Sexual harassment

Sexual harassment is harassment of a sexual nature, typically in the workplace or other setting where raising objections or refusing may have negative consequences. In American employment law and, it is any unwelcome sexual advance or conduct on the job, having the effect of making the workplace intimidating, hostile or offensive. Similar definitions have been established for academic environments. Sexual harassment is considered a form of illegal discrimination and a mild form of sexual and psychological abuse. However, psychologists and social workers report that severe and/or chronic sexual harassment can have the same psychological effects on victims as rape or sexual assault. Backlash and retaliation for complaining about the harassment can further aggravate the effects. Indeed, in 1995, Judith Coflin committed suicide after chronic sexual harassment by her bosses and coworkers. (Her family was later awarded 6 million dollars in damages.)

Prima Facie for Sexual Harassment, Hostile Environment

To establish a prima facie case for hostile work environment sexual harassment, the alleged victim must prove:

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1. He or she suffered intentional discrimination because of his/her sex.

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2. The discrimination was pervasive and severe.

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3. The discrimination detrimentally affected him or her.

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4. The discrimination would detrimentally affect a reasonable person of the same sex.

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5. Management knew about the harassment, or should have known, and did nothing to stop it.

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Pervasiveness and severity of the conduct have an inverse relationship to each other. For example, only a single act maybe considered sexual harrassment if it is very severe (touching sexual areas of a person's body). Less severe conduct can still be sexual harrassment if it happens several times or regularly(is pervasive) (Such as crude language, or romantic invitations or extended glares).

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