Sexual Harrassment Essay
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Sexual Harassment
in the Work Place
I. Definition
Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
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 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. In Oncale v. Sundowner, the US Supreme Court decided just this month unanimously ruling that same sex complaints are covered by the law.
¨ 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.
It is becoming increasingly rare to find the traditional “quid pro quo” claim of sexual harassment. The current trend is that of a “hostile work environment” which can be much more difficult for the employer to address. The EEOC considers the following factors in determining whether or not an environment is sexually hostile:
¨ Whether the conduct was verbal or physical or both
¨ How frequently it was repeated
¨ Whether the conduct was hostile or patently offensive
¨ Whether the alleged harasser was a co-worker or supervisor
¨ Whether others joined in perpetrating the harassment, and
¨ whether the harassment was directed at more than one individual.
No one factor controls but an assessment is made based upon the totality of circumstances.
II. Regarding Employees
It is helpful for the victim to directly inform the harasser that the conduct is unwelcome and must stop. However, a victim of harassment need not always confront his/her harasser directly, so long as his/her conduct demonstrates that the harasser’s behavior is unwelcome. The victim should use any employer complaint mechanism or grievance system available and, if that fails, contact the EEOC which makes a determination on a case-by-case basis.
III. Regarding Employers
Prevention is the best tool to eliminate sexual harassment in the workplace. Employers should take all steps necessary to prevent sexual harassment from occurring. An effective prevention program should include an explicit policy against sexual harassment that is clearly posted for the employees to read and be included in any in-service training programs. I heard on the news last week that a company was being sued even though they had a sexual harassment policy. The complainant didn’t feel that the company did enough to assert the policy. The employer should also have a procedure for resolving sexual harassment complaints. This procedure should encourage victims to come forward and should not require the victim to complain first to the offending supervisor, if that is the case. This procedure should ensure confidentiality as much as possible and provide effective remedies as well as protection from retaliation.
IV. Discussion
I would like to share a couple of statistics that Dr. Chwialkowski gave out in my other Public Administration class last week. He found a survey that asked women how many of them had slept with their bosses. Nineteen percent responded that they had. Of those, sixty percent said it furthered their careers.
The following is a scenario Dr. Chwialkowski gave out. I would like for the class to input your opinions as to whether or not sexual harassment occurred.
Michael is a supervisor who works for the Bowling Green office of the Environmental Protection Agency. Young and athletic, Michael has had more than his share of affairs with young women, but has never been married. He has always had a good relationship with the young women in the office, and often plays tennis and golf with some of them on Saturdays. They frequently tease him about the suggestive calendars and pin-ups that he has hanging in his office, especially of Demi Moore, who is Michael’s favorite Hollywood actress.
This teasing increased when Mary, a young and attractive 25 year old with a Master’s Degree from Duke, was hired into the office. Michael immediately took a liking to her and assigned her to some of the agency’s “pet” projects that Michael himself was involved in. Michael also placed her in an office that was in close proximity to his own. In the process...
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