In a decision signed Friday and distributed yesterday to the lawyers involved, a federal judge for the Southern District of New York threw out the sexual and racial harassment charges brought against New York City by five women in its Work Experience Program (WEP). Judge Richard Conway Casey pointed to the facts that WEP workers receive very low compensation and no health or pension benefits in agreeing with the city's argument that WEP workers are not legally employees of the city and cannot sue for on the job harassment. The women in the case---who were required to work for city agencies including the Parks and Sanitation Departments in exchange for their welfare benefits as part of the WEP program---complained of such acts as the placing of racist cartoons and a noose on one of their desks.
See "Judge Rejects Harassment Lawsuits for Women on Workfare", THOMAS J. LUECK, The New York Times, March 11, 2002