There are two kinds of sexual harassment. One is called quid pro quo and the other is within the context of a hostile work environment. Quid pro quo discrimination is when someone, perhaps your supervisor, says if you do something for me, I’ll do something for you. It’s when you feel that you must use or you’re being forced to use your sexuality to gain advancements in the company, keep employment, or gain employment altogether. If you feel that you’ve been a victim of this, you need to speak to the company about it immediately.
Hostile work environment is very different. A lot of people think that hostile work environment doesn’t relate to sexual harassment. Hostile work environment is when you’re forced to work an environment that makes you feel uncomfortable. It could be something as simple as if you are a woman and a male employee seems to come too close to you or finds a reason to touch you or comments in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable in a sexual nature. It also could be something as simple as some male employee decides to put a Playboy calendar up on the wall and it makes you feel very uncomfortable to have to work with those pictures beside you. Perhaps it is when male employees are telling very sexual jokes that make you feel uncomfortable. That’s putting you in a hostile work environment and if you tell management about it and nothing is done, then you really need to see an attorney who is experienced in this area to help you with this issue.
The Salvo Law Firm, P.C. works with clients from New York and New Jersey. If you need quality legal representation, contact our firm for a free consultation.