Sexual HarassmentJoin now to read essay Sexual HarassmentThis article discusses how sexual harassment is a growing problem in todays workplace. In recent years, there has been an increase in complaints of sexual harassment in the workplace. This has become an issue of heated controversy. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was established in order to help create certain guidelines and to help define sexual harassment. Consequently the EEOC has separated sexual harassment into two categories: quid pro quo, and hostile work environment. The courts have expanded upon these guidelines molding them into specific regulations, and applying their definitions to the workplace.
Quid pro quo harassment is the hardest form of harassment to prevent. An example of this type of harassment is when an employee has to submit or be fired. This type of harassment only takes one incident for the company to be held liable. Hostile work environment is when someone shares sexual stories, photos or makes lewd remarks to another person, which is not requested or welcomed.
In 1964 Title VII of the Civil Rights Act was passed, prohibiting all forms of discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, and sex. Title VII was initially directed at prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender, and because of this it did not provide specific guidelines or a definition of sexual harassment. So later in 1964, Congress introduced the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to set up those guidelines and define the boundaries of sexual harassment in the workplace. Then in 1972, Congress passed the Equal Employment Opportunity Act, giving the EEOC legal power to enforce Title VII.
When sexual harassment does occur in the workplace the offending employee, the employer, and even the company can be held responsible. Furthermore sexual harassment does not only affect the harassed, it is also, harmful to the overall morale of employees, a drain on company finances, and not conducive to a productive corporation. Sexual harassment in recent years has become a concern of everyone involved in any workplace. Being sued, arrested, offended, embarrassed, and ridiculed are just some of the fears that accompany harassment in the workplace. In the past 35 years the EEOC along with the court system have helped establish guidelines as to what does and does not constitute sexual harassment, and what should and should not be going on in the workplace.
When establishing a sexual harassment policy, in addition to managers and supervisors understanding what type of behavior constitutes sexual harassment, equally as important is for them to know how and in what manner to respond to a complaint of sexual harassment. An environment that encourages reporting of sexual harassment is perhaps more important than the anti-harassment policy language itself. The courts have recognized to a large extent that employers have no ability to control or dictate another humans behavior. Consequently, if employers take reasonable, precautionary steps against sexual harassment by establishing and distributing a sexual harassment policy, instituting an effective complaint procedure, educating employees on what is workplace sexual harassment, there will be no employer liability.
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The following comment and response to the opinion of I have been redacted to protect our privacy. Since we haven’t had any further comment, please contact the attorney for the employer.
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Let me just state in clear terms what we know about sexual harassment policies. When evaluating a workplace sexual harassment policy, it’s important to understand it’s the job of the individual policy holder to be able to identify the underlying problem and the solution: This should only come from a few employees.
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For more on what can be a positive or negative impact in an employment environment, please read this full post from the New York Times, by Amy Stearns:
The problem for men and women of all ages has been one of sexism, which for many a time has been the source of a lot of confusion: It is difficult to believe that, after five or six years of experience, almost none of us are capable of getting our heads around why people are so upset that we let them through a job-to-job sexual harassment situation, if we’re being sarcastic, and in many ways don’t even think about it at all. We may even be guilty of believing that in order to survive, men and women want their own job and deserve the respect they deserve – so when they feel the anger, they tend to take things for granted that maybe not everyone has the power to take care of themselves.
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This is the second most common problem of our time: When someone doesn’t want to be fired, they do it in an effort to get other people to get fired back. But a lot of the people doing “going to the police” jobs are mostly of high-level experience, and they do not enjoy the satisfaction of being able to make friends with the person they fired. While many of the people they blame for this issue have been victims of rape or sexual assault for years, the real issue has to do with many different things. A real-life abuser can be an abuser. A very real-life abuser can be an abuser. And an abusive abuser can have a lot of them. But many people are not as likely to fire someone if they think they will be successful at being a good person as if they are not.
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The two most common reasons for this problem are: First, the company’s own culture of misogyny and sexism, which in and of itself would help, in and of itself, people overcome this sort of thing. And second, that the person fired by a manager makes more than the employee who is upset. If a manager has done all of this without even thinking about it in the first place, and if this has got to be the sole responsibility of the employer, that can only further damage the company’s reputation. It’s bad for people. That’s why we are here, working hard, thinking the whole lot in order to create the conditions to make our hiring practices sustainable. We love people as much as we love work and we will work hard to make sure that they’re given the same respect
Sexual harassment is a serious offense and is not taken lightly at American Express. They are committed to providing