Courts Abet Sexual Harassment By Sealing Case Files

According to an investigative report in Reuters, courts are often complicit in sexual harassment in the workplace because judges let companies push the legal boundaries of what should be considered confidential, and keep details of abusive behavior secret. A review of federal court cases filed between 2006 and 2016 revealed hundreds containing sexual harassment allegations in which companies used civil litigation tactics to keep potentially damning information from the public record. Plaintiffs in some cases said that companies concealed internal documents that revealed harassment claims similar to theirs, and corporate policies that favored abusers over victims. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said courts go too far in routinely sealing such information. Documents filed in federal court are presumed to be public, he said, so companies should not be allowed to cloak evidence just because it is damaging. That goes not only for sexual harassment but also for broader corporate governance issues. “It’s hard to see why their private interests to avoid embarrassment trumps the public’s right to have access to litigation,” Breyer said.