Sexual Harassment Action Plan

Compile and Justify the Plan of Action for Problem Resolution

Introduction

Sexual harassment in the workplace resulting in a hostile work environment for female employees, costs companies and organizations millions of dollars in settlement costs each year. “The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and Fair Employment Practice Agency partners reported that from fiscal years 1997-2011, there were 205,996 reported sexual harassment claims resulting in monetary payouts of 725.3 million dollars, and these statistics do not include claims through litigation” (Sexual Harassment Charges, 2014, p.1). The goal is simple, we must eliminate sexual harassment in the workplace, and the workplace can occur anywhere that an employee represents

Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission with sexual harassment. This was the first time a sexual harassment claim received worldwide media attention. And instead of this being an isolated incident, news organizations and national magazines started running other stories of sexual harassment in the United States, especially within the military, which highlighted this was a problem that affected many organizations and society as a whole. The genie was now out of the bottle, the issue millions of Americans knew existed in the workplace, but did not talk about, became exposed on a national level. Sexual harassment is prevalent, toxic, societal, legal and ethical problem. Sexual harassment, which is a form of sex discrimination, has become one of the most persistent and destructive problems in the U.S.

“According to an April 2010 survey by the Alexandria, Va.-based Society for Human Resource Management, 64% of organizations received at least one sexual harassment claim in the previous two years, with 57% saying there had been no change in the number and 25% reporting an increase” (Greenwald, 2011). Actual sexual harassment cases that create a hostile work environment are seldom clear-cut. The challenge for many employees who are having to cope with a hostile work environment that is caused by sexually harassing behavior by a superior or co-worker, may not appear as sexual harassment at first glance. The following are some examples:

• A romantic affair between two co-workers ends, however the male wants to continue the relationship. The female employee informs her supervisor the co-worker refuses to accept the relationship is over and continues to ask her on dates and sends her emails of a very personal nature from his office email account. The supervisor, refuses to "get in the middle" and tells her to work it out on her own. Based on the given scenario, the supervisor, the male employee and the organization all could be liable for sexual