The truth about Sexual Harassment

David Letterman’s murky, muddled apologies aside, sexual harassment is no laughing matter. It seems that a day doesn’t go by that we’re not reading one story or another about a sexual harassment case being brought against an employer. From pastors, to politicians, judges to nurseries, inappropriate sexual conduct is everywhere. Usually the stories that make it to the news involve women filing claims against male bosses. But lately we’ve seen an increase in the number of male on male harassment cases and even female on male. The EEOC reports that in 2009, 12,696 sexual harassment charges were filed  and $51.5 million in monetary benefits were paid out.

So what constitutes Sexual Harassment? The EEOC defines sexual harassment as:

“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 work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.”

Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. And with sexual harassment:

• 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.

If you’re a victim of sexual harassment, you may file a charge of employment discrimination at any one of the EEOC’s 53 field offices.  For more information on how to file a sexual harassment charge, visit the EEOC’s How to file page. Of course, your first course of action should be to bring the harassment to the attention of your HR manger or your immediate supevisor – if of course, they aren’t the ones engaged in the harassment. And, until you can file a claim, document every incidence of perceived harassment. Record the date, time, individuals involved and incident details and always keep a copy away from the office.

For more information on Sexual Harassment, visit the EEOC’s sexual harassment page here.

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