Unethical Conduct And Sexual 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.

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.

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

Every company has set policies concerning unprofessional behavior, ethics, and discrimination. It is each person’s responsibility to do the right thing when no one is watching. However, there are always those that think they are above the law so to speak. It is an organizations responsibility to uphold their policies and reprimand those that break them. Unfortunately, often times covert harassment, such as, sexual harassment goes unnoticed or ignored until a victim comes forth.

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.

According to the EEOC it is: “unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when submission to or rejection of this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual’s employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work enviroment.” Sexual harassment, is intimidation, bullying or coercion of a sexual nature, or the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. In some contexts or circumstances, sexual harassment is illegal. It includes a range of behavior from seemingly mild

Sexual harassment is an increasing issue in society and there are multiple branches of it, including street harassment, work harassment, and sexual assault. Sexual harassment is unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature.

Sexual harassing behavior includes requests for sexual favors, physical sexual involvement and unwelcome sexual advances which affect the productivity of the work. The numbers of sexually harassed women in the workplace is staggering. Most women who experience sexual harassment in the workplace, who are afraid of speaking out. They also feel ashamed of telling anybody and fear of losing their jobs if the same deed is bring into the notice of higher authority.

Sexual harassment is an infection that can spread through an organization. When there is a sexual harassment accusation, it must be dealt with swiftly and accordingly. If not it can create a bad atmosphere between all levels from the most senior employees to the newest employee. A trust level is broken when issues happen and it is brushed under the rug. According to USA.GOV (2009) sexual harassment is the unlawful harassment of an individual. The harassment includes unwanted sexual advances such as sexual favors, verbal comments or contact. Consequently, according to Tseng (2014) many victims will not report sexual harassment due to their status as a lower employee and the status of the harasser. Implementing a policy that allows a bystander to report what they have seen can mean the difference between a peaceful work place and a work place with disgruntled

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

There are many consequences to violators of workplace sexual harassment laws. It is up to the employer to exercise due care that their employees are not harassed. Sexual harassment has an impact on employers as well as its employees. When harassed workers lose concentration, when it interferes with their judgment, when they are difficult to motivate or tend to be late or absent, employers incur significant losses. In these circumstances, productivity may decrease, team work be jeopardized, and the risk of workplace accidents increase. Ultimately, employers may lose valuable workers, while others may be dissuaded from applying for vacancies.

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]

In this research paper I would fully discuss what sexual harassment. I will start on the origin of sexual harassment and how it came into law. I will discuss what environment of sexual harassment looks like in the work place. The reader should be able to discover the different types of sexual harassment: Quid pro quo and Indirect. I will show you illustrated trends of sexual harassment in the work place over the years. I will discuss how sexual harassment affect both parties, meaning the employer and the employee. I will back up theses affects by laws that are set in place to protect the employee and hold the employer responsible. I will give an analysis on recent litigation involving sexual harassment in the workplace. In my conclusion I will give a recommendation on how to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace and what management can to protect their employees.

Secondly, the individual is used as a basis for employment decisions affecting such individual. Finally, the result of such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment.] (Aggarwal, 89-93)