HR: "Sexual Harassment taking place at Work"

 “You are a female assistant working at your desk carrying out your day-to-day tasks. Your male boss walks up behind you and places his hand on your shoulder in an uncomfortable way. But this is not first occasion in which this has happen. If you were that female assistant, would you consider that a form of sexual harassment taking place in the workplace.

 

 

 

“You are a male assistant working at your desk carrying out your day-to-day tasks. Your female boss walks up behind you and places her hands on your shoulder in an uncomfortable way. But this is not first occasion in which this happen. If you were that male assistant, would you consider that a form of sexual harassment taking place in the workplace.

 

Overview:

The concept evolving around “Sexual Harassment” in the workplace has become one of the most controversial topics reported and an ongoing problem in today’s society. Since the early 60’s, sexual harassment has had a very negative effect within many companies work environments and their overall organizational culture. It has resulted in decrease productivity amongst companies, employees quitting or resigning because they were involved or did not want to associated with the case, creating a hostile and intimidated work environment for employees, high employee turnover, damaged many companies reputations and many company lawsuits. Sexual harassment is the topic of discussion but what is sexual harassment?

Definition:

Sexual Harassment is form of sex discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It has been defined in many forms such as:

1.      Unwelcoming sexual advances

2.      Request for sexual favors

3.      Physical conduct of sexual nature such as sexual assault or rape

4.      Verbal conduct of sexual nature such as sexual: innuendoes, comments, remarks, threats, insulting sounds, & invitations for sex.

It has been categorized into two types such as Quid Pro Quo and Hostile Environment. Between the two types, quid pro quo is recognized as the most common. Quid Pro Quo is a Latin phrase in which is expressed as a “favor for a favor”. It occurs when one employee’s job benefits such as employment, promotion, salary increases are threaten by another employees request for sexual favors in exchange for those same benefits. The employees whom usually make request for sexual favors in the workplace are of superiority in which we like to call “abuse of power”. Another form of sexual harassment is Hostile Environment. It explores the aspect of physical action in which takes places in the work environment. It occurs or can be identified by display of pornographic, touching or grabbing, sexual remarks, force of sexual nature between two parties, or any other type of physical action under distress.

History:

The Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was an act passed by the U.S Congress on July 2, 1964 to prohibit any form of discrimination in the employment sector because of race, color, religion, sex, and national origin (Fritz & Kleiner, 2000). This act was put into effect by the U.S Congress as an intermediate action to give rights and protect all U.S employees against any type of discrimination within the work environment. To ensure efficiency of this new and passed act, the EECO was developed and established. The EECO or “Equal Employment Commission Opportunity” was established as a way to enforce the laws that prohibit any form of employment discrimination. EECO requires that all employers in the U.S. comply with their guidelines in response to employees and the work environment in which can include employee selection, screening procedures, and even employee termination.

Sexual Harassment & the Supreme Court:

Many sexual harassment cases have been justified by our legal system but one sexual harassment case that changed the way our legal system view and choose to prosecute these cases is the “Meritor Savings Bank vs Vinson”. This case was the first sexual harassment case in history to be presented and prosecute by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1986. The female employee, Vinson, of Meritor Savings allegedly claimed she was forced to have sex with your supervisor or risk losing her job. Fear of losing her job, she accepted and her supervisor touched her inappropriately in public and raped her in many occasions. She was then fired and she reported the accusation of sexual harassment to the EECO in which violated the “Title VII of Civil Rights Act of 1964”. She claimed that the sexual harassment in which she encountered amongst her former supervisor created a “hostile environment”. According to EEOC guidelines, any sexual harassment cases reported and claim either “quid pro quo” or “hostile environment” was be able to prove it with supporting evidence. Vinson had a sufficient amount of evidence against her former supervisor and the U.S. Supreme Court accepted the case. With proving evidence and a strong case, the court ruled in favor and she was awarded for damages.

Sexual Harassment vs. Gender:

Who is sexual harassed more in the workplace, men or women? How many people are sexually harassed, report it and win or lose their lawsuit? How many people are sexually harassed and fail to report it. Is sexual harassment about the sex or about the power? Ever since sexual harassment has been discovered in the workplace, the EEOC has reported many cases of sexual harassment taking place within the work environment.  Each year, there is a reported 45% of men and 70% of women filing a claim for sexual harassment (Mahabeer, 2011).  The current ratio between men and women whom report sexual harassment in the work place is one in four and one in ten. Between men and women, 20% of men and 70% of women experience some type of sexual harassment. According to the EEOC, there are over 15,000 cases of sexual harassment filed each year and has cost many companies as much as 40 million dollars in damages, if not more, each year (Mahabeer, 2011). Even though the evidence proving shows that both men and women experience some form of sexual harassment within the work place, it also proves that women are more of the primary target.

Take-Away Points:

As years have passed, sexual harassment existing in the workplace has negatively grown and there are an increasing number of cases and lawsuits each year. Employees need to realize and understand that sexual harassment can be prevented and stopped before it happens. The EECO or “Equal Employment Commission Opportunity” has created and established many rights and laws in which employers must follow and will protect you from any form of discrimination and these you will need to be very familiar with.

Work Cited

1. Fritz, S. & Kleiner, B.H. (2000). EEOC: "Guidelines that employers should know Equal Opportunities International", 19(6), pg 53-57.  Retreived from http://search.proquest.com/docview/199661270?accountid=12924

2. Kim, S. and Kleiner, B.H. (1999). "Sexual Harassment in the Workplace Equal Opporunities International, 18(2-4), pg. 20-22. Retreived from http://search.proquest.com/docview/199607809?accountid=12924

3. Mahabeer, Pamela. (2011). "Sexual Harassment still pervasive in workplace". Retreived from http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2011/01/28/sexual-harassment-in-the-workplace/

4. Perkins, Cody (2013). Administrative Law Review: "Sex and Sexual Orientation: Title for VII after Macy v. Holder", pg.427.  Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA336603158&v=2.1&u=lom_oaklandu&it=r&p=LT&sw=w.