Clint Patterson
Dr. Matthew Fitzsimmons
PHL 250
3 May, 2016
Sexual Harassment in the Workplace Since before my time, in the 1980’s, American court systems have already understood sexual harassment as a kind of sex discrimination. It is obvious that the legal development has drastically improved for the sake of all working women. However, Vicki Schultz, a Yale Law School professor, in her article “Rethinking Sexual Harassment,” criticizes how sexual harassment is considered at present. Schultz’s first critique to the matter, is that in focusing on sexuality, our approach to sexual harassment is much too narrow, and it overlooks the nonsexual forms of gender hostility that many women experience at work. Nonsexual forms of gender hostility include: condescendence of women’s performance or ability to master the job, providing patronizing forms of help in performing the job, or withholding the training, information, or opportunity to learn to do the job well. Second, Schultz argues that our approach to sexual harassment is also too broad because it targets even the harmless sexual conduct as harassment whether or not it discriminates against women. Such as, urging “zero-tolerance” policies and “cultural sensitivity” approaches that stumble onto the side of prohibiting sexual conduct that might personally be taken as offensive. Third, Corporate policies in particular, intend to include sexual harassment law, and have pushed the limits to completely disinfect the workplace so that
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.
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
Sexual harassment is a demeaning practice, one that constitutes a profound affront to the dignity of the employees forced to endure it. By requiring an employee to contend with unwelcome sexual actions or explicit sexual demands, sexual harassment in the workplace attacks the dignity and self-respect of the victim both as an employee and as a human being. Sexual harassment is well defined as an unwelcome sexual request for sexual favors and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. In many countries, sexual harassment is considered a form of sexual abuse and employment discrimination. Sexual harassment is most prevalent is organizations both professional and academic, though it can occur almost anywhere.
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.
Work place policies regarding sexual harassment is the main issue discussed in this article. Sexual harassment has continued to be a challenge within the workplace. According to a recent review of sexual harassment related resolutions, employers have paid over $732,976.00 in sexual harassment fines (Hobson, Szostek, & Fitzgerald, 2015). The EEOC has issued written guidelines for appropriate strategies employers should use to handle workplace sexual harassment and specific ways to address it. It is the employer’s duty to proactively work to protect all employees from any type of sexual harassment by following sexual harassment policies and procedures that are put in place. Failure to implement and follow the policy and procedure in the workplace can and most likely will lead to liability should an EEOC investigation or lawsuit occur. The employer needs to disperse copies of the policies and procedures and post them in central locations throughout the organization and address sexual harassment in the employee handbooks. The policy and procedures need to clear
Sexual harassment in the workplace is a huge problem in recent history. It can happen to anyone and it can happen everywhere. It can affect all types of races, gender and age. Statistics today shows that more and more sexual harassment has become an issue due to the large number of cases presented. Mainstream media becomes consume covering sexual harassment because of the high profile cases. Sexual harassment becomes a topic on various TV shows, and on some major morning radio talk shows mostly everyday. Sexual harassment laws must be strengthened in order to fix what has become a serious problem today in the workplace.
Sexual assault is a dangerous behavior that is widely spread in our societies all around the world. Some studies show that this kind of problem is due to several accidents that have occurred in a person’s childhood or adulthood. It has negative effects on a victim’s life. The paper offers insights about this topic with several references and quotes from many experts. However, the term sexual harassment is defined and explained thoroughly. The causes of this serious problem are presented and then the several harmful effects are mentioned and explained. A few approaches can be followed in order to prevent this offense from happening again, hoping to save the lives of many people.
Unwelcome sexual behavior has been a serious problem in our society for many years. We need to focus more on this problem, because a lot of men still don’t take it seriously, it happens, because they don’t know the real definition of sexual harassment.
In our society sexual harassment has been in the workplace for years. The use of sexual harassment in the workplace has been remembered best as a weapon used to keep women in their place which would cause them to forfeit promotions within their organizations. It was once believed that women were the only victims but the shift is now changing men are also reporting that they are also victims of sexual harassment on the job. In 1964 the Civil Rights Act was passed and employers began to recognize that they were liable for two types of sexual harassment. The first kind of harassment is Quid pro quo when a supervisor offers the employee sexual advances in order to get or keep a job, and also this harassment is used to determined if an
Organizations have an obligation to create a harassment free environment for its employees. Harassment doesn’t have to be of a sexual nature. An organization is liable if the harassment is so frequent or severe that it creates a hostile or offensive work environment or when it results in adverse employment actions such as the victim being fired, demoted, or transferred. Harassing a person based on their sex is illegal. Sexual harassment has a great impact on an employee’s productivity as well as poses a major impact on an organization’s finances in litigation.
Over the years, many people have believed that the issue of sexual harassment should not be discussed in public. Sexual harassment was to be discussed behind closed doors. In spite of this, the social and political systems have changed instantaneously. This social problem has affected men and women throughout time; however, it seems that the women of our society more closely look at this issue. This social topic has encouraged women to establish organizations in order to help them discuss the issues more openly and to demand equality including fairness and justice throughout the workplace and in their social lives as well. In recent years, sexual harassment has been one of the most serious and widespread problems
In today’s society we constantly hear or read about individuals that claim they were a victim of sexual pressure. These instances can take place at work, school, the military and even at church. But exactly what is sexual exploitation or unwanted sexual behavior? After looking at several definitions for sexual abuse I came across the following definition that I feel will help all of us to better understand what inappropriate sexual behavior is. Sexual harassment was defined by The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) as unwelcome advances and requests for sexual behavior or conditional requests such as a person’s employment will continue if they perform these acts. (Gale Group, 2003). This definition left me thinking and
Sexual Harassment in school usually occurs during passing, recess, or during lunch. Sexual harassment can range from a quick glance to a hoot or whistle. In many cases, one does not know that they are being harassed or harassing someone. Maybe a friend tells you a dirty joke or someone who you see everyday and who you do not know gives you an unusual smile. Do you feel offended by the joke? Are you uncomfortable with the person giving you a smile? Some may say that this is more of a paranoia problem and then just push it aside, but in most cases, it is not.
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.
gender and does not “Involve sex, requests for sexual activity, comments, or anything similar” (Bennett-Alexander & Hartman, 2015, p. 423). The non-sex requirement is the reason that the term gender in sexual harassment is discussed meaning whether if the individual is male or female that is filing a sexual harassment claim. Although, Title VII of the Civil Rights of 1964 mentions that individuals should not be discriminated on the basis of gender, sex, ethnicity, race, religion, etc it does not specify an individual’s sexual orientation.