Judge orders sex harassment plaintiffs to produce Facebook passwords

Women suing an employer for sexual harassment will have to provide a court official with their social media and e-mail passwords. The novel procedure was announced by a Colorado federal magistrate judge earlier this month. Wendy Cabrera is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against the Honeybaked Ham Company. She and about 20 other women charge that company manager James Jackman "frequently" groped women under his supervision and made sexual requests of them. The woman say the corporate office failed to take action to stop his behavior after it was reported.

Honeybaked Ham argues it needs copies of certain Facebook postings, e-mails, text messages, and other private communications of the plaintiffs in order to defend itself. For example, the company says Cabrera discussed "her financial expectations in this lawsuit" on her Facebook page, which the company says could be useful to establish the plaintiff's motive. The firm also said she posted a picture of Cabrera wearing "a shirt with the word 'CUNT' in large letters written across the front." The defense argues this picture is relevant to the case because Cabrera has charged the word was "used pejoratively against her," and caused her offense.