Daily Journal Quotes Lauren Leyden on Changes in Corporate America to Confronting Harassment

Daily Journal has quoted Akin Gump labor and employment partner Lauren Leyden in the article “Attorneys: client companies becoming more proactive in addressing harassment,” which looks at the increased focus on sexual misconduct one year after the start of the #MeToo movement.

The article reports that companies are becoming more concerned about exposure to claims of sexual harassment and more proactive in addressing the topic. The new attention, it says, is leading to big changes in how companies manage their workforces.

Leyden pointed out, however, that permissibility of conduct is not any different—it is the approach and motivation that have changed. “There is a legal shift, but it’s not the biggest shift. It’s the way these cases have taken hold and the damage they’re seeming to do to employers at a much earlier stage. I haven’t met an employer who thought this conduct was OK three years ago and now it’s suddenly not,” she said.

Leyden added, “People were always worried about litigation exposure, but by the time these claims get to litigation in this current climate, it’s almost too late.”