Men File Workplace Sex Harassment Claims by

¶ … Men File Workplace Sex Harassment Claims by Sam Hananel of the Associated Press. The article was found in the Houston Chronicle at http://www.chron.com/disp/stroy.mpl/nation/6900828.html. In reporting how the number of claims of sexual harassment filed by men in the workplace is increasing, Hananel relates the story of Jonathan Pilkington. Pilkington claims that in the two years he was employed as a food runner at an upscale steakhouse, he was continuously harassed by his male boss, the chef of the restaurant.

Even after Pilkington filed a complaint with management, the harassment did not stop, so he is now a witness in a federal suit against the restaurant. Hananel reports that this case is representative of the increase in reports of sexual harassment by men. According to Hananel, sexual harassment reports by men now make up about 16% of the reported cases, up from 8% in 1990. In 2009, 2,000 of the 12,700 of the sexual harassment complaints filed with the EEOC were filed by men.

What is not clear is whether incidents are increasing, or if more men are coming forward with complaints. Of particular interest in the article is the fact that most of the claims filed by men involve alleged harassment by other men. Some cases involve unwelcome romantic advances, while some cases involve men being harassed because they are gay, perceived as gay, or not considered masculine enough for the work setting.

For example, Hananel relates the case of Joseph Orcale, an employee of an offshore services company, who claimed that "two male supervisors and a male coworker made lewd advances, assaulted him with a bar of soap in the shower, and implied that his job depended on submitting to sex." The implications for Human Resource Managers include increasing awareness that these practices constitute sexual harassment. According to Hananel, the Supreme Court ruled in 1998 that same-sex harassment is a valid claim under federal anti-discrimination laws. Activities that used.