What is considered a workplace harassment?

What is considered a workplace harassment?

Harassment is defined unwelcomed behavior and policies that are based upon an employee’s race, color, creed religion, sexual orientation or gender identity, sex (including pregnancy and maternity), national origin, age (40 or older), physical or mental disability or genetic information.

How do you prove workplace harassment?

In order for behavior to meet the standards of harassment, it must:

1. Involve discrimination against a protected class of people.
2. Involve offensive conduct.
3. Include unwelcome behavior.
4. Involve some level of severity or pervasiveness that affects your ability to work.

What is not considered harassment?

Behaviours that are not considered harassment are those that arise from a relationship of mutual consent. A hug between friends, mutual flirtation, and a compliment on physical appearance between colleagues are not considered harassment.

What qualifies as harassment in the workplace?

Harassment can be a form of employment discrimination under various federal, state and local laws. In order to be considered discrimination, the harassment must be based on some protected trait. Under federal law, those traits include race, color, national origin, gender, pregnancy, age, religion, disability, and genetic information.

What are examples of harrassment in the workplace?

Some of the more common examples of sexual harassment in the workplace include: Inappropriate touching or body contact Sexually explicit jokes, gestures or materials The sending of sexually suggestive notes, emails or messages Offensive remarks made regarding an employee’s appearance, clothing, body, etc.

How to handle harassment in the workplace?

Keep a record. Buy a pocket-sized notebook and keep track any time the offending behavior takes place. Note details like time and date,and a summary of the incident.

Find witnesses. Chances are,one or more of your coworkers witnessed the behavior at some point—so think about who was there.

Save evidence. If there are photos or other objects that can prove your case,keep them safe until you need them. Did you receive harassing emails or phone calls?

Don’t wait. As soon as something happens,you need to create a plan because there are state and federal time limits to reporting harassment.

Ask for support. Harassment can be traumatic. Whether it is a friend or therapist,reaching out to someone you trust and talking about it can be essential for your mental

Review your options. Is there a supervisor you feel comfortable approaching? If not,you may have a Human Resources representative or someone responsible for handling internal complaints.

How do you prevent harassment in the workplace?

Creating a Harassment-Free Workplace Write an anti-harassment policy. Lay out clear protocol for responding to harassment. Train your employees to prevent and report sexual harassment. Include examples your employees might not recognize. Monitor your workplace. Enforce the policy without exceptions.