Sexual harassment is, sadly, still common in our society. Laws in Wisconsin make sexual harassment in the workplace unlawful.
Sexual harassment can come in many forms. It can be subtle, such as unwelcome comments about appearance or comments about the natural strengths or weaknesses of men versus women. Or it can be severe: sexual harassment includes unwelcome sexual solicitations, as well as touching and other assaults.
Most employers have policies against sexual harassment and policies against retaliation. An employee’s first resort is to make her or his employer aware of the sexual harassment so the employer can deal with it and, it is hoped, end it. But if the harassment persists, or the complaining employee experiences retaliation for making the complaint, the employer violates the law.
Remedies for sexual harassment can include money for emotional distress and in some cases, punitive damages. If someone prevails on a legal claim, a court will order the employer to pay that person’s attorney fees.
It is impossible to describe every form of sexual harassment. But most sexual harassment comes in one or more of the following forms:
- Unwelcome sexual comments. That can be comments about appearance related to clothing or a person’s body. It can also include comments expressing a desire for sex or sexual contact, or questions about a person’s sex life. Harassment also includes being exposed to sexual talk, as long as this exposure is unwelcome. This type of harassment is verbal. Sending unwanted sexual photos or subjecting someone to other, unwelcome sexual imagery is also sexual harassment.
- Sexist comments. These would include comments not sexual in nature but based on sexist stereotypes. The awful classic, “A woman’s place is in the home, not the workplace,” is an example.
- Non-sex-based verbal harassment directed at only one sex. For example, if a supervisor regularly berates only the women, but not the men, that is sexual harassment even if the supervisor never mentions sex.
- Unwelcome touching or physical contact. Touching, groping, hugging, kissing and even more extreme examples of sexual assault belong in this category.
- Conditioning employment or promotion on the granting of sexual favors. An employer is forbidden to demand sex in exchange for any employment benefit of any kind.
Sexual harassment must create a sexually hostile working environment. That is, it must be severe or pervasive, or both. “Severe” usually means shockingly explicit comments or groping. “Pervasive” means that it happens a lot. A comment like, “You look cute, honey,” stated once or twice is not pervasive. But if it happens nearly every day, then it becomes pervasive.
Sporadic comments, even though they are offensive, would probably not rise to the level of sexual harassment, as the law defines it. An offended employee should still use the employer’s sexual harassment policy, though, to put a stop to even the sporadic comments.
Also, the sexual harassment must occur at work or at work functions – somewhere the employer controls – for the harassment to be prohibited by law. Cell phones have complicated this rule, but if a coworker sexually harasses a coworker through his or her phone, that constitutes workplace harassment at any time.
Except for conditioning employment or promotion on sexual acts, an employer must first be given an opportunity to put a stop to sexual harassment, as long as the employer has a policy forbidding sexual harassment in the workplace. Generally, an employee is expected to take advantage of the policy before that employee can file a legal claim.
An employer is forbidden from retaliating against an employee because he or she has complained. That protection extends not just to the victim of the harassment, but to anyone who complains about sexual harassment.
Anyone can be a victim of sexual harassment. The law prohibits men sexually harassing women, women sexually harassing men, men sexually harassing men, and women sexually harassing women. Harassment based on a person’s sexual orientation is also against the law.
For an employee to take legal action, that employee must file a claim within 300 days of the last act of sexual harassment. Otherwise, it will be too late to take any legal action.
An employment law attorney can be of great benefit to the employee at any stage. The attorneys at Gingras, Thomsen & Wachs have decades of experience holding employers accountable for sexual harassment. If you feel you have been the victim of sexual harassment or retaliation, contact Gingras, Thomsen & Wachs for a free consultation. Gingras, Thomsen & Wachs operates in all parts of Wisconsin.
