How can a room full of energetic colleagues be silenced in a matter of seconds? Just mention the term sexual harassment. When it's mentioned, pained expressions, bowed heads, or excessive fidgeting usually occurs. That's because dealing with sexual harassment issues can cause physical and psychological reactions for all involved no matter what gender one is. Sexual harassment is defined by The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) as: “a form of a sex discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitutes sexual harassment when submission to or rejection of this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual’s employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual’s employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment” (Sexual Harassment U.S. Equal). There are four main topics of sexual harassment that one should expound on when researching sexual harassment: types of sexual harassment, recognizing sexually harassing behavior, courses of action for victims of sexual harassment, and employer responsibilities and employers rights.

The two types of sexual harassment are: quid pro quo and hostile work environment[1]. Quid pro quo sexual harassment is “discriminatory behavior by a supervisor that compels an employee to elect between acceding to sexual demands and forfeiting job benefits, continued employment or promotion, or otherwise tangible job detriments” (Sexual Harassment Houston). A classic example of a quid pro quo situation is when one is being promised a promotion in exchange for going out with one’s boss. Alternatively, quid pro quo harassment may occur if the victim is threatened with negative repercussions, such as job loss or removal of perks, unless they submit to the harassment. If the threat is actually carried out, and the victim suffers a physical job loss as a result of the threat, one’s employer is liable for a quid pro quo harassment claim. Hostile work environment is when sexual harassment occurs when behavior or conduct of a sexual nature of supervisor, coworkers, other employers, clients, or customers, affects working conditions or creates a hostile, offensive, or intimidating work environment for the victim[2]. This type of sexual harassment can impact the victim’s ability to carry out their job properly, although it may not always result in a tangible job detriment situation for the victim[3]. To violate federal law, this type of conduct must either be severe or pervasive. Furthermore, hostile work environment can occur independently of quid pro quo harassment; however this type of sexual harassment often accompanies quid pro quo harassment.

Sexual harassment can take a variety of forms: the victim and harasser may be of the same sex or the opposite sex, the victim may be directly or indirectly harassed, the victim’s salary or job may or may not be directly affected by the sexual harassment, and the harasser is not always a supervisor, but can hold different positions[4]. An unwelcoming advance is one of the key concepts used to determine whether a behavior is sexually harassing. People of either sex and people at all levels in an organization can become victims of sexual harassment. Additionally, sexual harassing behavior may be: unwelcome, severe or pervasive, gender-directed, offensive or objectionable to a reasonable person. Gender-directed or gender-based harassment includes comments, actions, gestures, or a combination of these directed towards a man specifically because he is male or a woman specifically because she is female. Severe behavior is a single incident of a sexual nature that a reasonable person would find highly offensive. For example, if a coworker is trying to grope another. Pervasive behavior includes sexual comments, gestures, or other action that a reasonable person might find offensive, occurring repeatedly over a period of time. For example, rude comments and whistles from coworkers on a day to day basis.

There are three courses of action that can be taken when an employee is sexually harassed: confront the harasser, make an informal complaint, and file a formal complaint. The best way employees should confront someone who is harassing them is: do it in private, be direct about their feelings, and don’t offer excuses for complaining. However, confronting a harasser can be difficult; therefore, employees should only confront the harasser if they feel comfortable and confident enough. If holding a private meeting doesn’t resolve the sexual harassment issue the employee should then file an informal complaint. The individual who takes the informal complaint should do the following as the complaint is being given by the filer: write the complaint down, get all the facts, avoid giving advice, consider the severity, and of course keep it confidential. After filing an informal complaint, the victim or the individual who takes the informal complaint should check the company’s policy on sexual harassment. If the proposed complaint falls under the company’s policy then the victim should then file a formal complaint. The formal complaint can be lodged with the human resources manager or the individual appointed to handle harassment complaints.  Additionally, the complaint should be handled in accordance with the company policy guidelines. After filing a formal complaint the companies’ responsibility is to handle it quickly. If it’s not handled quickly the employee can then file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or a state agency with proper jurisdiction (Sexual Harassment U.S. Equal).

Sexual harassment can severely impact the employee that is being victimized to include: lack of productivity, fear of reprisal, and feelings of insecurity. The employer has a legal responsibility to ensure that the work environment is free from sexual harassment and free from retaliation for reporting or resisting sexual harassment, or support a victim of harassment. If employers ignore their responsibilities towards sexual harassment, the company may have to do the following: pay the plaintiff front and/ or back pay. Also, if the employee had been dismissed, the employer might be forced to reinstate the plaintiff. Additionally, if the plaintiff is successful, the company may even have to pay their attorney’s fees. For example, a company in 1999 was sued over a charge that claimed that over a 13 year period, its women employees were constantly being verbally and sexually harassed yet the company refused to do anything. Though the company dismissed the charges, settlements were made. Part of the settlements included revising their sexual harassment prevention policies (Stewart).

Women have been subjected to sexual harassment since the beginning of time and it obvious that still occurs today. However, the term "sexual harassment" wasn't accepted until the 1960s and sexual harassment didn't become illegal until 1976 (Roberts). Fortunately, the stigma of complaining about sexual harassment has declined, the standards of acceptable workplace behavior have risen, and juries are more willing to award substantial damages in serious cases.  In Fiscal Year 2006, EEOC received 12,025 charges of sexual harassment. 15.4% of those charges were filed by males. The EEOC was able to resolve 11, 936 sexual harassment charges and recovered $48.8 million in monetary benefits for charging parties and other aggrieved individuals.  Sexual harassment claims cost companies up to 6.7 million dollars annually for a typical Fortune 500 company and they involve paperwork. No matter how or when harassment occurs it's a raw issue that can make everyone feel vulnerable, but it's ultimately a management responsibility to competently investigate and resolve sexual harassment claims.

Research indicates that roughly one-half of all civilian women and close to two-thirds of all women in the military will experience sexual harassment at some point in their working lives (Magley).  However, relatively few harassed women actually use the label sexual harassment in constructing an understanding of their experiences. Indeed, recent research suggests that only 20-30% of harassed women label their experiences as sexual harassment (Magley).

Sexual harassment is not only against the law, it is humiliating and offensive. It is up to each individual to be aware of potential sexual harassment situations and take responsibility to prevent them from occurring. Understanding and proving hostile environment harassment is more difficult than understanding and proving quid pro quo. The workplace of today is a far different spot than it was even a few years ago. With so many more women working, particularly in traditionally male-only bastions, there are simply more opportunities for sexual issues to arise. Charges of harassment are not made solely by women against men. The law applies equally to harassment cases, regardless of the gender of the harasser or the victim. If one has questions and/or concerns about sexual harassment they can contact the designated human resources professional at their company.

Sexual harassment has actually occurred throughout time. For instance, the lord of a manor in the 1400’s was allowed to screw any of his female ‘employees’.  It’s always been fun to be a human woman.

 

 

 

Works Cited

 

 

 

"Sexual Harassment." U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). 14 Nov 2007 <http://www.eeoc.gov/types/sexual_harassment.html >.

 

 

Magley, Vicki. "Self-labeling sexual harassment." Find Articles. 08 2005. BNET Research Center. 14 Nov 2007 <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2294/is_3-4_53/ai_n16083875>.

 

 

Roberts, Barry. "Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: A Primer." University of Akron. 14 Nov 2007 <http://www3.uakron.edu/lawrev/robert1.html>.

 

 

"Sexual Harassment." Houston Employment Lawyer. Pursley Law Firm. 28 Nov 2007 <http://www.employmentattorney.org/harassment/index.php>.

Stewart, Bonnie. "Sexual harassment not a thing of the past. (Issues@Work)." Fairfield County Business Journal 42.20 (May 19, 2003): 4(1). General OneFile. Gale. VA Comm Coll Cons System Office. 2 Dec. 2007
<http://find.galegroup.com.ezproxy.vccs.edu:2048/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS>.