1. Sexual Harassment Violates Employment Law
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces employment laws in the United States. The EEOC defines unlawful sexual harassment as, "Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature." The activity must be unwelcome. In other words, the victim must not encourage or solicit the activity. Sexual harassment violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Title VII prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of gender and other characteristics like race and religion. Sexual harassment is a form of gender discrimination.
2. Beware of Equal Opportunity Sexual Harassment
The EEOC expanded the original definition of sexual harassment to include offensive nonsexual activity directed at someone because of gender. Examples include cruel practical jokes, derogatory name-calling and poor work assignments. The harassment can be directed toward the same sex, opposite sex or both sexes. Therefore, equal opportunity harassment that targets both men and women in the workplace is also illegal. A victim doesn't have to be the direct target of harassment. Anyone in the workplace who is offended by the activity can be a victim.
3. Say Whoa to Quid Pro Quo
Quid pro quo is Latin for compensation. In quid pro quo harassment, the victim must surrender to a supervisor's sexual demands or risk being fired or losing job benefits like a promotion or salary increase. Office romances between supervisors and subordinates can easily lead to quid pro quo claims. After the romance ends, the subordinate may claim the relationship was unwelcome but permitted out of fear.
4. Spot a Hostile Work Environment
Hostile work environment harassment can be committed by any employee or customer in the workplace. Examples include unwelcome physical touching, verbal comments about appearance, use of profanity, discussion of sexual topics and display of sexual material. A single occurrence of these activities does not constitute sexual harassment. When the activity is repeated the harassment is pervasive, and the environment becomes hostile. A second type of hostile work environment harassment occurs when the activity is severe, such as physical assault or rape. A severe activity does not need to be repeated in order to constitute hostile work environment harassment.
5. File a Complaint
Workplace sexual harassment policies direct the victim to fill out a complaint form and file it with a supervisor. If you find yourself a victim of sexual harassment, you should also preserve any paraphernalia involved like pictures or notes. Keep your own record of incidences and witnesses. Tell others about the activity and that it is unwelcome. Employers who receive complaints of sexual harassment in the workplace should act quickly to stop it before it is repeated. Employers are liable for sexual harassment committed in the workplace. Harassers are personally liable as well.
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