Question

The legal environment affects the healthcare workplace in many ways. Choose one of the following topics: 1) sexual harassment in the healthcare workplace, 2) family leave, 3) discrimination in the healthcare workplace in regards to the Americans with Disabilities Act, or 4) wage and hour issues in the healthcare workplace. Conduct an online search for information on recent court cases pertaining to the topic chosen. For the same topic, report your findings. Include the name of the case, a brief summary (in your own words) of the case, its outcome, and state your reaction, opinion, or insight of the subject matter.

Answer 1

Sexual Harrasment:

Sexual harassment always has been an issue in healthcare, and it's not hard to find examples.Ideally, everyone could go to work without having to worry about harassment and reprisal. And when harassment happens in healthcare, the leaders in the organization must act.

This form of harassment is being reported in all workplaces, by workers and consumers alike. In the healthcare field, patients, family members, and visitors have been found guilty of sexually harassing healthcare workers. Sexual harassment adds to the stressfulness of the job, which can result in burnout.

Recent court Cases:

In the case on hand, the sexual harassment case was complained by the woman employed by the petitioner Management and on the basis of which, an enquiry was conducted by the special committee constituted for the purpose.

In terms of the Vishaka guidelines, the committee has rendered its findings against the respondent employee and on the basis of which, an action was taken by the Management in dismissing the W.P.15145 of 2019 employee from service. Once the committee makes a recommendation by giving a report against the employee concerned, as rightly contented by the learned counsel for the petitioner that the Management had no choice except to take action and in this case, the Management had taken a call to terminate the service of the employee by considering the circumstances of the case. When the Management had no choice except to take action against the employee concerned, how could the Industrial Tribunal compel the parties to adduce a fresh evidence to prove the charge against the employee by sitting in appeal over the conclusion reached by the special committee.

This order of the Supreme Court was made on 26.01.2004 in Medha Kotwal Lele and Ors. v. Union of India and Ors. W.P. (Crl) Nos. 173-177/1999. The order of the Supreme Court reads as follows:

Several Petitions had been filed before this Court by Women Organisations and on the basis of the note prepared by the Registrar General that in respect of sexual harassment cases the Complaints Committees http://www.judis.nic.in W.P.15145 of 2019 were not formed in accordance with the guidelines issued by this Court in Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan and that these petitions fell under Clause 6.

My Findings:

A very Recent Case Of Priyanka Reddy Who WasRaped By 4 Members Brutally In November 2019, the gang rape and murder of a 26-year-old veterinary doctor Disha in Shamshabad, near Hyderabad, sparked outrage across India. Her body was found in Shadnagar on 28 November 2019, the day after she was murdered.

The Telangana Police Department stated that the victim had parked her scooter near a toll plaza, which caught the attention of two lorry drivers and their assistants. According to police, they  deflated her tire, pretended to help her, and pushed her into nearby bushes, where they raped and smothered her. Then they allegedly loaded her corpse onto a lorry and dropped it on the roadside.

The police arrested four men based on the evidence gathered from CCTV cameras and from the victim's mobile phone. The accused were taken into judicial custody at Cherlapally Central Jail for fourteen days. The Telangana Chief Minister ordered the formation of a fast-track court to try the accused for their alleged crimes. The rape and murder elicited outrage in several parts of the country. Protests and public demonstration against rape were organised nationwide after the incident, with the public demanding stricter laws against rape and rapists. The Minister of Home Affairs criticised the Telangana Police and stated that the government intended to amend the Indian Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure to introduce laws for quicker punishment by fast-track courts.

All four accused were killed in a police encounter on 6 December 2019, under a bridge on Bangalore Hyderabad national highway, while they were in police custody. According to the police, the suspects were taken to the location for a reconstruction of the crime scene, where two of them allegedly snatched guns and attacked the police. In the ensuing shootout, all four suspects were shot dead.^[3] Some accused the police of extrajudicial execution,^[4] while thousands of people celebrated the men's deaths.

According to My Opinion, Sexual harassment in any workplace is both illegal and intolerable. It is intolerable in institutions caring for patients where harassment can disturb and distract care givers and threaten patient and employee safety.The problem is not limited to male abuse of females. There have been many cases of same-sex harassment and abuse, as well as some instances of female abuse of males. And abuse has occurred in the spectrum of health care, from small physician offices, to hospitals and clinics, to the hallowed halls of some of our most prestigious medical schools.