Anucha Browne Sanders Essay

Anucha Browne Sanders, senior vice president of marketing and business operations for the New York Knicks won a suit for more than $11 million dollars in punitive damages against the team’s owner, Madison Square Gardens (which owns the Knicks), and the president Isiah Thomas. Ms. Browne Sanders alleged that over a two year period Mr. Thomas verbally abused her, and when she complained to management, she was fired. However, Mr. Thomas “vigorously insisted” that was innocent.
To examine this case in detail, we must first define sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is defined under 29 CFR 1604.11(a) as “Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment

when (1) submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual's employment, (2) submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment decisions affecting such individual, or (3) such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment.”
In a more detailed analysis of the events that took place, Ms. Browne Sanders claimed that “Thomas humiliated her with sexual comments, profanity and unwanted touching” (Pesca). Given the definition of sexual harassment as outlined in 29 CFR 1604.11(a), the suit can further be broken down and analyzed. However first 29 CFR 1604.11(b) which deals with the determination of if sexual harassment took placed is outlined as, “In determining whether alleged conduct constitutes sexual harassment, the Commission will look at the record as a whole and at the totality of the circumstances, such as the nature of the sexual advances and the context in which the alleged incidents occurred. The determination of the legality of a particular action will be made from the facts, on a case by case basis.”
As such, given the duration and totality of the sexual harassment, the severity, and subjectivity of the harassment as a basis of employment, clearly a violation took place. Since Ms. Browne Sanders was fired shortly after raising the concern with senior management, it is clear that the subjectivity of the harassment was a basis of employment, and as such sub-section (1) of the CFR was violated. As outlined in Ms. Browne Sanders’ interview with NPR, it can also be reasoned that the harassment negatively affected her decision making and work performance (Pesca). That is, intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment indicating that sub-section (2) and (3) were also violated.
What is important to note about this case, and other cases of this nature is that the employer can be held responsible for the actions of its employees and outlined in 29 CFR 1604.11(e).

For Madison Square Gardens and the New York Knicks, this is exactly what happened as the organization was ordered to pay $11 million dollars in punitive damages to Ms. Browne Sanders. More importantly however, as the noted by the textbook from one University of Richmond Law Professor “the case still exposed the organization and its managers to a great deal of unfavorable publicity” (Dessler). Consequently the organization could face much greater damages, from loss of sales to the inability to attract top-notch

employees.
Given the suit against Madison Square Gardens and the New York Knicks, senior management will need to address the sexual harassment policy, how the policy is communicated to employees, and how reports of sexual harassment are handled internally. The first change needs to come from senior management partnering with the human resources department to create not only an effectively enforceable policy, but also one that prevents any particular person from becoming “above the law,” even if they are a former superstar. After a formal policy has been written, senior management and the human resources department to survey the work environment and employees to see if there are any other blatant or non-blatant violations taking place. These violations could be in the form of paraphernalia in cubicles, casual reports of misconduct, etc.
The organization has addressed the above issues, they will need to establish both a policy and procedure for reporting such instances.

In particular, hiring an Ombudsman may be a good solution given the industry, people involved, and the nature of business. Most importantly, the organization has too great a safe environment where individuals can come forward to file complaints where warranted. Given that many individuals working at the company are publically known figures, any investigations would need to be handled in a confidential matter. If a problem was discovered, management would need to address the issue in respect any federal, state, or local laws, and in addition give both a clear and swift respond to demonstrate that these actions will not be tolerated no matter who you

are.
If all of the above still proves to be ineffective, the organization may wish to introduce additional sexual harassment sensitivity training. This may come in the form of videos, workshops, classes, etc. If the harassment is coming from a particular group or individual, then management may consider addressing those individuals separately—and if it continues, to terminate their employment.
As a result of all that is mentioned above, the organization should in all fairness first issue an apology to Ms. Browne Sanders. After the apology has been issued, the company should then address internally that new policies and standards will be implemented to ensure misconduct does not take place in the future. As mentioned above, the process for implementation should be well thought out and organized. The written policy will need to be re-examined, sexual harassment training and awareness will need to be provided, management will need to survey the work environment for violations, and the company should consider hiring an Ombudsman given the nature of the business. However if hiring an Ombudsman is not acceptable, the organization will need to create a policy where formal complaints can be address in a professional manner. Management and the human resources department should also create a feasible timeline for the implementation of these policies.