Sexual Harassment
Sexual Harassment can take many forms; including a request for sexual favors; unwelcome sexual advances towards others, verbal, physical, or foreseeable conduct of a sexual nature towards people. This illegal conduct could occur in houses, or public places, hotels, restaurants, and can most often occur in the workplace. Employers, especially in the service industries, should pay careful attention to complaints by employees about customer conduct. An employer can be held liable under Title VII, for customer harassment if it fails to remedy or prevent a customer-created hostile work environment.
Sexual harassment can occur in a variety of circumstances, including but not limited to the following:
The victim as well as the harasser may be a woman or a man. The victim does not have to be of the opposite sex
The harasser can be the victim's supervisor, an agent of the employer, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or a non-employee
The victim does not have to be the person harassed but could be anyone affected by the offensive conduct
Unlawful sexual harassment may occur without economic injury to or discharge of the victim
The harasser's conduct must be unwelcome
In the case of Lockard v. Pizza Hut, Inc. (10th Cir. 1998) 162 F.3d 1062, a waitress sued Pizza Hut and its franchisee under Title VII for hostile work environment sexual harassment. While waiting tables, Lockard was harassed by two male customers. On a number of occasions, Lockard had informed her manager that she felt uncomfortable waiting on these men. One night, after Lockard seated the men, one of the men told Lockard that she "smelled good" and pulled her hair. Lockard immediately inf...
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...t the person making these unwanted sexual advances. Just as important, confronting your employer on their responsibilities of creating and maintaining a safe work environment between employees and customers. Reporting offensive behavior to employers or local authority can be done in person or through the person designated to handle Sexual Harassment complaints. When taking someone under a sexual harassment charge and following the proper procedures, justice will be served.
Bibliography:
Bennett-Alexander, D. D., & Pincus, L. B. (1998). Employment law for business (2nd ed.) [UOP Special Edition Series]. Burr Ridge, IL: Irwin/McGraw-Hill.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Lockard v. Pizza Hunt, Inc. (10th Cir. 1998) 162 F.3d 1062
EEOC COMPLIANCE MANUAL
TITLE 29--LABOR PART 1604--GUIDELINES ON DISCRIMINATION BECAUSE
Sexual harassment by definition is based on conduct of a sexual nature. An article on ENotes.com describes sexual harassment as;
Roberts, Barry S. and Richard A. Mann. ?Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: A Primer.? n.pag. On-line. Internet. 5 Dec 2000. Available WWW:
"Sexual harassment is a type of sex discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Unwelcome sexual advances, demands for sexual favors and other verbal or physical behavior of a sexual nature is inappropriate behavior when the behavior unequivocally or verifiably influences an individual’s employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance or creates a scary, antagonistic or hostile workplace (Noe, 2011).” " Sexual harassment can be the point at which somebody feels uncomfortable or irritated in a sexual manner, for instance, this could be as a remark, joke, look, or motion. There are two noteworthy sorts of sexual harassment: Quid pro quo which is the point at which a man is punished for dismissing
According to legal dictionary (2013), sexual harassment refers to any form of unwelcome sexual behavior or advances, appeals for sexual errands, and other form of physical or verbal conduct or behavior that portrays sex nature and tends to make the working environment offensive or hostile. Any behavior or remarks that take such forms constitute sexual harassment when: Compliance to such conduct happens either implicitly or explicitly based on employment of an individual, rejection or compliance to such conduct is used to make decisions during employment and when such conduct interferes or affects performance of a person at the workplace. Sexual harassment ta...
What comes to mind when you think of sexual harassment? Most people picture an individual grabbing another individual unwillingly in attempt of committing nonconsensual sex. However, sexual harassment can be something as insignificant as being called something negative. It is anything that makes a person feel uncomfortable about his/her sexuality. According to the law, sexual harassment is anything from unwelcome sexual advances and requests for sexual favors to verbal statements of a sexual nature. It violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Sexual Harassment Policy, which is currently in place in all schools and work places, is aimed at providing an educational and work environment free of harassment. This includes sexual harassment and every form of intimidation or exploitation.
Remington, J., Heiser, R., Smythe, C., & Sovereign, K. (2012). Human resources law (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
The other common type of sexual harassment is based upon the idea of comments indirectly or directly said in a hostile environment. This is called hostile environment harassment. This occurs when harassing conduct is so severe or persuasive that it affects the persons ability to be an individual. Regardless what type of harassment that occurs, you must take immediate action or measures to stop this violence.
Sexual Harassment is a prohibited conduct of inappropriate behavior in which an individual makes unwelcome sexual favors, requests, or any other form of verbal or physical acts in a sexual nature in which it creates a hostile environment to work in. any form of harassment that hinders or interferes with an employee’s work should be taken seriously and will not be tolerated.
Sexual harassment is so ordinary in the workforce that frequently we fail to even recognize harassing behavior as immoral. This is because so many of us--women and men alike--have become desensitized to offensive behaviors. Sexual harassment in any form is unacceptable behavior and should not be tolerated by anyone. It undermines our ability to study, to work, and to feel like effective, empowered people in the world.
Each year many people first become aware of sexual harassment when they are harassed in the workplace. Today in the United States there still seems to be a need for general information about sexual harassment. Many people are unaware of exactly what sexual harassment is, how it affects its victims, where it happens, and what to do if it happens to them. There are many laws that protect people from sexual harassment and provide them with information about what to do if you should ever be in this situation (Wyatt, 2000).
Clark, C. S. (1991, August 9). Sexual harassment. CQ Researcher, 1, 537-560. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher
For some, sexual harassment and assault seem almost like myths or bad dreams. For others, it's a living reality. The United States Department of Justice defines sexual assault as “any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient.” Sexual harassment and assault are demeaning, terrifying, and forceful behaviors. And yet, it’s happening every day.
Let your employee know what constitutes sexual harassment and what can be done by the organization. Let them know these things through frequent trainings and information and discussion forums.
For instance some of the sign of the sexual harassment can be from small comments on women's breast, unwanted body contact, offensive graphic pictures being sent directly to any individual. Sexual harassment can happen in a form of belittling remarks regarding specific ge...
In addition to legal measures, many governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations, and other bodies are using a range of techniques to prevent sexual harassment and help its victims. Governments, for example, issue guidance on how to design anti-sexual harassment measures and to offer counselling to workers who have been targeted. Workers’ and employers’ organizations are producing model policies and collective agreement clauses, issuing guidance on complying with laws, conducting research and providing training. At the workplace, growing numbers of employers are introducing sexual harassment policies and complaints procedures. Moreover, there appears to be an emerging consensus around what workplace policies should contain and the steps to be taken to implement them, which can be used by those employers who have yet to take action.