Sexual Assault Survivor: Legislation That Could Have Protected Me
A survivor shares how New York's Adult Survivors Act helped her seek justice after assault, retaliation, and career loss following a workplace attack.
The career she’d worked toward was just beginning. Fresh out of college, she landed a position at a mortgage bank in Uniondale and felt the particular electricity of a first real job. Within days, that future collapsed.
In December 2021, she was sexually assaulted by a colleague who had played a direct role in hiring her. What followed was a cascade of losses. She was told to stay away from the office, then fired. Shortly after, she lost her position as a cheer coach in her hometown. In a matter of weeks, she had lost her income, her professional identity, and her sense of safety.
A PTSD diagnosis came later. Months of struggling followed. But with encouragement from a friend, she sought legal help and filed a civil case under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which gave her a window to pursue justice for what had happened.
The legal system offered a path forward. It also revealed how easily that path can be weaponized against the people brave enough to walk it.
After filing suit, she faced retaliation tactics and professional consequences while trying to rebuild her career in the mortgage industry. Defense attorneys for her former employer obtained her medical records and subjected her to hours of deposition questioning. A media company connected to the mortgage bank produced parody videos mocking sexual assault in the workplace.
She eventually accepted a settlement. She made a deliberate choice not to sign any confidentiality agreement. Her reason was straightforward: she wanted to be able to tell her story and help prevent others from going through the same experience.
During Sexual Assault Awareness Month, she posted a video to social media sharing what had happened to her, having cleared the decision with her attorney first. Within the hour, she learned that her abuser’s legal team had contacted her attorney threatening a defamation lawsuit.
She has not been sued. But the threat carried its own cost. She was advised that defending such a claim could run into the tens of thousands of dollars. The physical toll followed. She was later diagnosed with vocal nodules and muscle tension dysphonia. The message delivered by that legal threat was unmistakable: speak, and face consequences.
This is a pattern that extends far beyond high-profile courtroom dramas. Survivor advocates have noted a measurable increase in hesitation among survivors considering coming forward, particularly in the wake of televised defamation trials that showed in detail how telling the truth can be turned into financial ruin. Legal threats become instruments of silence, designed not necessarily to win in court but to exhaust, intimidate, and deter.
Retaliatory defamation suits filed against survivors of sexual assault or harassment, sometimes called SLAPP suits, strategic lawsuits against public participation, have drawn attention from legislators in several states. The argument for stronger protections is practical: when the act of speaking truthfully about your own experience exposes you to ruinous legal costs, the right to share that experience becomes theoretical for anyone without substantial resources.
New York already has an anti-SLAPP law, but advocates and survivors argue the current protections contain gaps, particularly for individuals speaking on matters considered personal rather than public. Legislation that would expand those protections is the reason this survivor chose to put her name and her story into the conversation.
Long Island has no shortage of voices willing to show up for survivors at candlelight vigils or awareness walks each April. The harder work is making space for survivors to speak without fear of being financially dismantled for doing so. This woman did everything the system asked. She reported. She filed. She went through depositions and settlement negotiations and medical evaluations. She chose transparency over a payout with strings attached.
The least the system can offer in return is protection for the words she earned the right to say.
Sexual Assault Awareness Month begins Tuesday. For Long Islanders who want to support survivors in a concrete way, following pending state legislation around survivor speech protections is a place to start.