Sexual harassment is one of the most common manifestations of workplace discrimination. Employers fail to protect workers from sexual harassment or retaliate against them when they report the harassment. Those actions may lead to claims of sexual harassment against an organization.
Employees dealing with stressful work environments sometimes question whether what they have experienced actually constitutes sexual harassment. Some workers escalate minor issues, while others fail to take action despite escalating abuses.
Understanding the difference between uncomfortable interactions and actionable harassment can help workers recognize when they need to speak up for themselves, document workplace interactions and take action to hold the appropriate parties accountable.
What isn’t sexual harassment?
One of the easiest ways to evaluate whether a situation constitutes sexual harassment or not is to understand what is not sexual harassment. A single attempt at flirting or relatively benign but unwanted advances do not automatically constitute sexual harassment.
Neither does occasional workplace stress that may result in tensions among co-workers. Friendly teasing, a casual compliment and isolated incidents generally do not constitute sexual harassment. However, actions that may not be harassment when they occur one time can become harassment when there is a pattern of behavior.
What does constitute sexual harassment?
Most cases of sexual harassment fall into one of two main categories. Workers may experience quid pro quo harassment. Someone in a position of professional authority tries to solicit romantic or sexual favors by using their professional authority. They threaten workplace consequences if someone declines them or promise professional rewards if they acquiesce.
The other primary category of sexual harassment involves the creation of a hostile work environment. Such scenarios may involve one co-worker or an entire group of other employees. They engage in routine mistreatment and abuses targeting one employee or a group of workers. This treatment becomes so pervasive that outside observers might assume that accepting mistreatment has become a condition of the professional’s employment.
Workers may also experience retaliation from an employer that technically leaves the company open to sexual harassment lawsuits. By punishing a worker for reporting harassment instead of addressing the issue, the company violates that worker’s rights.
Discussing the situations at a workplace with a skilled legal team can help professionals determine if they have experienced sexual harassment. Workers who speak up and assert themselves can hold their employers accountable and can even sometimes recoup the economic harm caused by workplace sexual harassment.