Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Sexual harassment does not have to be “sexual.” It can also look like teasing, intimidating or
offensive comments based on stereotypes (e.g., about how certain people “are” or should act),
or bullying someone or a group of people based on their sex, gender identity (man, woman,
trans, intersex, nonbinary) or sexual orientation (queer, straight, bisexual, lesbian, gay, asexual,
pansexual, two-spirit etc.) Sometimes sexual harassment is about sex and something else, like
race or ethnicity. For example, a woman of color may experience harassment in the workplace
differently from a white female co-worker She may be the target of abusive or hostile behavior
because of the combination of her sex and her race or ethnicity.
Examples of behavior that could be harassment include but are not limited to:
It also still counts as harassment even if, in the moment, you don’t immediately say “stop” or
something else to let the person know that what they’re saying/doing is inappropriate. For
example, you might laugh along at a joke that you find offensive, or accept a hug because
you’re caught unaware in the moment, or because you’re worried the person will react badly if
you don’t go along with their behavior. If the harasser is a supervisor or someone else who has
more power than you, you might be afraid speaking up or saying “no” will impact your job. All of
these are normal responses to harassment. Responding this way does not make the
harassment less serious, or make you more responsible.
Sexual harassment is illegal. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) makes it illegal
for employers to allow anyone to be sexually harassed at work by anyone else, regardless of
sex, gender, or sexual orientation.
Sexual harassment can happen to anyone. It is about power, not sexual desire. So for example,
men who identify as straight can sexually harass other men – for example, by teasing or bullying
those men for being “too feminine” or “acting gay.” (For examples of sexual harassment, see the
What Is It? section above.)
Title VII applies to employers. It is designed to make employers accountable for providing a
work environment that is free from harassment and other kinds of discrimination. It does not
make it illegal for someone to harass someone else. Instead, it makes it illegal for employers to
allow harassment to occur or to fail to stop it once they know it’s happening. So this civil rights
law does not give you a right to sue an individual person – unless that individual person is your
employer.
Retaliation is also illegal. It’s illegal for someone at work to retaliate against (punish) you for
reporting or speaking out against sexual harassment, or for participating in an investigation or
legal action related to sexual harassment. Examples of retaliation in the workplace include being
fired or demoted, receiving a pay cut or a reduction in your hours or benefits, being assigned a
different shift, location, position, receiving new or different duties, or being asked to take time off
without pay. Retaliation can also be subtle, build up, or get worse over time. Examples include
being iced out by coworkers, no longer being invited to meetings, or being left off of
communications you were formerly on.
If you report sexual harassment, your employer cannot ignore you or retaliate against you. If a
boss or someone in HR knows about the harassment, or should know that you are being
harassed, legally, they must take prompt action to try to stop the behavior, investigate the
harassment, and make sure it doesn’t happen again. The action also has to be “appropriate”
and effective, meaning it has to actually make the harassment stop, without harming you or
allowing you to become a target of retaliation.
If you complained or told your boss, HR, or another manager about sexual harassment, and
they failed to do anything to make the situation better (or made it worse), you could consider
taking legal action.