What he did was terrible, absolutely, his apology though is a cut above the rest. I just question whether or not what he did as actually legal. I think she would have a case. Like you said, he was her boss. He crossed more than a few lines and he took revenge when denied.
The apology talks about him leaving his girlfriend, so he had a wife and a girlfriend?
Doesnât everyone? Wait. Did I say that out loud? Nothing, dear! Talking about games, thatâs all.
My wife will sometimes watch me play a game. I get really uncomfortable in games where you can have a female companion and suddenly the relationship goes romantic. In Dragon Age: Origins I think there is a situation where that pretty much has to happen and I donât want her around when it does. :)
My bad he had a live-in girlfriend at the time, so not married but definitely in a serious living-together relationship.
That he was leavingâŚ
I am not sure that hugely matters. I mean people, mostly men, get all worried about holding men to standards will suddenly destroy the dating scene. He said he pursued her for what two years and then when he was turned down, repeatedly, went into revenge mode⌠Thatâs. Not. Normal.
The shittiness of the crime doesnât really affect the quality of the apology.
Yeah, and the quality of the apology doesnât negate the shittiness of the crime. This guy really damaged this woman.
On Twitter, Megan Ganzâthe person who raised the complaint against Harmonâsays that she fully and completely has accepted his private and public apologies to her.
That seems to be the biggest, (but not only) part of this.
Oh, and to fill in some more blanks: this was why Dan Harmon was removed from Community. Thatâs why he says pretty pointedly that his actions not only cost him friends and respect, they also cost him his show.
She should never have had to go through that in the first place, and sheâs not required to forgive him.
But as far as an apology goes, which is not entitled to being accepted, I think he did well with it. I already said that, I just think he might be wrong on claiming what he did was legal.
What law did he break?
Probably a handful of labor laws, including sexual discrimination / harassment. You realize there is a huge field between hitting on someone and rape right? He was her boss.
This topic is about judging the apology itself not necessarily juding the thing being apologized for⌠and since
I tend to agree we have to give this one a 10/10 flawless apology. Maybe a decade too late, kinda? But 10/10.
It was a pretty great apology.
But I doubt he would have run afoul of any laws â he wasnât treating her differently because she was a woman; he was treating her differently because they had a disagreement and a falling out. She could probably have sued in civil court for wrongful termination if she had been the one fired instead of him, but thatâs not the way it shook out.
Obviously different states have different workplace laws, and I donât know how Caliâs might work.
Did you read his apology?
Specifically this part:
Things that I would never, ever, ever have done if she had been male and if I had never had those feelings for her, and I lied to myself the entire time about it and I lost my job, I ruined my show, I betrayed the audience, I destroyed everything, and I damaged her internal compass, and I moved on.
Oh I know â he admitted as much, and good for him for being so honest with himself.
I donât want to get into a lot of logomachy here. As part of a workplace, what he did was undeniably harassment so his firing was absolutely justified. And what he did was terrible. And she could have sued in civil court and possibly won a monetary judgement. I just donât think it was criminal in the strict sense of âhe could have been convictedâ. But IANAL.
Sexual Harassment and Discrimination is illegal. California, which now requires anyone at a certain level to take special training for it, that Google kid probably bitched about that although we all have to take some training man or woman, is especially harsh with it.
Itâs against the law, which makes it illegal. It has nothing to do with whether itâs criminal or not. He made a statement that his actions were legal, which is incorrect.
Not every illegal act winds up with someone in hand-cuffs, but itâs still illegal.
Yep, doesnât appear to be evidence of illegality, even with all this. Discrimination is incredibly difficult to prove, and why many state labor boards will refer cases back to the employer when there arenât other extenuating criminal circumstances (like a physical assault) to handle.
And typically then, the insurance underwriter who handles the employerâs liability will tell the employer to make sure it doesnât happen again; if the offending invdividual(s) remain employed, they are then unemployed if a second complaint is made when the insurance company tells the employer that their premiums are about to go way up.
And, even when a labor board panel makes a finding of some discriminatory practice, the penalty is statutory (meaning not misdemeanor or felonious) and results in escalating fines up to and including revocation of license to do business. See here for the structure of those fines and any financial damages to be paid.
In any event:
(That she says Harmon âGives a full accountâ lends further credence to this being a terrible way for human being to treat another human being, but nothing strictly illegal happened.)
Itâs cool that she accepted the apology.
Clearly you donât know the cases in CA, but hey, Iâm sure the dozens of cases we all have to read are just made up, not like they went all the way to court or anything (aka they were not settled.)
AGAIN this has nothing to do with whether it was legal or not.