Someone going after you at work? Know what Sexual Harassment Is

Workplace harassment is described as unfair or extremely hard treatment meted out to workers either by the employer or by a co-worker. Legally however harassment has a different connotation.

Unwelcome or offensive behavior directed towards an individual’s protected characteristics is construed as harassment. To qualify as harassment a particular behavior has to be severe and pervasive. Just see how Bobby Pellit acts in the movie Horrible Bosses when he calls an employee who is in a wheelchair Xavier which is derogatory term insinuated that he is Prof. Xavier who is crippled and a character in the X-Men series. That is rude and insulting.

The terrific thing about Bobby Pellit and people like him are that they probably do not know this incredible digital tool even exists. Use this tool Sexual-Harassment-USAttorneys to find that legal representative who can put people like Pellit in their place.

What is a protected characteristic?

Sexual harassment lawyers say that legally sexual harassment is a type of discrimination. This means that harassment is considered illegal if it is directed against the nationality, race, religion, age, disability, and gender of a particular individual. In other words the actions of an individual must violate Title VII of the federal laws to be deemed as harassment.

For instance you cannot claim harassment if you face difficult working conditions in general. However, you can allege harassment if you are subjected to onerous regulations because of your age or race.

Offensive Conduct

Sexual harassment attorneys point out that there are several types of conduct that can be construed as offensive. For instance, making jokes about the ethnicity or sex of an individual, name calling and outright violence or physical threats. Bobby Pellit knows all about this. But when Dave Harken, in the same movie, makes fun of Nick Hendricks for referring to his grandmother as gam gam – that is funny. That is not harassment since that is a strange name for your grandmother and why a grown man would admit that that he calls his grandmother gam gam to another grown man, his superior as well, is strange.

In other instances the harasser might try to pressurize someone to submit to sexual advances or go on a date with them.

Often times the victim is directly or indirectly told that a raise or a promotion will depend on the victim’s response to the proposition. This is legally known as quid pro quo harassment. Employers can be held liable if they fail to take measures to prevent such harassment.

The other type of harassment is a hostile work environment. This type of harassment does not entail adverse job actions but creates a work environment which makes it difficult for an individual to perform properly. For instance, it is impossible to give optimum performance if you are belittled, ridiculed, or are made to listen to jokes that are laden with sexual innuendos constantly. Bobby Pellit did not do too much of this since he only remained in his office having sex, doing drugs, or talking on the phone.

Unwelcome Conduct

Often harassment is meted out to an individual in the form of unwelcome conduct. Using derogatory remarks or sexual jokes can be considered unwelcome by certain sections. However, there might be a section of the work force that is not offended by the jokes. Sexual harassment lawyers have much more difficult time establishing harassment in cases where the prosecution is able to get hold of people who find such conduct as amusing and not offensive. Often, if the victim had shared lewd jokes or comments at some point he/she is no position to claim harassment in a lawsuit.

Definition of Severe and Pervasive

Legally speaking a single offensive comment or unwelcome conduct cannot be construed as harassment. Usually a pattern or a string of such incidents happening over a period of time is considered as such. However, a single incident can qualify as harassment if it is severe. For example, if someone is assaulted then it is considered egregious enough to be labeled as harassment.

If you believe you are a victim of pervasive sexual harassment at your workplace, make sure to reach out to a sexual harassment lawyer immediately to learn about what measures you can take to stop the harassment and how you can protect yourself from retaliation.