Sexual harassment is more common in the workplace than most people realize. It can be found in every line of work, and it can come from just about anyone. A perpetrator of sexual harassment can certainly be your supervisor or a co-worker, but it can also come from customers and representatives from other businesses who are at your place of employment for a meeting. Yet, despite its prevalence, sexual harassment often goes unnoticed, and victims often fail to act to protect themselves. This can result in not only psychological trauma and a threat to their physical well-being, but it can also lead to adverse employment actions that ruin their careers and devastate their financial well-being.
That’s why you can’t let a sexual harasser get away with their egregious behavior. Instead, you need to act to hold them accountable and to recover the compensation you’re owed. But that can be tough if you don’t know how to spot signs of sexual harassment, so let’s start there.
How can you tell if you’ve been a victim of sexual harassment?
Far too many individuals write off sexually harassing behavior as nothing more than jokes or something that doesn’t quite rise to the level of severity expected of sexual harassment. Don’t make that mistake. Instead, consider if you’ve been subjected to any of the following, which could be indicative that you’re a victim of sexual harassment:
- Your superior tries to coerce you into a sexual act: In some cases of sexual harassment, a supervisor or other individual with power over an employee tries to force them to perform a sexual act in exchange for an employment benefit, whether that be a promotion or a pay raise. In other instances, the superior tries to coerce the sexual act by threatening demotion or termination.
- An uncomfortable work environment: If people at work give you unwanted sexualized attention or continue to make lewd jokes that leave you feeling uncomfortable or fearful in the workplace, then there’s a good chance that sexual harassment has occurred, and a hostile work environment has resulted.
- Repeated requests for a relationship: If your supervisor or another co-worker continues to ask you out on dates despite your continuous refusals, then you’re being subjected to sexual harassment. This forces you to figure out how to navigate the workplace in a way that continues to rebuke your co-worker while still fulfilling your job duties. This can be tough to do.
- Exposure to pornography: If your co-workers show pornographic materials or leave it displayed in their workspace, it can create an extremely distressing situation. This can constitute sexual harassment.
- You’re subjected to insults: Insults levied at you that are sexual in nature can leave you feeling humiliated and intimidated. This, again, can create a hostile work environment where it’s difficult to carry out your job duties.
Protect yourself from sexual harassment
The ramifications of sexual harassment can be severe and wide-reaching. You can’t let your harasser get away with their actions, and you can let your employer get away with their failure to protect you. So, if you suspect that you’ve been subjected to sexual harassment, then you should discuss the matter with your attorney. After all, there are several other signs of sexual harassment in addition to those mentioned above, so you’ll need to gain an understanding of how you were harassed and how to gather and present evidence to prove your case. If you’re successful here, then you may be able to find accountability and recover compensation for your losses.
So, if you’d like to learn more about how to act on your rights and protect your interests, then now is the time to act to educate yourself, gather evidence and present a compelling case. An attorney who is experienced in this area of the law may be able to help you do all that.