Sexual Harassment - Case Study 2

Coming from a country in a part of the world where being misogynistic is incredibly prevalent and often encouraged, I have witnessed and been around many acts of sexual harassment as well as victims of it. At a very young age, I learned that my first cousin was sexually harassed by her husband’s brother when they were alone and that is when I learned the true horrors of the world. Everyone knew the truth about what happened, but no one helped my cousin, not her husband, her father, or her brothers. Sadly, Where I’m from, a third world country, is not the only place things like this happen. There are acts of sexual harassment even in countries like America in big corporations such as Hollywood. We’ve learned about these many acts through recent

Supreme Court case Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson of 1986, and Harris v. Forklift Systems of 1993 are examples of a more recent judicial action that has helped shape the contemporary sexual harassment practice (Siegel, 2004). These mentioned two sexual harassment cases linked the unwanted sexual harassment to affecting the employee’s performance and work environment. Furthermore, no substantial victim mental distress is required to receive jury award (Robbins, Decenzo & Coulter,

A. Plaintiff, Beth Ann Faragher, has brought action to her employer, City of Boca Raton- Bill Terry and David Silverman. Plaintiff claims that she was sexually harassed by her immediate supervisors during her employment, which was a violation of Title VII and other state and federal laws. Plaintiff also claims that the sexual harassment she endured by the defendants created a sexually hostile environment. Plaintiff is also suing Terry for battery and the City for negligent retention and supervision of Terry

Thus, an employer violates Title VII when the workplace is filled with discriminatory sex-based intimidation, ridicule, and insult that is sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of the victim 's employment and create an abusive working environment. In order to establish that she has an actionable claim for sexual harassment in the workplace under Title VII, Mrs. Singleton was required to exhibit that the offensive conduct was unwelcome, was based on her sex, was sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of her employment and create an abusive work environment, and was imputable to her employer (Wellington-James, 2015).

Harassment has no boundaries when it comes to race, age, or gender. As mentioned previously, there are sometimes underlying problems when it comes to lower-status positions and high-status positions. Power can be dangerous in the hands of the wrong person and can often be said in the workplace where power can lead to sexual harassment. Debbie Dougherty, an assistant professor of communication in the College of Arts and Science at the University of Missouri-Columbia, did an assessment based on opinions and perceptions of 23 participants. The study was focused around the question “why does sexual harassment occur?” and the most common answer that came up was “power.” One thing Debbie noticed was the fact that men and women had different opinions

Sexual harassment is discrimination that involves any uninvited comments, exploits, or behavior regarding sex, gender, or sexual orientation. If any type of violation is made by a co-worker, a boss, a work acquaintance, or even a non-employee such as a client, vendor, or contractor, this will be considered unlawful sexual harassment within the work environment. Sexual harassment can create a hostile and uneasy work environment. Sexual harassment includes inappropriate verbal advances, unwelcomed physical behavior that creates an aggressive, hostile, intimidating or malicious work environment for employees. Sexual harassment includes sending suggestive e-mails, notes, and

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.

The law covering the retaliation issue on the sexual harassment case would be “Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a federal law that prohibits employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin, and religion. It generally applies to employers with 15 or more employees, including federal, state, and local governments” (http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/titlevii.cfm)

Sexual harassment is an uninvited and unwelcome verbal or physical behavior of a sexual nature, especially by a person in authority toward a subordinate, as per the Merriam-Webster dictionary. This behavior is present in a large number in our societies and we can see such situations at many places, from every day workplaces to daily encounters. A person can be harassed in different manners and it has several consequences on the victims. Sexual assault is still a concern in our daily life and has yet to be generally recognized and it should be prevented.

The term sexual harassment is defined as any unwelcomed sexual advances or conduct on the job that creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment . The Civil Rights Act of 1964 states that sexual harassment is a violation of the law.

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.

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 is defined as “unwelcomed verbal, visual, or physical conduct of a sexual nature that is

This writer will be discussing a case where a male employee files a sexual harassment claim against the employer as the male employee identifies as being gay. He also is filing discrimination on the basis of his gender and alleges retaliation as he was terminated after he had complained about his female coworker. Apparently, the male employee alleged that a female employee while at a dinner and concert after work hours grabbed his privates. It is important to note that the male employee’s performance prior to the incident was declining and was counseled on several occasions by his employer about his declining production. Furthermore, this writer will be discussing whether if the facts could result in liability to the employer for sexual harassment or gender discrimination. Also, this writer will be integrating and referring to various sources and cases that