Sexual Harassment

The U.S. law that prohibits sexual harassment in the workplace is Title VII, of the Civil Right Act of 1964, which is meant to protect everyone regardless of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Anita Hill, a professor accused Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment in 1991. Thomas was at the time a Supreme Court Nominee, so the charge woke Americans in the workplace that this was a big deal, and consequences were very real. Costing a typical fortune 500 company an average of $7 million annually on sexual harassment charges yearly, large companies are becoming very aware of how serious of a problem this can be.

The EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) and the courts have issued that there are two types of sexual harassment. They are known as "quid pro quo" and "hostile work environment". Both of these rules are made up of the core idea that "unwanted sexual advances" are made during an interaction. Quid pro quo harassment is typically when a job promotion or job benefits, for sexual favors. The article gives the clearest example by using the boss to tell an employee, "Sleep with me or you fired." Such a situation doesn't give much of a choice, so something need to be done to protect employees from such situations. Hostile work environment takes place when someone is interfering with others ways of work, by sexual comments. Also, creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment can contribute to the law. Using repeated vulgarity or hanging nude picture is unacceptable under the law, as well as raunchy jocks. Employees need to be sensitive to the fact that there may be mixed company in the room, and the comments that are made in the workplace need to be thought about before being said.

Victims of sexual harassment cases that can prove that they have been harassed, under court order can receive payback those that have lost their job due to acts they refused to perform, or carry on with, would be paid for any lost work from the company that fired them, and lost benefits. Any other fees that came along with the case would be covered; also any damages that took place would be accounted for. The courts realize that serious actions must be taken to stop sexual harassment in the workplace. There is no room for it, it is unprofessional on the company and individual, and it can end up costing the company a large sum of money.

The case of Sexual Harassment is a conglomeration of cases that deal with the problem of sexual harassment in several different scenarios. Each case shows how different people, male and female dealt with sexual harassment issues in their jobs. In the first story, a manager of a store did not feel it was ethical to display sexually explicit materials