Essay on Same Sex Harassment

There are several different types of harassment and all of them could be covered by Title VII depending on the circumstances. Bullying, stalking, sexual harassment, racial harassment,

“Sexual harassment is defined as any unwanted action or activity of a sexual nature that explicitly or implicitly affects an individual’s employment, performance, or work environment” (Robbins, Decenzo & Coulter, 2011). According to the EEOC, “Harassment can include “sexual harassment” or unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other

Sexual harassment is always a legal topic in the work environment because the ramifications are so severe, but at the same time very abstract to describe what can constitute sexual harassment. This paper will take into consideration different elements of the law including Employment Law and cases tried before the U.S. Supreme Court. It will also offer suggestions for corrective action pertaining to the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace.

The significance of Lorena Week’s sex discrimination case was that women can use the legal system to achieve for equality. Week’s case led the National Origination for Women to challenge discriminatory laws. Lorena weeks was a single mother of three children living in Wadley, Georgia. She worked as a telephone operator for many years at the Southern Bell Company. As a single mother, Weeks struggled to provide for her family on her low wages. When the position of Switchman opened, Weeks applied for the position. The switchman job had higher wages and since weeks had been with the company for many years she had seniority rights for the position. When Weeks confronted the company, they said the position was reserved for men and didn’t consider

Arousing the Civil Rights Act instated in 1964, Judge Lee Rosenthal of Southern District of Texas ruled that Title VII forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, supplementing the traditional instated prohibition of prejudice based on one’s color, race, religion, sex, and national origin in the workplace. Concluding that biased notions towards one’s sexuality and transgender status are forms of discriminant towards one’s sex, Judge Rosenthal decreed the inclusion for protections of non-heteronormative individuals.

Harassment, specifically sexual harassment, is one of those challenges faced by businesses and employers as of a result of workplace diversification. Inappropriate conversations, unwanted advances and uncomfortable physical contact are some of the ways sexual harassment can occur. According to Hellriegel and Slocum, “Sexual harassment refers to unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature.” (p.52). To be clear, sexual harassment can, and has, affected both women and men over the years however up to half of all working women have reported experiencing some form of sexual harassment in the career (Vijayasiri, 2008, p.1). It wasn’t until 1986 though that the Supreme Court recognized sexual harassment as a violation of Title VII in the case of Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson (O’Brien, 1994, p. 1). Before the high court’s ruling, however, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had begun to address the issue by drafting hostile work environment guidelines that included sexual harassment (O’Brien, 1994, p. 4). These guidelines would serve later to guide the high court’s decision. There are many more cases like this one we could look at. In 1991, sexual harassment became a household term as Anita Hill testified before congress stating she was sexually

In James McFadden vs. Airline company, James, a transsexual person, told his employer that he would be dressing as a woman in preparation to his “surgical sex reassignment”. James was fired from his job because he refused to dress and act as a man. In this case the legal statute that could apply would be the sex discrimination against James. The court should look at what happen, James told his employer about the sex change and employer told him he had to keep dressing as a man, he refused and was fired. The judge should rule in favor of the Airline Company because the employer told James he couldn’t do that, and it is understandable because of airport security. He was also no discriminated because he was still a man, and he said he was treated differently from the other women employed.

This case law was where Dianne Rawlinson was attempting to seek employment as a correctional officer with the Alabama board of correction. Her position was officially called in Alabama a “Correctional Counselor.” Alabama Board of Corrections rejected the application form Dianne Rawlinson. She immediately filed a class action law suit under the Title VII of the civil rights act of 1964. Because of her sex was the primary dispute that they denied her employment which was a violation of federal law.

Injustices in this world infect people's lives like diseases. One in particular has not only developed over the years, but cases spring up in the most unthought of places. This injustice commonly known as sexual harassment affects women, children, and occasionally men all across the globe. There are many aspects when it comes to sexual harassment including its background, opposing viewpoints on the popular belief, the popular viewing, sexual harassment in today's society, solutions to the problem, and what the future would be like without this injustice on the world's hands.

Twenty states in the U.S currently have laws prohibiting the discrimination based on sexual orientation in public, as well as private jobs. These states include Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Main, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington Wisconsin and California. As found by California lawyers, the number of cases filed with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, or DFEH, pertaining to employment discrimination based on sexual orientation has “increased from 636 in 2001, to 714 in 2005 and to 821 in 2008. In 2011, the number of sexual orientation employment discrimination cases filed with DFEH spiked to 1,104.” This drastic increase may be attributed to the advocacy of equality in marriage laws in California and in other

In the case of James Smith, the court has to decide if there was discrimination based on sexual orientation. (Workplace Fairness, 2016) On July 21, 2014 President Obama signed an Executive Order that amended previous executive orders and added sexual orientation and gender identity protections for all federal workers, including contractors and subcontractors of the Federal government. According to the law, Smith’s was discriminated on the basis of his sexual orientation. In relation to the second case with John Ortega, the court must decide if his Title VII rights were violated. Under The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Ortega falls under a secondary theory, “associational discrimination on the basis of sex.” This theory supports

Muñoz, S. T., & Kalteux, D. M. (2016). LGBT, the EEOC, and the Meaning of "Sex". Florida Bar Journal, 90(3), 43-48.

The Court of Appeals overturned that a violation of Title VII may predicate on either of two types of sexual harassment, employment benefits on sexual favors, and a hostile or offensive working environment. As to the bank 's liability, the Court of Appeals held that an employer is liable for sexual harassment by supervisory personnel, whether or not the employer knew or should have known about it. US Supreme Court (1986)

As seen in the case study, a court decision may be one way for any company to legally define what constitutes sexual harassment in the workplace, but there are many ways to define sexual harassment. Everyone has different views and tolerance levels towards sexual harassment. When a case of sexual harassment occurs in a workplace, however, it comes down to how the courts define sexual harassment. The Supreme Court defines sexual harassment to be unlawful in two ways. “The first type involves sexual harassment that results in a tangible employment action;” this is referred to as quid pro quo. For example, if an employee complies with the harasser’s request, then she will get a raise. This unlawful act is usually presented in the workplace by a person who has an upper hand, such as a manager, to ensure that s/he will get what s/he wants. Employees are often victimized by fear that they will not get promoted or that they will get fired. They also dread that if a complaint is filed, it will not be handled correctly. “This instance of sexual harassment always involves another violation of employee rights; [sic] wrongful termination.” This would occur, for instance, when “a supervisor . . . tells a subordinate that . . . she must be sexually cooperative with [him] or . . . she will be fired, and who then indeed does fire the subordinate for not submitting” (“U.S. Supreme Court Defines”). [schwinlaw.com]

Sexual Harassment Laws Sexual harassment is one of the biggest problems facing our schools and businesses today. A week rarely goes by without a reminder of the pervasiveness of sexual harassment as a social problem. The definition of sexual harassment is any unwanted or inappropriate sexual attention. That includes touching, looks, comments, or gestures. A key part of sexual harassment is that it is one sided and unwanted.