Sacramento Employment Law Blog

Sexual harassment is a widespread issue across all industries. If you are a woman who is bearing the brunt of inappropriate behavior at work, you may have no idea what to do. While you want the harassment to stop, it can be confusing and intimidating to take action.

While you may feel afraid to report sexual harassment, it is the best way to make it stop. Here is a step-by-step guide for handling a sexual harasser at the workplace.

When your employer hires you as an employee in the company, you have certain rights and are protected under the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. One of these rights involves protection against employer retaliation, which is the most frequently alleged type of discrimination given by workers in California and across the nation. It is important that you understand your rights and know what to do if you feel you have been victimized employer retaliation.

According to the EEOC, if you engage in certain tasks, employers cannot punish or take action against you. These include the following:

•          Protecting others or yourself against sexual advances.
•          Asking for an accommodation because of a disability.
•          Asking for an accommodation because of a religious belief or practice.
•          Refusing to do something that might discriminate against other employees.
•          Going to a supervisor to report harassment or discrimination.

At the Law Office of Jeffrey D. Fulton in California, we empathize with the difficulties you sometime encounter in finding and maintaining a job when you are disabled. As you likely know, and as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reminds you, the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits employers from discriminating against you in any aspect of employment from hiring and firing to pay, job assignments, promotions, layoffs, etc. based on your disability. In addition, the ADA requires employers to reasonably accommodate your disability.

To qualify for protection under the ADA, however, you must not only possess the necessary qualifications to perform the job for which you apply, but also meet one of the following three disability criteria:

1. You have a physical or mental condition that substantially restricts your ability to walk, talk, hear, see, learn, etc.
2. You have a history of disability, such as cancer currently in remission.
3. Your employer or prospective employer believes you have a major and lasting physical or mental condition, even if you actually do not have that condition.

When you hear about sexual harassment in the news, the story may talk about overt acts committed by creepy managers and lecherous customers. While you may know that sexual harassment in the workplace is common in California, you might not recognize its different forms. Many types of sexual harassment are subtler than the headlines suggest. In fact, sexual harassment often starts in less obvious ways before increasing in intensity, or it may remain subtle, yet equally damaging.

As we have explained before in this blog, sexual harassment describes behaviors of a sexual nature that are unwanted and ongoing. Business Insider describes numerous subtle forms of sexual harassment, which you may not have realized qualify as such, including the following:

• Your manager often standing uncomfortably close while talking to you
• Comments or jokes about your gender or your body that you find offensive, sexually suggestive or demeaning
• Casual touches that could be explained away as accidental, such as a hand brushing against any part of your body or hugs you find uncomfortable
• Nicknames that are demeaning or sexist, such as “Honey” or “Busty”
• A co-worker insisting on discussing sexual topics, asking you about your intimate life or trying to share suggestive content with you
• Persistent requests to go on a date or meet outside the workplace