"Bro Hugs At Work: Sexual Discrimination?"

Hmm. What is this about?

A bro hug … sexist?  How?  Why?

Huh?

In my new Above The Law post, I examine a question posed by a female reader of The New York Times “workologist” who wrote this past week that at her blue-collar job “[n]o one ever touches me, and it’s not that I want anyone to. That would be weird.”

The “workologist” was told of her concern of “almost feel[ing] left out” when the males at job “constantly hug and grab and bump each other in a friendly way.” She asked: “Should I let this ‘bro contact’ bother me?”

So she felt excluded from the hugging?

Should she?

Channeling Justice Scalia, not every workplace slight or incivility – or exclusion – is actionable, unless it involves things like gender, race, religion, age, etc.

Is a bro hug exclusionary?  After examining the famous “Dialogues,” I ultimately had to seek out the Oracle of FisherBroyles to get a good answer.

Read the entire Above The Law post.

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Richard Cohen

Richard B. Cohen is a partner in the New York City office of FisherBroyles, LLP, a national law firm. Richard Cohen has litigated and arbitrated complex corporate, commercial and employment disputes for more than 35 years, and is a trusted advisor to business owners and in-house counsel both in the United States and internationally. His clients have included Fortune 100 companies, domestic and foreign commercial and investment banks, Pacific-rim corporations and real estate development companies, as well as start-up businesses throughout the United States. Email Richard at [email protected]