Sexual Harassment in the Work Place

Sexual Harassment in the Work Place
Abstract
Design/methodology/approach The main methods used for the research is internet, because there are a great deal of information on sexual harassment. I did some research on the definition, history, actually sexual harassment cases, and the prevention of sexual harassment. I choose this topic is because sexual harassment in work places happens frequently in this business world we are living in.
Practical implications The outcomes and implications for my project are that people should be aware of that fact that sexual harassment is happening everywhere, and it could happen to anyone you know, we need to be familiar with the law which could protect people if it happen to them.
What is original/value of paper? I put some personal experience in this paper, because I wish people could be more serious about sexual harassment cases, and learn how to prevent it from happening to them, and if it happens to them, how to use law to achieve legal compensation. This paper is to everyone who has a job currently.

Sexual Harassment in the Work Place
Sexual Harassment in the Work Place Sexual harassment is not a strange term nowdays. We almost hear it on radio or TV on the daily bases, or it happens constantly everywhere in this business world. Everyone somehow knows what it means approximately, but what is the exact difination of the sexual harassment? According to the study, it is harassment or unwelcome attention of a sexual nature. More detailedly, it includes behaviors such as mild transgressions and annoyances to serious abuses, which can even involve forced sexual activity. In fact, from the legitimate point of view, sexual harassment is considered a form of illegal discrimination, and is a form of abuse (sexual and psychological) and bullying. The history of the term “sexual harassment” was actually not very old; many people believe it was first discussed at Cornell University in 1974. However, it was the United State Supreme Court confirmation hearing of Clarence Thomas, and Anita Hill’s Testimony that brought the issue to national attention in the U.S. For many businesses, preventing sexual harassment, and defending its managerial employees from sexual harassment charges have become key goals of legal decision-making. In contrast, many scholars complain that sexual harassment in education remains a myth with educators and administrators refusing to admit the problem exists in their schools, or
Sexual Harassment in the Work Place accept their legal and ethical responsibilities to deal with it. However, we all know it exits everywhere, including the most saintly place,university. The statistic of sexual harassment is quite shocking, even though people do not see it often at work. It only happens right before our eyes once a while, but approximately 15,000 sexual harassment cases are brought to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) each year. Media and government surveys estimate the percentage of women being sexually harassed in the U.S. workplace at 40% to 60%. The European Women's Lobby reports that between 40 and 50 % of female employees have experienced some form of sexual harassment or unwanted sexual behavior in the workplace. While the majority of sexual harassment complaints come from women, the number of complaints filed by men is rapidly increasing as well. In 2004, over 15% of EEOC complaints were filed by men with 11% of claims involving men filing against female supervisors. A 2006 government study in the United Kingdom revealed that 2 out of 5 sexual harassment victims in the UK are male, with 8% percent of all sexual harassment complaints to the Equal Opportunities Commission that suprisely coming from men. 'It affects both women and men, causing stress, health problems and financial penalties when they leave their jobs to avoid it,' said Jenny Watson, chair of the EOC. Besides,

Sexual Harassment in the Work Place there even are a number of complaints filed by men agaist men in work places recently, we will discuss it later. In the United States,In the United States, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Title VII prohibits employment discrimination based on race, sex, national origin or religion. The prohibition of sex discrimination covers both females and males, but the origin of the law was to protect women in the workplace and that is its main emphasis today. This discrimination occurs when the sex of the worker is made as a condition of employment (i.e. all male waiters or carpenters) or where this is a job requirement that does not mention sex but ends up barring many more persons of one sex than the other from the job (such as height and weight limits). There were some sexual harassment cases people are quite familiar with from the 70th of the last century to recent. For example, Barnes v. Train (1974) is commonly viewed as the first sexual harassment case in America, even though the term "sexual harassment" was not used. In 1976, Williams v. Saxbe established sexual harassment as a form of sex discrimination when sexual advances by a male supervisor towards a female employee, if proven, would be deemed an artificial barrier to employment placed before one gender and not another. In 1980 the EEOC issued regulations defining sexual harassment and stating it was a form of sex discrimination prohibited by the Civil Rights Act
Sexual Harassment in the Work Place of 1964. In the 1986 case of Michelle Vinson v. Merit One Savings Bank, theSupreme Court first recognized “sexual harassment” as a violation of TitleVII,established the standards for analyzing whether the conduct was welcomeand levels of employer liability, and that speech or conduct iitselfcan create a "hostile environment." The Civil Rights Act of 1991 added provisions to Title VII protections including expanding the rights of women to sue and collect compensatory damages for sexual discrimination or harassment, and the case of Ellison v. Brady resulted in rejecting the reasonable person standard in favor of the "reasonable woman standard" which allowed for cases to be analyzed from the perspective of the complainant and not the defendant. Also in 1991, Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co. became the first sexual harassment case to be given class action status, paving the way for others. Seven years later, in 1998, this case would establish new precedents for setting limits on the "discovery" process in sexual harassment cases, and allowing psychological injuries from the litigation process to be included in assessing damages awards. In the same year, the courts concluded in Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, Florida, and Burlington v. Ellerth, that employers are liable for sexual harassment by their employees. Moreover, Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services set the precedent for same-sex harassment, and sexual harassment without motivation of "sexual desire", stating that any discrimination based on sex is actionable so long at it places
Sexual Harassment in the Work Place the victim in an objectively disadvantageous working condition, regardless of the gender of either the victim, or the harasser.In the 2006 case of Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. White, the standard for retaliation against a sexual harassment complainant was revised to include any adverse employment decision or treatment that would be likely to dissuade a "reasonable worker" from making or supporting a charge of discrimination. As a matter of fact, anyone Can Be Sexually Harassed. It is always not a bad thing to be aware of that we are living in the actual business world. You have to deal with all kinds of people throughout your life, which means sexually harassment could happen to you too. It does not have to do with your appearance, your shape, your age, your social class, it could happen to anyone while he or she is at work. Sexual harassment is a gender-neutral offense, at least in theory: Men can sexually harass women, and women can sexually harass men. However, statistics show that the overwhelming majority of sexual harassment claims and charges are brought by women claiming that they were sexually harassed by men, and it is not hard to figure out why. People of the same sex can also sexually harass each other, as long as the harassment is of a heterosexual nature. For example, if a man's coworkers constantly bombard him with sexually explicit photos of women and sexually explicit jokes, and if this makes him uncomfortable because he is married, this
Sexual Harassment in the Work Place behavior can constitute sexual harassment. Whether sexual harassment of gays and lesbians is illegal under Title VII are an open question right now and the subject of a lot of debate. The U.S. Supreme Court has never addressed So the history of the term sexual harassment is relatively short and it is only in the past decade that the behavior has been researched, anecdotes being replaced by systematic investigation of the situational correlates and the characteristics of victims and perpetrators. In the main, survey and self-report data form the basis for a variety of social, psychological, biological and organizational explanations, none of which satisfactorily accounts for behavior which is increasingly regarded as socially, economically and legally unacceptable. In the U.S. survey research has bolstered the view that harassment is a problem in the work place and that it represents a cost to business. Now, in the UK sexual and racial harassment are well defined in law (The Sex Discrimination Act 1975, The Employment Protection Act 1978). Various public sector employing authorities and Higher Education establishments have policies on harassment and within the National Health Service a recent Advance Letter makes it clear that employing authorities are expected to ensure that sexual harassment is prevented. A variety of effects have been noted as occurring consequent upon sexual harassment. These include psychological, occupational and physical effects. Livingstone (1982)
Sexual Harassment in the Work Place also describes the way in which cultural norms may exacerbate women's feelings of intimidation following sexual harassment 'since sex role stereotypes and socialization seem to give men to pursue sexual encounters with women aggressively and women are encouraged to be nice and avoid challenging males'. Sexual harassment is difficult to measure and difficult to prove (Fitzgerald, 1989). It may occur between men and women, or between members of the same gender with or without the same sexual orientation; thus, men may harass other men or women other women. In a large scale survey conducted by Tangri (op cit) victims were more likely to be women and those under supervision or younger workers were more likely to be affected. The perpetrators were more likely (but not exclusively) to be men and older than their victims (if the victims were women) and supervisors were two and a half time more likely to be harassers of women. Despite evidence of its frequency, however, individuals are apparently reluctant to report sexual harassment and men seem to perceive it differently. Livingstone argues that to inspire remedial action it is first necessary to legitimize the problem. Policy documents should contain definitions of harassment and examples of unacceptable behavior, contain an explicit statement of disapproval, information about how to complain, where to get support, and they should detail the disciplinary actions which could be taken. Sexual Harassment in the Work Place There are enough information exists about sexual harassment to make it obvious that it should be proscribed, that it is a matter for grievance, and may sometimes be a matter for disciplinary action by the Society, less is known about what are called 'dual' relationships or 'unethically' intimate relationships. Dual relationships are those in which individuals engage in a personal loving and/or sexual relationship with someone to whom they also have professional responsibilities. Sexual relationships between supervisors and postgraduate or undergraduate students, like sexual harassment, have been demonstrated to be more common than is generally assumed in a large-scale US survey of almost 500 female clinical psychologists found 17 per cent reporting sexually intimate relationships with 'educators' and Richardson (1992) in the UK found a rate of just fewer than 10 per cent for a sample of men and women. In both these studies, however, the reported rate of negative consequences was relatively low; some trainees, but by no means all, experienced negative effects upon their work and professional relationships. Despite this, it is interesting to note the suggestion that trainees come to regret the relationships, feeling that they were unethical, irresponsible and unprofessional, despite feeling comfortable at the time. A link between harassment and dual relationships appears on examination of the social psychological models which are invoked to explain them. An understanding of the social psychology of power, the American research argues, will explain both. But the social
Sexual Harassment in the Work Place psychological analysis of power, an approach favored explicitly by the feminist literature, is only one amongst several approaches invoked to explain harassment, rape, assault and the predominance of male over female supervisors in the incidence of sexually intimate relationships between staff and trainees. Other explanations include the behavior is the product of biological drive and represents the expression of sexual attraction; the certain environments, like open plan offices and overcrowding, make it more likely; and the certain hierarchies and authority relations designed to protect male dominance of women promote it. These models, which are essentially no more than preferences for viewing sexual harassment or dual relationships in particular ways, are described fully by Tangri et al. (1982). All the models are, to some extent, supported by the evidence which Tangri et al. present concerning harassment; they conclude that 'sexual harassment is not a unitary phenomenon' and that there may be different patterns of causes between supervisors and trainees or between co-workers. More work is needed in this area to develop psychological models which have explanatory power. It is clear that dual relationships will seldom be the subject of the Society's disciplinary procedures; this is not least because dual relationships by definition require the consent of both parties. Whilst many dual relationships do not cause harm, however, it is certain that they carry a risk of exploitation or of impaired judgment. The question of the degree to which such relationships
Sexual Harassment in the Work Place may therefore be regarded as unethical is raised. There may be qualitative changes in the way that professional responsibilities are carried out, or difficulties between peers in a group of students when one is known to be in a relationship with a member of staff; in fact, it may be particularly difficult to convince other students or trainees that their colleague was not advantaged by the relationship and third parties may wish to complain about this. For these reasons, it is argued that psychologists (particularly those in the more 'powerful' position of teacher or trainer) should avoid such relationships or act immediately to remove, substitute or exchange their professional role once a sexual or loving relationship has been established. The APA Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (1992) makes this point very plainly and contains several items which refer to this. Direct and indirect discrimination and victimization are against the law. Although harassment is not defined or mentioned in the legislation it is held to be discriminatory under the Race Relations (1976) and Sexual Discrimination (1975) Acts following, amongst others, two cases heard in 1986. Individuals as well as employers can be liable following a case of sexual harassment, and an individual subjected to sexual harassment can claim constructive dismissal if no action is taken once a complaint is made and he/she therefore resigns. The test here is whether or not the trust and confidence necessary to sustain the employment relationship is at an end. If an employer fails to take steps once
Sexual Harassment in the Work Place harassment is reported then the employer is liable - but not if the employer took such steps as was reasonably practicable to prevent the employee from engaging in the behavior. The dismissal of an individual after an employer has reasonably concluded that he/she is guilty of harassment is not unfair, but an employer should not forcibly remove the person who has made the complaint as this can be seen as a detriment, regardless of motive. There are numbers of steps to follow when harassment or discrimination or victimization is thought to have taken place and these are outlined in Section 4. There is no case law in Britain concerning dual relationships, although the Codes of Conduct in many HE establishments contain reference to the inadvisability of staff having relationships with their students, because of the risks described earlier of accusation by third parties of unfair advantage, of bias in judgment about assessments of the trainee's progress or examination results, of negligence (e.g. of clinical case supervision) and of damage to the professional status, progress, opportunities or prospects of the supervisees. In the United States clients have attempted to sue supervisors for negligence on the grounds that their clinical case supervision was flawed because a dual relationship existed. Despite the typical power imbalances, however, it seems unwise to assume that dual relationships are exploitative or to assume that they always lead to negative consequences; dual relationships are consensual and many appear to be successful and long-lasting. Nevertheless, such
Sexual Harassment in the Work Place relationships may present difficulties, third parties may complain and psychologists should be prepared for these eventualities. We talked about same-sex sexual harassment earlier in this article. In the case of Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc. the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex sexual harassment is a form of discrimination protected by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The Oncale ruling gave both the employee and employer victories. The Court ruled that men are capable of sexually harassing other men, and women are capable of sexually harassing other women. In addition, the sexual orientation of the individual is not important the Court ruled. A heterosexual man/woman can sexually harass another heterosexual man/woman. A homosexual man/woman can sexually harass a heterosexual man/woman. Therefore the sexual orientation of either party should not be an issue when the employer investigates a complaint of sexual harassment. In fact, the parties do not even need to be sexually interested in each other for sexual harassment to occur. The key ingredients that constitute sexual harassment are some form of sexual content and some form of discrimination occurring in the workplace. The Supreme Court has ruled that same-sex harassment is a form of discrimination that an employer should not engage in or allow to occur within the workplace. The sexual orientation and gender of the parties is not relevant
Sexual Harassment in the Work Place to whether or not the event is or is not a form of sexual harassment. An employer cannot claim that a male employee or supervisor could not have engaged in sexually harassing another male coworker because all the parties involved are heterosexual. A heterosexual female supervisor can create a sexual harassing situation with either another heterosexual or homosexual female employee. Sexual desire between the people need not be present in order for sexual harassment (discrimination) to occur. Many people do not understand why sexual harassment is really sexual discrimination. The Supreme Court allows for sexual talk within the workplace up until an employee is discriminated against. An employer does not need to ban the word "sex" from the workplace, ban employees from commenting on how nice another employee looks, or discipline an employee who just repeated a sexual joke that Jay Leno told on the Tonight Show. An employee must demonstrate that the sexual content they experienced led to discrimination the same as they would if they experienced race, national origin, or religious discrimination. This is an important education point for employers to educate their employees and supervisors. Sexual discrimination occurs when sexual content leads to an unfair treatment of the employee due to their sex. For example, a male employee is passed over for promotion because his male supervisor hopes to start dating the less qualified female employee. In this example, the male coworker is treated unfairly due to his sex and the situation
Sexual Harassment in the Work Place involves sexual content. A situation that involves sexual content but not unfair treatment would be if a supervisor tells a female subordinate a sexual joke about President Clinton, and does not have a history or any plans of treating the female employee any differently then any other employee. In this case the supervisor just told a rude joke, and did not sexually harass the female subordinate because no discrimination occurred. On the other hand, if this supervisor told enough sexual jokes, and the employees felt that they were required to listen to them, the supervisor may end up creating a hostile environment within the workplace. Supervisors, who allow or create a hostile environment for all or some employees to work in, also create an environment where discrimination can occur. Do not freak out since we have talked a lot about sexual harassment so fat. There are strategies for Prevention. In fact, there are a number of steps that you can take to reduce the risk of sexual harassment occurring in your workplace. Although you may not be able to take all of the steps listed below, you should take as many of them as you can. First of all, you can adopt a clear sexual harassment policy. In your employee handbook, you should have a policy devoted to sexual harassment. I cited some here. “That policy should:
Sexual Harassment in the Work Place • define sexual harassment • state in no uncertain terms that you will not tolerate sexual harassment • state that you will discipline or fire any wrongdoers • set out a clear procedure for filing sexual harassment complaints • state that you will investigate fully any complaint that you receive, • state that you will not tolerate retaliation against anyone who complains about sexual harassment. For tips on creating an employee handbook, see Why You Should Create an Employee Handbook.” Second of all, for business owner, they should train employees. At least once a year, conduct training sessions for employees. These sessions should teach employees what sexual harassment is, explain that employees have a right to a workplace free of sexual harassment, review your complaint procedure, and encourage employees to use it. The sessions should educate the managers and supervisors about sexual harassment and explain how to deal with complaints. To learn more about dealing with employee complaints, see Guidelines for Handling Discrimination and Harassment Complaints. Sexual Harassment in the Work Place Third, monitor your workplace. Get out among your employees periodically. Talk to them about the work environment. Ask for their input. Look around the workplace itself. Do you see any offensive posters or notes? Talk to your supervisors and managers about what is going on. Keep the lines of communication open. Finally, take all complaints seriously. If someone complains about sexual harassment, act immediately to investigate the complaint. If the complaint turns out to be valid, your response should be swift and effective. For more about dealing with complaints, see Guidelines for Handling Discrimination and Harassment Complaints. In short, sexual harassment in the workplace is not really a new thing now, it happens to anyone in everywhere. Most of people would just choose to tolerate when it happened to them, because it is a shame, but it is not the shame they deserve to bear. I wish everyone is currently working could be aware of it, and have the desire to learn how to prevent it from happening to you, as well as learning how to achieve legal compensation in case it happens to you.

Reference:

Paul Igasaki., Article Title: A Look at Sexual Harassment, In Today's Work Environment

Publisher: Careerjournal.com http://www.careerjournal.com/myc/diversity/20040830-imdiversity.html