Sexual Harassment:
What is It, and What Can You Do About It?
Your boss is flirting with you.
Your coworker is telling offensive jokes.
Your supervisors discuss their sex lives.
This unwelcome conduct constitutes sexual harassment. It violates your rights in the workplace. It violates YOU.
Sexual harassment is a pervasive and harmful problem that affects people of all genders, ages, and backgrounds. It can have serious and long-lasting impacts on the victim's mental, physical, and emotional well-being.
The law defines sexual harassment as any unwanted or unwelcome sexual behavior that is offensive, intimidating, or creates a hostile work or school environment. It can include physical, verbal, or nonverbal conduct of a sexual nature, and can also include making unwanted sexual advances, touching, or groping, making sexual comments or gestures, or the display of sexually explicit images or materials. It is important to note that sexual harassment can occur between people of any gender or sexual orientation, and the victim and the harasser may be of the same, or different, genders.
HOSTILE WORK ENVIRONMENT
Hostile work environment sexual harassment occurs when unwelcome sexual conduct unreasonably interferes with an employee's job performance or creates a hostile, intimidating, or offensive work environment.
Under hostile work environment harassment, the harassment need not result in an adverse employment action to be actionable.
This could include:
- Demeaning sexual inquiries and vulgarities
- Offensive or degrading language
- Sexually offensive, explicit, or sexist signs, cartoons, calendars, literature, or photographs displayed in plain view.
Employers are liable for:
- hostile work environment sexual harassment perpetrated by supervisors and managers.
- hostile work environment sexual harassment where the harassment results in a tangible job detriment - suspension, demotion, termination.
- Hostile work environment sexual harassment from coworkers that was reported to the employer, but was not investigated and not promptly remedied.
QUID PRO QUO SEXUAL HARASSMENT
Quid pro quo sexual harassment when a person conditions workplace benefits, or threatens reprisals, based on an employee's submission to sexual advances.
Retaliation:
- Employers are also liable for retaliation if the employer takes any adverse action against an employee who reports sexual harassment.
What to Do About Sexual Harassment
To file a sexual harassment claim in Federal Court, an employee must first file a charge of discrimination at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission within 300 days of the harassment, and then obtain a Notice of Right to Sue Letter, and then file in Federal Court within 90 days of the Notice of Right to Sue Letter.
In addition, sexual harassment claims can be filed at the New York State Division of Human Rights within 3 year of the claim of sexual harassment. Sexual harassment claims may also be filed in New York State Court within 3 years of the harassment.
An employee may be awarded back pay, front pay, compensatory damages, punitive damages, counsel fees, and reinstatement for successful claims of sexual harassment.
If you believe that you have been victimized by sexual harassment in the workplace, contact Employment Attorney Raymond Nardo.