Over the past year, there have been many high-profile legal cases centered on workplace harassment and sexual harassment. With these cases, the general public has been made more aware of the rights that both women and men have in the workplace, especially when it comes to different types of sexual harassment.
One of the biggest reasons why workers stay silent about the sexual harassment that they have endured is because they fear that they are exaggerating. The truth is that sexual harassment is any type of behavior that creates a hostile working environment. This means that if you are feeling embarrassed at work due to another worker’s inappropriate actions, or if you dread coming into work each day because you do not know how a certain colleague will behave toward you, this is enough to constitute sexual harassment in the workplace, and it is enough for a legal case.
What is the definition of a “hostile working environment”?
For any sexual harassment legal case to be successful in the state of New York, it is vital that it can be proven that the type of behavior the perpetrator or perpetrators engaged in was disruptive enough to create a hostile working environment. This essentially means that due to this inappropriate behavior, a worker was unable to fully concentrate at work, felt embarrassed, ashamed, or generally felt that his or her workplace experience had been irrevocably altered, because of one incident or the repetition of many incidents.
What are some examples of behavior that could be considered workplace sexual harassment?
Sexual harassment can come in many forms. It could even come in the form of a person being seemingly nice, but in doing so, he or she makes a worker feel embarrassed or uncomfortable. This could be a situation where a worker buys his or her colleague constant gifts and presents that the recipient does not want to receive. It could also be in the form of crude jokes being made or sending pornographic material over work email.
If you have been a victim of sexual harassment and you are feeling uncomfortable at work in New York, it is important that you take swift action.