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In these recent month’s Sexual Harassment has been a highly scandalous subject, mainly due to the increase of sexual harassment allegations against executives in diverse industries such as in film, athletics, entertainment, to government. Whether these allegations originate from the public or private sector, it seems the constant variable is the incidents continue to take place at the workplace. To mitigate these incidents from happening employers should conduct continued education on the subject to avoid any room for misunderstandings. A strong and clear set of policies also helps the cause.
I. Introduction A. What is Sexual Harassment? Sexual Harassment is any unwelcome sexual advances, request for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitutes sexual harassment. To help prevent sexual harassment at the workplace the employer needs to have a strong sexual harassment policy in place to be able to deal with each case individually and determine the sanctions or repercussions put in place to mitigate these events from happening.
The employer must be able to reference the Harassment Policy to document the original complaint against the aggressor, process the request within a timely manner to prevent further aggression, investigate the aggression to help resolve the reported incidents.
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Sexual Harassment can be perceived or interpreted in many ways. Some of these could range from verbal abuse or innuendos of a sexual nature, prolonged staring, making insulting sounds, jokes of a sexual nature and if interpreted wrong even hugging female staff members. For these situations to be considered sexual harassment, the conduct must be so objectively offensive as to have an effect on the victim’s employment.
The harassment can drive victims to quit their job which is an actual tangible loss and ground for legal repercussion, the victim can explain how the hostile environment lead them to leave their position.
Who is at Risk? Sexual harassment does not discriminate; however, there are a higher number of perpetrators that are male and there is lower percentage of women how are accused of sexual harassment at the workplace. The New York Times counted a total of 51 firings and resignations in the last quarter of 2017. The fallout began in October 2017 with movie producer and co- founder of Weinstein Company; Harvey Weinstein. Harvey was accused of raping three women and inappropriately behaving in front of another dozen; this lead to his termination from his company and even expelled from the Academy Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Harvey’s allegations began a domino like effect in the subject. On October 18 women came forward against their aggressors; these men ranged from Senior Vice Presidents, Head of Studios’, Fashion photographers, Actors, and Executives.
The challenging issues? Corporations strive to instill a peaceful and harmonious corporate culture, mainly based on mutual respect and a high expectation of professionalism. However, sexual harassment is among the most challenging and emotionally sensitive issues facing the workforce of employees. Sexual harassment does not discriminate; however, there are proven facts that reflect it’s a heavily one sided issue. Starting with movie producer Harvey Weinstein, who was first accused on October 2017 there have been 51 individuals accused of harassing another co-worker or subordinate. Of these 51 allegations, 100% have been men. One of the federal agencies that helps in enforcing and preventing these types of issues is the EEOC or Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Their focus is investigating complaints which involve any type of discrimination against an individual’s gender, race, sex, children, religion, and other important basis to maintain and safe and peaceful work environment.
However, certain behaviors by law cannot be reprimanded or forbidden such as casual flirtation or innocent teasing. In order for the incident to be considered factual sexual harassment the situation has to be repetitive and severe. These incidents have continued to happen so frequently that the victim feels the work environment is hostile or even offensive towards the individual being harassed (EEOC.Gov). II. SEXUAL HARASSMENT PREVENTION AND ACTION The workplace should be a peaceful and safe place for employees to attend and interact safely. Occasionally there are certain individuals who believe they’re entitled over others and ;thus, act in a way which demeanors their victims and preys on their weaknesses. This environment only creates hostility and confliction between employees and managers who are on the receiving end of the harassment. Individuals who find themselves in these types of scenarios should not feel frightened or alone.
There are certain steps than can be taken to mitigate or deflect these uncomfortable and damaging events that our culture has shamefully embarrassed as a norm. Victims should be cautious on how they approach and react to these types of harassments since these can lead to termination on both ends if handled inappropriately. One of the most important acts the victim must take is documenting everything they can, about the harassment and any other inappropriate interaction that has taken place. One specific type of harassment is Quid Pro Quo; this is when promotions or job offers are utilized as manipulation tools by the harasser to their benefit. Key things that must be documented are the date, time, and place of the incident.
Once solid evidence has been gathered against the aggressor, review your work policy on sexual harassment and take the necessary steps against the aggressor. The first one could be to Report the harassment to the Human Resources department do there is a record of the event. According to the Supreme Court a sexual harassment report must be filed before an individual can take legal matters against the aggressor. Hopefully the harassment will subside after it’s been reported, but that is not always the case. If the harassment continues to take place at work, escalate the satiation with your Human Resources department as they have to make this stop, or they could be held liable in a court of law. If filings with the Human Resources department seem to fall on deaf ears you can always file a formal complaint with the EEOC. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission would be the following steps in the process.
According to the EEOC, there is a timeframe for the declaration to be validated, this fluctuates per states, but most of the time you have 180 or 300 days from the date of discrimination to file a complaint. If the victim wishes to take legal action against the aggressor, or employer; for not handling the situations accordingly. It’s best to seek legal counsel as they will be able to better guide you in the lawsuit against the perpetrator. III. Conclusion No individual should feel obligated to withstand any type of unwelcome gestures against one’s persona or physical nature. There are steps that can be taken to prevent sexual harassment at the workplace, but these are not bulletproofed. If more people are educated about the damage that sexual harassment causes and the serious repercussion it could have on one’s personal life. Maybe we could eventually belong to a society were no women or men should feel worried about their surrounding when belonging to a safe work environment.
Sexual Harassment Against Leaders Of Various Industries. (2022, Jun 03). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/sexual-harassment-against-leaders-of-various-industries-essay
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