Sexual harassment can make going to work uncomfortable, intimidating, or even unsafe. Unwelcome sexual comments, advances, touching, requests for sexual favors, inappropriate messages, and other conduct can affect your ability to do your job and may violate federal employment laws.
Sexual harassment can happen between supervisors and employees, between coworkers, or involve someone outside the company, such as a client or customer. It can also happen in person, through text messages, email, social media, or other forms of communication connected to the workplace.
If you believe you have experienced sexual harassment at work, our North Carolina employment lawyers can help you understand your rights and your options.
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Sexual harassment is a form of sex-based workplace harassment. It can include unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, sexual comments, inappropriate touching, sexually explicit messages or images, and other verbal, physical, or visual conduct of a sexual nature.
Not every inappropriate interaction is necessarily illegal sexual harassment. Under federal law, harassment generally becomes unlawful when it is sufficiently severe or frequent to create a hostile or abusive work environment, or when it results in an adverse employment decision such as termination or demotion.
Sexual harassment does not have to involve physical contact. Conduct through email, text messages, social media, or other workplace communications may also be relevant.
Sexual harassment can take many forms. Examples may include:
Sexual harassment can affect people of any gender, and the harasser and person experiencing the harassment can be of the same or different sex.
A hostile work environment can develop when unwelcome conduct based on sex is sufficiently severe or frequent that it changes the conditions of employment and creates an abusive working environment.
Courts and the EEOC consider the circumstances as a whole. The nature of the conduct, how often it occurred, whether it was threatening or humiliating, and how it affected the workplace can all be relevant.
A person does not necessarily have to quit their job or suffer a financial loss for sexual harassment to be legally significant.
Quid pro quo sexual harassment generally involves sexual conduct being tied to an employment decision or benefit.
For example, a supervisor may suggest that an employee will receive a promotion, better schedule, raise, or other workplace benefit if the employee agrees to a sexual request. It can also involve threats that an employee will lose a job benefit or face other consequences for rejecting sexual advances.
Sexual harassment can also involve a hostile work environment without a specific job benefit being offered or threatened.
A harasser may be:
The fact that the person is not technically an employee does not automatically mean the conduct is outside the scope of workplace harassment laws. The employer’s knowledge of the conduct and its response can be important in determining potential liability.
A harasser may be:
The fact that the person is not technically an employee does not automatically mean the conduct is outside the scope of workplace harassment laws. The employer’s knowledge of the conduct and its response can be important in determining potential liability.
Sexual harassment by a supervisor can be particularly concerning because the supervisor may have control over an employee’s schedule, pay, assignments, evaluations, promotion opportunities, or continued employment.
If a supervisor is making unwanted sexual advances, sending inappropriate messages, requesting sexual favors, touching an employee, or making employment decisions based on an employee’s response to sexual conduct, the situation may raise serious legal concerns.
Employees do not have to accept sexual conduct from a supervisor simply because the person has authority over them.
Sexual harassment can also come from a coworker.
If a coworker repeatedly makes sexual comments, sends inappropriate messages, touches an employee, displays sexually explicit material, or engages in other unwelcome conduct, the employer may have responsibilities once it knows or should know about the harassment.
Reporting the conduct through the employer’s established process may be an important step, but employees should also consider preserving evidence of what happened.
Sexual harassment does not always come from someone who works for the same company.
Customers, clients, contractors, and other people who interact with employees may engage in sexually inappropriate conduct. Employers may have responsibilities when they know or should know about harassment by a nonemployee and fail to take appropriate corrective action.
Retaliation for reporting sexual harassment or participating in an investigation may create a separate legal issue.
Retaliation can take different forms, including:
Federal employment laws protect employees who engage in certain protected activities, including complaining about workplace discrimination or harassment.
An employer’s response can be important in a sexual harassment claim.
If an employee reports harassment and the employer ignores the complaint, fails to investigate, dismisses the conduct, or does not take appropriate steps to address the situation, those circumstances may be relevant to the employee’s legal rights.
Employees should keep records of complaints they make and any response they receive.
Evidence can be important in employment harassment cases. Depending on the circumstances, useful evidence may include:
Try to preserve relevant communications and records rather than deleting them.
Depending on the circumstances, an employee may have a legal claim against an employer or other responsible party for workplace sexual harassment.
The available legal claims and potential defendants depend on factors such as who committed the harassment, the employer’s size, what happened, whether the conduct was reported, how the employer responded, and whether the employee experienced an employment action because of the harassment.
Some claims may also require an employee to file a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission before filing a lawsuit.
Employment lawyers may handle cases in different ways depending on the circumstances and the type of claim involved. The potential cost of legal representation can depend on the complexity of the case, the amount of investigation required, whether litigation is necessary, and the potential claims involved.
During a free case evaluation, you can discuss what happened and learn more about your potential legal options before deciding how to proceed.
