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August 12, 2021
Sexual harassment in the workplace is again in the national spotlight. Organizations have a legal responsibility to protect employees from sexual harassment and retaliation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. An effective prevention plan includes clear Code of Conduct guidelines, awareness training and leadership modeling best practices to make it undeniably clear that an organization has a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual harassment and retaliation.
Sexual harassment and the threat of retaliation creates a hostile work environment and allows misconduct to continue and wrongdoers to go unpunished. If employers fail to take complaints of sexual harassment seriously, or fail to act against retaliatory behavior, it opens the door to costly Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) lawsuits and penalties.
Sexual harassment can take many forms, including sexual innuendo, unwelcome touching and sexual assault. However, words and actions don’t have to be of a sexual nature to be considered sexual harassment. For example, making offensive remarks about how women do not belong in the workplace is considered sexual harassment.
The EEOC identifies two types of sexual harassment:
Workplace retaliation often begins with a complaint of harassment when a superior or coworker takes negative actions against someone who voices a concern about perceived misconduct. Retaliatory behaviors can be subtle, such as excluding individuals from professional activities, to overt, such as demotion, transfer or dismissal.
Pew Research reports that almost 70% of women surveyed said they experienced being sexually harassed in a professional setting — frequently by someone more senior in an organization. A similar survey by CareerBuilder found that 72% of workplace sexual harassment victims don’t report it due to a fear of retaliation.
Seven states require employers to provide sexual harassment training, including California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, New York and Washington State. Regardless of whether it is mandated by law, training to address sexual harassment and retaliation should be an essential part of an organization’s strategy to build workplace trust and respect.
5 ways to prevent sexual harassment and retaliation
Traliant Insight
Creating a healthy workplace culture that is free of discrimination, harassment and retaliation supports the well-being of employees, the productivity of day-to-day operations and the overall reputation of your organization. Ongoing training is vital to ensuring employees and managers understand what sexual harassment entails, know the steps for reporting misconduct and feel safe speaking up about their concerns without fear of reprisal.
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nicholas.casciani