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How does employing a rapist not constitute an unsafe work environment for female employees?

So I just discovered that I have been working next to the waste of oxygen that raped my best friend several years ago. I work in a manufacturing environment and I know that you can't fire someone just for being a sex offender unless it directly interferes with work duties (in the US). But despite it being a primarily male workforce he does work with several women who have no idea what he is. He literally followed a woman home, broke into her house, and raped her. Him working here puts every female employee at risk. How is that not an unsafe working environment? How is it at even legal to employ him anywhere where he will have contact with women?

312 comments
  • I hate to say this, but do you know what he's done to rehabilitate himself? Do you know why he's allowed to work there? Have you talked to management about what you discovered?

    All of your questions are very very leading. Of course we deplore rape. However, despite what you may think, we should all be given a chance to redeem ourselves.

    I can understand why you fear for the safety of yourself and others around you. If you do nothing, that is entirely on you. But I do hope that you have compassion and a sense of forgiveness in your heart too. For all you know, you can also be surrounded by thieves and murderers, but none of those are publicly branded.

    I urge you to bring this to the management's attention. Talk to your female coworkers and let them know.

    • The concept of Redemeption is sadly one that barely exists nowadays. While the crime of rape is unforgivable, a wise woman once said "If Hell is forever, then Heaven's a lie."

      If we don't let people have a chance to better themselves and prove that they aren't the monsters they used to be, then we condemn them to return to their most toxic behaviors.

      That said, if someone has a history of vile behavior, then it's best to warn those you feel can minimize his harm or are vulnerable. He needs to be given a chance for redemption and self-betterment, but he can't be given free reign either.

      • In the absolute majority of rape cases there is no bettering themselves happening because the rapists never face any consequences to begin with.

    • All of your questions are very very leading. Of course we deplore rape. However, despite what you may think, we should all be given a chance to redeem ourselves.

      There are a few crimes that are not forgivable, where you lose all right to any benefit of the doubt and should be labeled as dangerous, suspicious, and existential threat for the rest of your life.

      Premeditated Rape is one of those crimes.

      Premeditated rape is not a accident. its not a crime of passion. it is a deliberate, multi-step action that result in harming and violating another human being in one of the worst ways possible. There were so many points in which any shred of basic human decency that existed in his body could have asserted itself and changed his course, but it didnt. He followed through multiple steps in the process to follow and ultimately violate and his victim in one of the worst ways a person can harm another human being. Because he is a predator, and a threat.

      Regardless of his time in jail, he is a threat. he will always be a threat. There is no one around him that is not at risk.

      and worse still, because hes already been caught once, he will have learned.. and the chances of the next victim escaping alive are slimmer for it.

      There is no redemption arc that can unrape his victim, and erase the threat he poses.

  • When I read the title question, my immediate answer was "If the rapist is a gay man, or a straight woman."

  • If you aren't going to find a new job, document any inappropriate behavior. Talk to the other women and get them onboard. Let them know who he is. It wont take much to have him out on his ass if he does anything. Bring up his conviction when you report misconduct as well.

    There are plenty of jobs he can work that aren't with the best friend of his victim.

    • This is an understandable sentiment, but telling everyone about the charges for which this person has served their sentence in order to rally the rest of the workplace to look for ways to get them sacked is super-likely to see you face consequences for bullying.

      If you don't want to work with this person, consider explaining the circumstances to HR (noting that your friend was a victim), and say it'll be too traumatic to work alongside them. This seems like a reasonable request to me, which should be accommodated - particularly if HR are already aware of the conviction.

      If you want vengeance, figure out a way that isn't going to put your livelihood in jeopardy. Don't squeeze more negative consequences out of an already shitty situation.

      Finally, you need to consider the society you're advocating for - if we're abandoning the rule of law to keep people out of work and unable to support themselves after serving their time, we're relegating them to be either wards of the state or homeless. We've already seen the issues caused by felons being barred from voting and its interplay with racial and political dynamics - how do you think manufacturing a desperate criminal underclass will work out for society?

      • You said what I intended to say much more eloquently than I could. Thanks.

      • Great comment.

      • Wow, holy shit 🤣 Okay, let's break this down:

        This is an understandable sentiment, but telling everyone about the charges for which this person has served their sentence in order to rally the rest of the workplace to look for ways to get them sacked is super-likely to see you face consequences for bullying.

        Uniting with other people who feel the same way isn't bullying, it's a sign the complaint is legitimate. If a group of people complaining about another coworker is bullying, then nothing could be done about anyone. And they couldn't unionize either.

        Bottom line is, employees coming together over a common problem, even one employee rallying others, is done for many legitimate reasons, situations like this included. Even if you don't agree with anything standing in the way of a known rapist working around women.

        If you don’t want to work with this person, consider explaining the circumstances to HR (noting that your friend was a victim), and say it’ll be too traumatic to work alongside them. This seems like a reasonable request to me, which should be accommodated - particularly if HR are already aware of the conviction.

        Which will force the victim, or potential victim, to cede territory to the rapist, enabling the rapist to continue harming others. 🤔 Legally, it may or may not benefit OP depending on how they respond, but it's really not asking enough. They need to ask for the rapist to be moved. For which they'll need the backing of other people.

        If you want vengeance, figure out a way that isn’t going to put your livelihood in jeopardy.

        No one even mentioned vengeance. Strawman elsewhere.

        Don’t squeeze more negative consequences out of an already shitty situation.

        Hahaha you just come right the fuck out and say it.

        No negative consequences for rape allowed, rapists should be able to rape and live their lives unabated.

        And if we say otherwise, well, negative consequences might come upon us.

        Finally, you need to consider the society you’re advocating for -

        Ironically I agree with you. This is a horrifying authoritarian slave racket masquerading as a representative democracy, which is run by rapists. And we unironically do have to consider their feelings, because they are the cops, judges and employers who tell others what to do and can do anything they want to you with no consequences. If we let offenders experience consequences on others for doing terrible things, that means they might have to face the music, and we all know they shouldn't have to handle that.

        No man should have to experience consequences for rape. It'd be too much of a threat to the society that built itself on rape.

        if we’re abandoning the rule of law to keep people out of work and unable to support themselves after serving their time, we’re relegating them to be either wards of the state or homeless. We’ve already seen the issues caused by felons being barred from voting and its interplay with racial and political dynamics - how do you think manufacturing a desperate criminal underclass will work out for society?

        1. A company is not an agent of the law and what it does has no bearing on the rule of law
        2. Banning rapists from working around women in no wa would break the rule of law if it was an actual law. We already have sex offender registries and yet somehow the world will keep on turning
        3. Rapists can go take jobs that doesn't require them to be around other people.
        4. Blackmailing and threatening us with the implied threat of harm from disenfranchised rapists is the exact same vengeance you accuse your opponents of having. You literally became exactly what you claim to hate. You. The one wielding it like an emotional cudgel when no one brought it up. But it is certainly like you to project your faults onto others. It's what rape apologists do, after all.
  • The average user of Lemmy has more empathy with a two times convicted rapist than with Amber Heard or that one woman from this atrocious Tiger King series.

  • I doesn't butbit is what it is . In my opinion rapists should be put to death or given life sentence in prison where they can work till the end of their life.

312 comments