Anna knocked softly on the open door, and asked,

$$Do you have a minute? I wanted to tell you about

something. To be honest, it may be nothing, but I$$m

not sure.$$

Charlotte quickly pushed the Save button on her

laptop and sat back in her chair. $$Actually$,$ your timing

is pretty good. I could use a break from my screen.

Come on in$.$

Anna came in and sat down. $$I was hoping you

would say something like that.$$

Charlotte frowned. $$Are you having trouble figuring

out that benefit stuff I asked you to do$?$

Anna shook her head. $$No$.$ Well, yes. I am hav$[1]$

ing some trouble with that, but I think I can figure

it out. This is about something different. I went out

to lunch today with my friend Sarah from account$[1]$

ing. We wanted to check out the new Thai place that

opened in that plaza up the street. Well, she invited a

couple other people, so there were four of us from the

company.$$

Charlotte said, $$Yeah$,$ I know you eat lunch with

Sarah a lot. Who were the other two?$$

Anna shifted uncomfortably in her chair. $$I

don$$t know if I should say. I$$ll call them P and M

for now, if that$$s okay. I just don$$t know if I should

identify them. Let me tell you what was said, and

you can tell me if you think I should give their

names or not.$$

Charlotte looked uneasy. $$Uh$-$oh$.$ I don$$t like the

sound of this. Something tells me this is not going to

be a story about how good the food was.$$

Discrimination? Harassment?

Anna chuckled, and said, $$You$$re right about that.$$

She jumped up and quickly shut the door. $$Now$,$ I

don$$t know P and M that well. We don$$t usually hang

out. I can say that they are programmers who have

both been with the company for a couple of years, and

they work for different project managers. The thing is

that both of them seem to think they have been treated

badly at this company because they are women. They

think they have been victims of discrimination and

maybe even sexual harassment.$$

Charlotte gasped, and said, a little loudly, $$What$?$

That can$$t be right! WEC has a great track record

when it comes to equity. We both know that we hire

and promote based on merit. You don$$t believe that we

are unfair to women, do you? For goodness$$ sake, one

of our founders is a woman!$$

Anna shook her head, and said hurriedly, $$I$$m

not saying I agree with it$.$ I am just telling you what I

heard. I didn$$t mean to upset you. Should I have kept

this to myself?$$

Taking a breath, Charlotte softened her tone. $$No$.$ I$$m

so sorry. I was just caught off guard. Please tell me

what they said. If there is a problem, then I need to

know.$$

Anna replied, $$Okay$.$ I$$ll tell you what I heard. P

is the only woman on her team, and she is the only

person in her work group who is not invited to go for

drinks after work on Fridays. She said that one of the

guys on the team said that his girlfriend was jealous

and didn$$t want him hanging out with other girls after

work, and it wasn$$t personal, but it would be best if P

didn$$t come very often. She had said okay to avoid any

trouble. She told me she didn$$t really want to go to the

bar every time, but after a few occurrences it made her

feel left out when they would be laughing over private

jokes that originated in the bar. She was trying to just

concentrate on her work, but a couple of weeks ago

her boss put together a sub$-$team to do a certain part

of the new project, and he didn$$t pick her even though

it was something she had done before. When she

asked him why, he said that he tried to pick a group

that got along really well since they would be working

a lot of long hours. So now it seems that the fact that

she isn$$t really close friends with these guys is hurting

her career.$$

Charlotte said, $$And what about the other person?$$

Anna replied, $$M has a different story. She dated

someone from here a few times last year. It didn$$t work

out, but since then there have been three or four dif$[1]$

ferent guys who have asked her out. One of them was

a manager, though not her manager. She turned them

all down, but she is tired of everyone treating work like

a singles bar. She wishes the company would do some$[1]$

thing to let everyone know they should just focus on

work, not romance.$$

Anna sat back in her chair, and added, $$Those

are the main points. I should say that they didn$$t tell

me this stuff because I work in HR$.$ This seemed like

just normal lunchtime venting. But I thought it might

be something I should let you know about. Was I

right? Do you think this might be discrimination or

harassment?$$

$$

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS.

Would the situation with P be considered discrimination or harassment? What about the situation with M$?$