Sexual harassment is nothing to overlook. Even the most mindless flirtations can lead to sexual harassment or can be construed as such. If you have been affected by workplace harassment, proper action must be taken. Victims of sexual harassment commonly suffer psychological and physical harm. Sometimes these problems take months to manifest while some are almost immediate. These signs are not easily apparent, but they are there and they are damaging. It doesn’t matter if the harassment came from management or someone at the administrative level. Employees will feel hurt and disenfranchised toward the individual making the workplace effectively hostile and uncomfortable.
If you have been a victim of sexual harassment in the workplace, then the best course of action is to hire a sexual harassment lawyer. Trying to fix the problem yourself in and of itself is an issue. The last thing you would want is to develop a hostile work environment amongst the offender and the rest of your co-workers.
Dealing with a hostile work environment only exacerbates the problem; more so, it has a tendency to isolate you from the rest of the company. You only stand to gain by hiring a sexual harassment lawyer. Whether you feel like you’ve been harassed for a long time, or it is a recent incident, hire an attorney now. The longer you drag it out, the worse it will likely be.
Examples of Sexual Harassment
If you are unsure whether you have been sexually harassed, here are some examples:
- If you are asked to perform sexual favors in order to move up in the company or continue working there. This is common. Even in a “joking” way, this can be taken as sexual harassment. At some point, the “joking” becomes real. It is unprofessional, and illegal.
- If working conditions for you and you alone get worse, because you rebuffed an employee’s advance. Often the rebuffed co-worker will feel cold toward you or treat you badly.
- Repeated flirtations are constant. Even though flirtations are harmless to a degree, they can escalate into one or two of the above listed bullet points. Flirtations can also go into varying degrees of aggressiveness as well that will make you feel physically and emotionally uncomfortable.
These are just some examples of the many that are out there. Whether it’s a small or large business, sexual harassment happens – in an ideal world it wouldn’t. There are measures to fight it, however. Some businesses put into a place an administrative structure to combat that problem that involves a top-down approach. There is also the option of hiring a sexual harassment lawyer.
Don’t feel doubts at work anymore. Stop feeling uncomfortable. Hire a California sexual harassment lawyer and put an end to workplace harassment.
