News / Law
Sexual Harassment and Assault Scandal Widens for the Air Force
Current investigations into the widespread sexual assault and harassment abuses at an Air Force training camp could shape up to be the worst sexual scandal to rock the military in 20 years.
A dozen boot camp instructors at the Lackland base in Texas are accused of assaulting, harassing or having sex with female recruits.
Officials have already identified at least 31 women and expect that more women will come forward. Currently, nine instructors from the 331st Training Squadron are under investigation, which could be widened to include other bases and training instructors.
Some of the instructors are accused of harassment and assault. One instructor is being investigated for having sex with recruits. Another instructor has been accused of raping or sexually assaulting close to 10 female recruits.
As more and more women enter the military, they have struggled to handle sexual harassment and assault in its ranks. Despite the high profile education programs, incidents of sexual abuses go under reported in the military. This is also a problem in the civilian workplace.
Women in the military and the workplace have long struggled with harassment and have often found the only way to halt their abuse is to hire a sexual harassment attorney to confront their employers when they have failed or refused to stop the misconduct.
Victims of sexual harassment, who report it, frequently find that, instead of punishing the abuser, their employers take action against them, firing them, cutting their hours or denying them promotions. This is called retaliation and is grounds for a lawsuit where a sexual harassment lawyer will seek damages for duress and lost wages.
Any person, male or female, who must go to a hostile workplace and endure unwanted sexual attention, should know they don’t have to tolerate the behavior. They can get the advice of a sexual harassment attorney and make their employers recognize the problem.
