listening device in my
asshole boss's office and record that.
Speaker:So I'm really glad you said bosses
after that. I was like, whoa,
Speaker:we're going to go.
Speaker:Anyway.
Speaker:Let's just move on past the joke that
Heather thought Amy was about to make and.
Speaker:I wasn't. There was no joke. So I do. I
feel like we're rambling a little bit,
Speaker:which does happen with us.
Speaker:Also, we need to get a fan in here
that, okay, the moral of the story,
Speaker:find an attorney who's going to be on
your side. You should be able to find one.
Speaker:If you need help finding one either
in your jurisdiction or whatever,
Speaker:reach out to us. We're connected to
lots of women and lots of men too.
Speaker:We're very pro women over
here. We're very pro men too.
Speaker:I have two sons and I'm married to a man,
Speaker:but there's a really good group of
women that we're connected to across the
Speaker:country who can help us
find representation for you.
Speaker:So yes,
Speaker:the moral of the story is talk to
a lawyer before you make any major
Speaker:decisions. Typically, there are employment
lawyer associations in every state.
Speaker:So Texas has the Texas
Employment Lawyer Association,
Speaker:which has a list of attorneys
who handle employment cases.
Speaker:If it's more of a sexual assault case,
Speaker:you may want to look at
someone who handles more
sexual assault specific cases,
Speaker:and unfortunately,
Speaker:you're going to probably have to report
something to HR before you have a
Speaker:lawsuit against your employer.
That just is the bottom line.
Speaker:But you do want to talk to someone about
your case before you take that step,
Speaker:even if it's really uncomfortable. We
always recommend that people don't quit,
Speaker:basically, for sure,
Speaker:employer to take the action to get rid
of you if that's the step that they want
Speaker:to take, because that really
supports a retaliation game.
Speaker:And to the anonymous Reddit
post, I would've taken your
case. I'm really sorry.
Speaker:I hope you found the help
that you were looking for,
Speaker:and I hope you're doing okay. Hey,
congratulations guys. Congrat,
Speaker:for anybody who's still here,
Speaker:congratulations on watching the
first episode of our podcast.
Speaker:Congratulations to us. We did
it, Andre. We did it. We did it.
Speaker:It's been a labor of love. It will
continue to be a labor of love.
Speaker:It will continue to be
slightly unhinged. Yeah,
Speaker:that's probably the best word for it.
That's probably the best word for it.
Speaker:Like she said, the
episodes will be like this.
Speaker:We won't always be talking about
sexual harassment and assault.
Speaker:We've got some other segments
that we're talking about,
Speaker:but realized this morning that we had
two very different thoughts on what the
Speaker:names for those segments were,
Speaker:so we just decided to punt on
that and we'll circle back to it.
Speaker:We'll circle back. We'll circle back.
Speaker:Perhaps someone will want to tell us
what our segments should be called,
Speaker:some like nifty name. Right now we're
probably just going to ask Chad GPT.
Speaker:But all that being said,
Speaker:thank you for hanging out with us for
our inaugural ugly Christmas sweater
Speaker:podcast episode.
Speaker:I feel like next year when it's December,
Speaker:we should bring these sweaters back and
we'll have done lots of episodes by then.
Speaker:For,
Speaker:I feel like I shouldn't have to wear the
sweater more than the one time today.
Speaker:I.
Speaker:Disagree. Lemme know in the comments.
Speaker:I feel like most people would agree with.
Speaker:Me, but that's fine.
Speaker:All right, but if you liked this
content, this episode, our Faces,
Speaker:whatever, please like,
Speaker:subscribe or do all the other things that
you do to follow along with us on our
Speaker:journey with our Fight
Like a Mother podcast.
Speaker:You can find us on Fight Like
A Mother the podcast.com,
Speaker:and there's more information available
on there. It's been a pleasure.
Speaker:It will continue to be a pleasure.
As always, Amy Carter, I love you.
Speaker:Merry Christmas everybody. We have a
holiday party to get to. Happy Holidays,
Speaker:happy Hanukkah, happy Kwanza, happy
all the things. Happy Lunar New Year.
Speaker:Probably by this time, lunar New Year
would've happened by the time it's airing.
Speaker:I don't know what's
happening, but thank you.
Speaker:That's it for today, but the
fight, it's never really over.
Speaker:If you learned something today, share
it. Someone else probably needs it too.
Speaker:Keep your coffee strong, your screenshots
organized, and your boundaries clear.
Speaker:This is Fight Like a
Mother. Subscribe. Share.
Speaker:Visit us at Fight Like A Mother the
podcast.com, and we'll see you next time.