Sexual Harassment At Work

Criteria For Defining Sexual Harassment At Work

Sexual harassment work related issues need to follow certain criteria in order to be classified as such. For example:

*What determines sexual harassment

* What creates a hostile work environment?

*What are the rules of proper physical or verbal conduct?

*Why is the employee responsible for stopping sexual harassment?

Determining what is sexual harassment under the law, is defined by what conditions and events causes an employee to feel uncomfortable. For example, if an employee tells a joke of a sexual nature to another employee who feels uncomfortable or embarrassed by the content or an employee interacts with physical contact, jokes about certain body parts, uses vulgar language, discusses sexual encounters, expects sexual favors, and prevents the employee from performing his or her job duties, that would be considered sexual harassment, especially if the employee asks the offending employee to stop the behavior.

Whenever any of the sexual harassment work related conditions above are present, it creates a hostile work environment. Some of the most obvious reasons for this are when the employer expects sexual favors from an employee as a condition for continued employment. If the employee feels swayed to do so or has refused, the work environment begins to directly interfere with actual job duties.

In order to define what is and is not sexual harassment, one needs to know the rules of proper verbal and physical contact. Whenever two or more employees are joking and discussing events of a sexual nature with full consent, it is not sexual harassment. If one is laughing and pats another employee on the back or shoulder, and the receiving employee does not feel uncomfortable, it is not sexual harassment. However, if jokes of a sexual content whether by another employee or a supervisor, are made in the presence of an employee who they know feels uncomfortable, this can be deemed as sexual harassment. If the employee's job depends on having to endure inappropriate behavior with sexual intent, it is considered sexual harassment work related.

It is very important for the employee to put an end to what causes discomfort or embarrassment by bluntly demanding the behavior stop immediately. If the sexual harassment work conditions continue, the employee should report the incident to his or her employer. In situations where the employer is the offender, the employee should then go over his head to his superior. Once the offense has been noted and proven, a verbal and written warning will be administered to the offender. If, after the employee tells him to stop and he still does not, the employer may then be terminated. Most companies take sexual harassment incidences very seriously and may even go so far as to ask the employee if he or she would like to file a sexual harassment grievance.

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