The employment laws in the United States prohibit all types of workplace harassment, including sexual harassment. Employers with 15 or more employees are legally liable for ensuring a safe, non-hostile work environment for all employees. They must investigate informal or formal complaints immediately and take appropriate action against the perpetrator. These actions can range from issuing stern warnings to transferring the perpetrator to firing them from their position. In severe cases of harassment, it may be necessary to involve the law enforcement authorities.
Despite the fact that the law is clear on the matter, there are many employees who continue to experience sexual harassment in their workplaces for the following reasons:
• Their employer fails to support them and take necessary action against the perpetrator.
• The employee is ashamed or afraid to complain about the harassment.
• Both the employer and employee are unaware of the provisions in the employment laws.
If the harassment continues, it can create a hostile, intimidating work environment that can negatively impact the morale, work performance, and productivity of the harassed employee and the other staff. Some people may resign rather than put up with the unpleasantness.
If you are in a similar situation and your employer is not supporting you, it is essential to understand that the law is on your side. Instead of tolerating the harassment, you will benefit from hiring a reliable lawyer and taking legal action against your employer. You can search on the Internet for “sexual harassment lawyers near me” to find an experienced lawyer in your area.
What are the acts of sexual harassment in the workplace?
The most problematic aspect of filing sexual harassment in the workplace complaint is that this type of harassment can sometimes be difficult to define. The perpetrators are likely to claim they were only trying to be friendly and did not intend to harass you. However, if their behavior intimidates and makes you feel unsafe, it may come under the legal definition of sexual harassment. That is why you need to search for “sexual harassment lawyers near me” and get legal counsel.
The lawyer will help you prove that the perpetrators behaved in an unwanted, offensive, objectionable, or threatening manner and continued with it despite being told to stop. The following types of unwelcome behaviors in the workplace can constitute sexual harassment:
• Making personal comments about your face or figure
• Remarking suggestively about your clothes
• Making vulgar remarks or jokes to discomfit you
• Intruding in your personal space repeatedly
• Forcibly touching, hugging, or kissing you
• Subjecting you to obscene stares
• Making unwanted sexual advances
• Spreading offensive, damaging rumors about you
• Sending you offensive images, photographs, videos, and messages
• Photographing or videotaping you without permission
• Ignoring your requests to leave you alone
• Sabotaging your work for refusing their advances
• Threatening to get you fired for refusing their advances
• Denying you a deserved promotion or a salary raise for refusing their advances
What can you do if you face sexual harassment in your workplace?
You can do the following if you face sexual harassment in your workplace:
• Collect evidence of the harassment, such as photographs, videos, messages, emails, and chats that the perpetrator sent you.
• Write what the perpetrator said to you, when, where, and who was present at the time.
• Read your company’s employee policy and understand its stance on handling workplace harassment. Some require you to file a complaint within 180 to 300 days after the incident.
• In the presence of supportive colleagues, let the perpetrator know that you find their behavior offensive and would like them to stop.
• If the behavior continues, speak to your manager and ask them to handle the matter.
• Follow your informal complaint with a formal complaint to the HR department.
• Search online for “sexual harassment lawyers near me” and get legal advice from a competent lawyer.
• You or your lawyer can file a case with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and have them investigate the matter.
• If the EEOC cannot resolve the issue, your lawyer can file a lawsuit on your behalf and represent you in court.
• Depending on your evidence, the judgment may go in your favor and get you a reasonable financial settlement.