One of your duties as an employer is to ensure that sexual harassment of any kind is never tolerated. It’s not only the law that requires this, but it’s also the smart thing to do for your company. Allowing sexual harassment to flourish in the workplace can result in low morale, decreased productivity, and even legal action against the offending party.
Sexual harassment is illegal for the same reasons that discrimination against women is illegal. The primary federal legislation prohibiting sexual harassment is Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Further, the legal protections against sexual harassment vary from state to state.
The Question: What Exactly Is Sexual Harassment?
A hostile, offensive or intimidating work environment can be the result of sexual harassment, which includes any unwanted sexual advances or conduct on the job. Sexual harassment can consist of any unwelcome and suggestive behaviour toward an employee.
Among the many forms of sexual harassment are:
- A boss tells an employee they need to sleep with him if they want to keep their jobs.
- A coworker overhears a sales clerk making derogatory remarks about female clients.
- When a Sexual Harassment Attorney at a firm make frequent sexually explicit jokes, the office manager is uneasy.
- A retail clerk fondles and pinches an unwilling coworker.
- Colleagues use sexist or derogatory language when referring to a secretary.
- Several workers use the office bulletin board to share sexually explicit humour with one another.
- A worker writes emails to coworkers that are rife with sexual innuendo and profanity.
- Anyone in a position of authority over the victim or the victim’s coworkers is fair game for the harassment charges. In some cases, the law may hold a business owner responsible for harassment committed by a third party who is not an employee (such as a client or supplier).
Mandatory Education on Sexual Harassment Prevention
Training on how to avoid sexual harassment is mandatory in some states for specific types of businesses. In California, for instance, businesses with at least 50 workers are required to provide supervisors with two hours of sexual harassment training every two years. Sexual harassment training is also mandatory in the states of Connecticut and Maine.
Even if it isn’t required by law, many states strongly suggest that businesses offer such courses to their staff. In the event of a lawsuit, you will be able to establish that you took reasonable precautions to prevent harassment in the workplace if you have trained your managers, even if your state does not require or encourage such training.
