Sexual harassment in the workplace

Sexual Harassment Is Defined by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as:

form of sex discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Title VII applies to employers with 15 or more employees, including state and local governments. It also applies to employment agencies and to labor organizations, as well as to the federal government

Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when 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."

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (2008) Discrimination by type:

facts and guidance.

Retrieved January 27, 2009, from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Web site: http://www.eeoc.gov/types/sexual_harassment.html

Sexual Harassment

It was reported by Adam Liptak in the New York Times that the Supreme Court ruling of Monday, January 26, 2009, on Crawford v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee, No. 06-1595, extends protection of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1967 from victims of sexual harassment in the workplace to employees who participate in the investigation of that behavior.

Vicky Crawford had worked for the Nashville and Davidson County school system for 30 years.

She did not initiate complaints against Gene Hughes for his behavior, but she did answer investigative inquiries, referencing Hughes' lewd behavior such as grabbing his genitals and requesting to see her breasts.

Hughes was verbally reprimanded. Crawford and two others who had made complaints against Hughes were fired amidst allegations of embezzlement, which were not pursued by authorities.

The employer argued that ruling in Crawford's favor would reduce the number of cases investigated.

The Court disagreed, stating that employees that feared retribution without recourse were less likely to cooperate in investigations.

Many companies in the United States have official policies in place to protect employees against retribution in situations just like this.

These policies are often referred to as "Open Door" policies and some companies even have anonymous tip lines for whistleblowers.

However, the majority of corporate employees believe that to use the 'Open Door' is a career death sentence and that there is no true anonymity when misconduct is reported.

It is not uncommon to hear a horror story of a former coworker who reported misconduct and was assured no retribution would occur, but who was soon 'performance managed' out.

In light of this common fear, one of the biggest challenges for victims of sexual harassment was obtaining honest responses from coworkers who witnessed harassment, but were not subjected to it themselves. The witnesses' survival instincts would often prevent honest participation in such an investigation.

The apparently unfounded accusations of embezzlement against Crawford appear to have been the telling difference for this recent ruling.

The more common tactic of 'performance management' is more subtle and much more difficult to prove.

An employee whose job performance was previously considered acceptable will begin to receive less favorable reviews and impossible tasks and goals to further ensure failure.

The employee then has the option of using the "Open Door," but is already known as a whistleblower and due to decreasing performance reviews is not likely to be regarded as wholly credible in his or her complaints.

Unfortunately, this ruling by the Supreme Court that is designed to offer employees more protection may in fact only enforce the tried and true 'performance management' tactic of eliminating employees with courage enough to speak out against harassment. In an economic era of job cutting, self preservation instincts are stronger than ever and it is doubtful we will see an immediate increase in reported abuses as predicted by the Court.