Good Question: How Common Is Sexual Harassment?
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson is suing Roger Ailes, her old boss, for sexual harassment.
Carlson, a former Miss Minnesota and Miss America, claims she was fired last month because she refused his sexual advances.
Ailes says the allegations are false and Fox News' parent company, 21st Century Fox, says it is conducting an internal review.
Rarely do we hear about these cases so publicly. Often, we don't hear about them at all.
Surveys show between one-quarter and one-half of women have faced sexual harassment at work. One in ten men also say it has happened to them.
"It's as common as it has been for many, many years," says Frances Baillon, an employment law attorney with Baillon, Thome, Jozwiak And Wanta. "I see cases, not every day, but often, with overt and obvious harassment."
Around 7,000 allegations are reported to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission each year, but that is nowhere near the cases experts think are out there.
Baillon says some cases are settled internally and fewer become the subject of a lawsuit. Most, though, go unreported.
"The number-one reason people don't come forward is fear of retaliation," Baillon said.
Of those who do report, the cases are often hard-fought. Many times, there is no objective corroborating evidence, but rather conversations between two people.
"I don't know if they are more difficult or less difficult to win than any other case," Baillon said. "But I think they do take a different kind of emotional and professional toll on the employee because of the kind of scrutiny, judgement and criticism."