Every day, invisible armies of men and women head to work, performing tasks that make our lives a little bit easier. They clean buildings, assemble the devices we can’t live without and cook our favorite cheap eats.
Female janitors working alone at night have been particularly vulnerable to sexual assault and reluctant to report it. California Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, said her office is working on a bill that would increase protections for night shift workers.
ABM Industries has agreed to an outside review of rape claims made by female janitors in California, adding a new layer of oversight for a company with a history of accusations that it failed to prevent sexual violence.
In Reveal’s July episode, we examine the hidden problem of sexual assault of female janitors on the night shift; explore the legacy of toxic chemicals used in electronics manufacturing, both here and in Asia; and take to the fields to explore why it was so hard to ban a tool that was injuring agricultural workers.
Working under the cover of darkness, night shift janitors are particularly vulnerable to sexual harassment and rape. In this segment, we hear from members of a nonprofit who try to root out abuses in the cleaning industry; women who’ve sued janitorial companies for failing to protect them; and an accused rapist who has run his own cleaning company.
Learn more about potential solutions that could help address on-the-job sexual assault among night shift janitors, some of the country’s most invisible workers.
