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Former Comcast employees say sexual harassment is rampant

Several Comcast employees working at a variety of call centers allege that sexual harassment at the company is a common occurrence, reports Jezebel. Six former employees spoke with the site, which verified their stories with friends and former coworkers who witnessed some of the abuse. Just one alleged incident: The new office was mostly full […]

Former Comcast employees say sexual harassment is rampant

[Photo: courtesy of Comcast]

BY Michael Grothaus1 minute read

Several Comcast employees working at a variety of call centers allege that sexual harassment at the company is a common occurrence, reports Jezebel. Six former employees spoke with the site, which verified their stories with friends and former coworkers who witnessed some of the abuse. Just one alleged incident:

The new office was mostly full of men, and she could hear her coworkers talking. It wasn’t professional chitchat. “These guys [were] constantly talking to women walking by,” she said. “This one lady who had just come back from maternity leave, [they were] constantly asking her ‘got milk?’ and making squeezing gestures with their hands.” According to Rhodes, they made comments about women’s bodies—big asses, fat calves—and even grabbed their women coworkers.

And another:

A male coworker walked toward her cubicle one day as she sat at her desk, and she didn’t block him from entering. Then he “bends over to hug me, wraps his arms around my arms, his chin is kind of like on the top of my head,” she said. “As he releases, he grabs both of my breasts.” . . . A few weeks later, as she walked past his desk, he said to her, “I miss the girls,” referring to her breasts.

“And that one statement kind of broke me,” she said, her voice trembling. “In that little statement—’I miss the girls’—every ounce of any kind of power that I had was gone.”

Jezebel approached Comcast about the allegations made, but the company refused to speak about specific situations or events. As for Jezebel‘s report, it is well worth a read, though parts of it are hard to stomach. It also shows that the epidemic of sexual harassment spotlighted by the #MeToo movement isn’t only limited to Hollywood and media companies.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michael Grothaus is a novelist and author. He has written for Fast Company since 2013, where he's interviewed some of the tech industry’s most prominent leaders and writes about everything from Apple and artificial intelligence to the effects of technology on individuals and society. Michael’s current tech-focused areas of interest include AI, quantum computing, and the ways tech can improve the quality of life for the elderly and individuals with disabilities More


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