Sexual Harassment

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Sexual Harassment

• Gillis W. Long Center
• Online Safety and Loss Prevention Training Module

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Evaluation

• There will be an easy Quiz following this course
  of instruction.

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What is Sexual Harassment?

• Sexual harassment at work occurs whenever
  unwelcome conduct on the basis of gender affects
  a persons job. It is defined by the Equal
  Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) as
  unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual
  favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a
  sexual nature when
• Submission to or rejection of the conduct by an
  individual is used as a basis for employment
  decisions affecting such individual
• Or
• Submission to the conduct is made either
  explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of
  an individuals employment
• Or
• The conduct has the purpose or effect of
  unreasonable interfering with an individuals
  work performance or creating an intimidating,
  hostile, or offensive working environment.

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• The U.S Supreme Court says there are two types of
  unlawful sexual harassment.
• The first type involves harassment that results
  in a tangible employment action. A Tangible
  Action is an employer who tells a subordinated
  that they must be sexually cooperative in order
  to get a job, keep a job, or have their job made
  easier. This type of harassment can only be
  committed by someone who actually has the power
  to make or influence employment actions (firing,
  demotion, and or denial of a promotion).
• The second type of harassment is referred to as a
  Hostile Environment. This type of harassment can
  be committed by anyone in the work place and is
  not limited to a boss, supervisor or someone in
  an authoritative role

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What is a hostile work environment?

• Behaviors that may contribute to a hostile
  environment are
• Sexual threats
• Discussing Sexual activities telling or jokes
• Unnecessary touching
• Commenting on physical attributes
• Displaying sexually suggestive pictures
• Using demeaning terms Babe, sweet cheeks,
  hotlipsetc
• Indecent gestures
• Sabotaging co-workers
• Hostile physical contact
• Crude offensive language
• Granting favors for only those who submit to
  sexual activity

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Behaviors

• The behaviors from the previous slide create
  liability if they are gender based, severe or
  pervasive. Unwelcome conduct is not a legal
  violation between co-workers. But this type of
  conduct will lead to problems and we all have an
  obligation to correct these problems if they
  occur.

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Gender not Sex

• If some men in a department sabotage a womans
  work just because she is a woman and they dont
  like her being in their department, is that
  sexual harassment?
• Yes it is. Sexual harassment doesnt have to be
  inappropriate sexual behavior. It can be
  discrimination based on gender.

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Assessing a situation

• A co worker comes to you and tells you she thinks
  her work environment is hostile. How can you tell
  if what she says is true? Ask these two
  questions
• Is the work environment abusive? This is subject
  to interpretation. If she thinks she is being
  abused or discriminated, she may be. But the
  answer to the next question is the key.
• Is it objectively severe or pervasive?

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Severe or Pervasive?

• So how do you know if it is severe or pervasive?
  Ask these questions
• What are the unwelcome acts or conduct?
• What is the frequency of the acts or conduct?
• Is the conduct physically threatening or
  humiliating?
• Is the conduct interfering with work performance?
• Is it affecting the employees psychological well
  being?
• Is the harasser a superior?

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Be Proactive

• In many cases sexual harassment is subject to
  interpretation. Due to uncertainty, prudent
  supervisors will address incidents of unwelcome
  gender based conduct long before they approach
  the level of severity or pervasiveness that would
  create a hostile environment and a legal matter.

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Be reasonable

• A reasonable man is not a reasonable woman!
• Everyone has differing degrees of sensitivity.
  What would offend some may not offend others. In
  particular, what wouldnt offend most men would
  offend most women. There has always been a
  reasonable man standard for most legal cases.
  What would a reasonable man do, or think or how
  would he act?
• Given the basic gender differences, some courts
  have come up with a reasonable woman standard.
  Not what a reasonable man would think, but rather
  what would a reasonable woman think. So you as a
  male employee may not consider an act offensive
  or harassment, but your female co-worker may and
  so might a court of law.

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• Because the legal boundaries are so poorly
  marked, the best course of action is to avoid all
  sexually charged conduct in the workplace.

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Action

• When to take action
• Is the conduct sexual in nature?
• Is the conduct offensive to a reasonable man or
  woman?
• Is the conduct being initiated by someone who has
  power over the other?
• Does the employee have to tolerate the action to
  keep his or her job?
• Does the act create an unpleasant work
  environment?
• If the answer to any of these questions is yes
  then put an END to it now!

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• What are your responsibilities?
• Learn our policy.
• Report sexual harassment.
• Know the reporting procedures.
• If youre a supervisor (Do Not ignore it!)

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• Before you report a problem, you might want to do
  the following
• Tell the offender specifically what you find
  offensive
• Tell the offender that he/her behavior is
  bothering you
• Say specifically what you want or dont want to
  happen, such as Please call me by my name and
  not babe. Or Please dont tell those jokes in
  front of me.

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• Dont do the following
• Blame yourself
• Just ignore the behavior if you truly find it
  offensive
• Try to handle any severe problem yourself get
  help.

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• Employees who promptly report inappropriate
  behavior, before it gets to severe, will be
  helping themselves, the offender and the
  organization.

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Facts about Sexual Harassment

• Its not limited to women
• Its not always of a sexual nature
• It can demoralized employees
• It can reduce productivity and efficiency
• It is illegal

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Questions???