MeToo Has Changed Everything, From Workplace To M&A

The breathtaking demise of celebrities may be the most dramatic result of the #MeToo movement, as Jerry Seinfeld once mused during an interview. “That’s an aspect of this unease we feel, that you just wake up — “’Oh, by the way, the Lincoln Memorial’s gone.’ ‘What?’ ‘Yeah, they took it down.'”  But career crash among the rich and famous – and most recently, the conviction of Harvey Weinstein – are the tip of an iceberg. According to a survey from a crisis management consultancy, the number of men accused of sexual misconduct in the last two years is at least 1,400. Beyond that, MeToo has brought major changes to the corporate world, including to employment law, or at least how it’s applied, and to corporate insurance coverage (which now includes the option for disgrace insurance), and even to seemingly unrelated areas, like M&A, where agreements now may include a “Weinstein clause.” Meanwhile, more employers are requiring sexual harassment training, with particular attention to what’s being called bystander training, and some major companies have backed off on forced arbitration for harassment claims.