Here are some common questions I receive from an employee being harassed at the work place are: How do I stop it? What do I do? Should I quit? Should I just stay quiet?
The answers to these questions vary with each situation. There are a few things we must consider. For the purposes of this blog, however, I well tell you where we always start. Is the behavior actually sexual harassment? There are some cases that are obvious but often the behavior can be more in a grey area.
To give you some guidance, as to what is sexual harassment, the EEOC defines sexual harassment as:
* unwelcome sexual advances;
* requests for sexual favors;
* other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature-when:
o submission to such conduct can be either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an person’s employment or academic success (man or woman), or
o submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment or academic decisions affecting such individuals, or
o the conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individuals work or academic performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or sexually offensive working environment.