"Based upon the evidence presented and witness testimony, the Court finds that the management of Draper Holdings was aware of past employee complaints of sexual harassment and by willfully ignoring these complaints, did create a hostile work environment as defined under section 465.29 of South Carolina labor laws. Subsequently, the Court rules in favor of the Plaintiff and awards the Plaintiff twenty-two months of back wages as compensatory damages, and three million dollars in punitive damages. Case closed."Aphrodite Hart was reading her copy of the judge's ruling as he announced it to the court. Her experience in hundreds of courtrooms made it easy for her to avoid visibly smiling or showing any other outward signs of satisfaction with the ruling that extended her perfect record of wins for her clients. Hearing the gasp from her client sitting next to her, followed by a sob of joy, Aphrodite patted the young woman's hand, silently encouraging her to control herself while still in t
Devon tried not to deal with inter-office e-mails while he was outside of the office, and the one currently on his laptop screen was exactly why. He didn't mind spending a few minutes on a Saturday morning corresponding with a client or vendor, but issues such as the one on his screen at that moment seemed to just sap any good feelings that he had about the weekend right out of his mind.The only reason that he had opened the e-mail from Emily Willis was that it had been sitting in his inbox for three days, and he owed the head of his Human Resources department a timely reply, even if she likely wouldn't see it until she came into her office on Monday morning.Sandy Cox was lodging another employee complaint. Reading the e-mail from Emily, Devon saw that Sandy was upset that her request for a vacation day on the Friday before Memorial Day had been refused by her manager. It was obvious from the manager's explanation why the request had been denied, but Sandy had demonstrated her prope
A major international hotel chain had purchased an oceanfront resort and spent the last year renovating it to become part of their flagship hotel brand. With most of the interior work completed, the new signage was contracted through Coastline Multimedia, which included his company obtaining approval for the signage from the Myrtle Beach Community Appearance Board. This quasi-judicial board reviewed all requests for exterior signs throughout the city and approved or disapproved of these requests based upon guidelines that were often ambiguous and arbitrary.When his project manager had brought the design plans for the new DOtel sign before the CAB, the volunteer board members had taken issue with the style and color, ignoring the fact that these were the hotel's internationally recognized brand identifiers. The project manager attempted to explain that requesting the changes that the CAB wanted would be similar to requiring McDonald's to make the arches for their Myrtle Beach location
"But it's boring at Grandma and Grandpa's house," Alex complained.Aphrodite ruffled his short blond hair, returned to packing her rolling suitcase, and said, "I know it is. That's why Grandma agreed to come over here to stay with you rather than you having to stay at their house. It's nice of her to agree to that, so I expect you to be a good host for her. Can you do that?"The most challenging part of Aphrodite maintaining two separate law offices was the need for her to share time between them. The Myrtle Beach office was still relatively new, but the client list there was growing each month, primarily through corporate clients keeping her on retainer to deal with legal issues involving their employees as they arose. Lana Street had been able to handle the majority of the matters with minimal oversight of her work, but there were certain aspects of building and maintaining a client base that required the boss' personal attention.One such event was the employment law symposium bein
"I'm sorry, Devon, but a woman is calling in on the main switchboard downstairs insisting to speak with you on what she says is a personal matter. She won't give her name and refuses to leave a number. Lyssa has hung up on her twice, but she keeps calling back."Devon glanced up from his computer screen and saw the agitated face of his personal assistant, Sierra Lawton. He knew that her agitation was with her being forced to interrupt him by circumstances beyond her control. Sierra took pride in being a tenacious gatekeeper for Devon's work schedule and would not take kindly to someone trying to get past her.He smiled and said, "That's okay, Sierra, it's almost time for me to break for lunch anyway. Tell Lyssa to put the woman through to me and I'll find out what this is all about.""Are you sure?" Sierra asked dubiously. While Devon had seemed distracted several times over the past few days, it wasn't like him to put even the most minor work detail aside to deal with an unknown such
She was an alpha female and had naturally attracted alpha males all of her life. Those that weren't intimidated by her were usually alphas only to the inferior "pack" of followers that they attracted. The guy in the pub had everyone there courting his favor, and she was certain, willing to follow him anywhere. Why?She had no problem acknowledging that the guy was physically attractive. A person would have to be blind not to realize that, but that attribute could be applied to millions of men. Studies had shown that physical appearances alone would not attract followers. From wolves to humans, research had shown that although the way that an animal looked would draw the attention of others, the behavior and character of an animal is what gained it the acceptance of others as a leader.Here, Aphrodite was at an apparent disadvantage. Other patrons in the pub likely knew the guy or were at least familiar with things about him, as told to them by others. She hadn't had any prior knowledg
"I'm sorry to hear that," Aphrodite said. "What about you, did you play college ball too?""No, I chose to work summers at Coastline while attending Coastal Carolina University. That prevented me from participating in the practice sessions over the summer that would have been necessary to make the team.""How long have you worked at Coastline?" Aphrodite asked. She wanted to gauge whether this guy might be someone she could use for information on the company if the potential cases moved forward.Devon didn't hesitate to answer, "I started working there as a laborer while in high school. I guess that I have done just about every type of job there is to do at Coastline.""You must really like working there," Aphrodite said."I wouldn't want to work anywhere else," Devon assured her. "What type of work do you do?"Hearing her cell phone ringing in her purse, Aphrodite quickly retrieved it. Recognizing Lana's number, she held up one finger to Devon before answering the call.The conversat
After a brief pause for further recollection, she continued, "When my parents questioned her about returning to Coastline the following summers, Athena had assured them that she knew that she would always have a spot at Coastline, whether as an intern or as a future employee. When they questioned her confidence, she had implied that her 'boyfriend' had the clout to ensure her a place there."Lana asked, "But you don't know who the boyfriend was? How do you know that it wasn't this HO guy?""Because," Aphrodite said, "Devon told me that he started working there in high school as a laborer. You tell me, did he look or act like the executive type when you saw him in the pub?""You can't base anything on how he looked while in a place like a pub," Lana countered."Oh, come on," Aphrodite chided. "You've seen his muscles bulging under his shirt. He has the physique of someone who does manual labor, not someone who sits behind a desk all day. I didn't notice how big he was until he walked m