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| Sexual Harassment Compliance Policies Can Keep You Out of the Danger Zone |
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| Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII defines sexual harassment as "unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature," when "submission to or rejection of this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual's employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual's work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment." |
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| Sexual Harassment Compliance Regulations |
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| Federal law recognizes two different sets of legal grounds for claiming sexual harassment under Title VII: |
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• Quid pro quo — an authority figure demands sexual favors of a subordinate as a condition of getting or keeping a job benefit
• A hostile work environment — fostered by a coworker or supervisor who engages in unwelcome and inappropriate sexually based behavior, making the atmosphere intimidating, hostile, or offensive
For more information about sexual harassment compliance, click here to download a free HR compliance report.
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 - Recent Lawsuits |
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The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has ruled that a female receptionist was not subject to gender discrimination when she was fired by her company for refusing to serve coffee to male supervisors. She had claimed that she was “compelled to perform servile tasks for her male supervisors”. The judge in the case said, “The act of getting coffee is not, by itself, a gender-specific act” and the court could find no other indicators of sexism. In addition, getting coffee for supervisors was a responsibility associated with her position as receptionist. The claim of quid pro quo harassment was also rejected by the court because she did not show that her supervisors had made sexual advances toward her. Her retaliation claim was rejected as well.
A sexual harassment and retaliation suit brought against Foot Locker by a former Philadelphia-area cashier was settled in April for $90,000. The retailer denied any wrongdoing, but has agreed to begin training managers and assistant managers at 13 of its Philadelphia-area stores. In addition, the company will offer new measures to make it easier to bring harassment or discrimination charges, and it will provide greater education about its anti-discrimination policies.
In May, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that denial of a job transfer can signal a workplace discrimination lawsuit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, even if the transfer had nothing to do with an increase in pay or benefits. In the case of Beyer v. County of Nassau Police Department, a female crime scene detective requested and was denied a transfer to a lateral position in a different department where she would have been exposed to advanced scientific procedures and computer resources. She sued, claiming that she’d been discriminated against based on her gender. In agreeing with the detective, the circuit judge sent the case back to the district court for additional hearings, and said that "on the basis of these facts, which we must accept as true, we conclude that a reasonable jury could find that the” position the detective “sought was objectively and materially better than the position she occupied and that, accordingly, an adverse employment action had occurred.”
 DOWNLOAD: Checklist for investigating sexual harassment complaints
WEBCAST: Get Your Questions Answered on Sexual Harassment Investigations
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If the court rules in a victim's favor, he or she can receive up to $300,000 in compensatory damages for each incident of unlawful harassment, as well as back pay, attorney's fees, and possibly additional money damages under state or local law. |
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Verdicts can lead to company liability, not for sexual harassment per se but for intentional infliction of emotional suffering, negligent supervision, invasion of privacy, assault, battery, or any number of other torts. |
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