Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

Discrimination in employment based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin are prohibited by Title VII, a section of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In 1986, the Supreme Court ruled in Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson that sexual harassment constituted a form of sexual discrimination under Title VII (Mello, 2006). Courts have identified many key factors that influence whether behavior constitutes sexual harassment or not.

In managing sexual harassment in the workplace organizations need to deal with four specific problems. First, many workers and managers are not aware of what sexual harassment is and what constitutes harassment. In order to rectify this, employers need to focus a large part of orientation on awareness and attitudes towards sexual harassment. Discussions need to be held on what sexual harassment is and clarification of certain perceptions needs to be addressed. The second problem that organizations face is that many employees are not aware of policies that the organization has in place regarding sexual harassment. Or, the employee knows of a policy, but does not know what it says. Management must provide their employees with training that focuses on procedures, policies, and processes regarding issues of sexual harassment (Mello, 2006). Management must also be consistent yet flexible in their decisions to handle specific situations. The third problem management face regarding sexual harassment is maintaining an open door policy. Many employees fear that reporting an incident will be detrimental to their job. To encourage an employee to report such activity, it is important to maintain a trustworthy working atmosphere. Employees also need to be assured that confidentiality will be maintained as well as some type of support in order to continue working in their current position (Mello, 2006). Lastly, management must investigate all allegations of sexual harassment immediately. The challenge to investigating the issue effectively is knowing that there are always two sides to every story. Therefore, one must seek out others that may have seen or heard the incident. If no evidence is supported, it is best for the company to notify the accused person in writing stating that if the conduct did occur, it would be considered sexual harassment and they would be in violation of company policy (Mello, 2006).

According to the article Policies for workplace sexual harassment should be in place to (2005), legal experts agreed that when it comes to sexual harassment in the workplace, it is important for employers and employees to abide by an established policy. This will in fact protect the employer from a costly lawsuit and the employee from any kind of harassment conflict. All organizations face liability for sexual harassment committed by supervisors unless they can demonstrate reasonable efforts to prevent or correct the actions (Larimer, 2005). Employers bear most of the responsibility for controlling harassment in the office (Larimer, 2005). According to the article Policies for workplace sexual harassment should be in place to (2005)