As a human being that wants to be treated fairly, you would hope you would never be put into a position as an employee that would deal with getting sexually harassed. Unfortunately, sexual harassment is something that happens every single day.
From small family owned businesses to huge multi-million dollar corporations, sexual harassment can happen anywhere to anyone.
Facts About Sexual Harassment
There are some pretty astounding stats that not only deal with sexual harassment in California but the United States as a whole.
- In 2015 The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission received over 28,000 reports of sexual harassment.
- In another survey, 25% of woman have claimed sexual harassment in the workplace – that means 1 in 4 women. However, the EEOC has taken that a step further and said that those numbers can go as high as 85%. In fact, in 2018 another survey found that the 85% was much closer to the real number than the original 25%.
1- According to this survey which was done by Stop Street Harassment, which could be filled out online, 81% of woman have been sexually harassed. Men on the other hand also saw a staggering 43% of claims.
- The EEOC has also stated that in 2015 victims of the various sexual harassment claims recovered over $165 million! These numbers were due to compensation as well as legal fees.
While all these stats are important, you should also be aware of the two types of sexual harassment that are happening, that way you can educate yourself and know if something is happening that shouldn’t be.
Quid Pro Quo Sexual Harassment In California
Quid Pro Quo is Latin and its literal translation means “this for that.” When talking about sexual harassment in California and the Quid Pro Quo type of harassment, we’re talking about a person – usually, a manager or supervisor making sexual advances, asking for sexual favors, or even hinting at anything sexual in exchange for employee benefits.
These benefits could include items such as:
- Travel Opportunities
- Better Shift Availability
- A Promotion
- Better Pay
- A Better Office
These are not the only instances of quid pro quo, it comes in many forms, it also deals with opposite-sex sexual advances as well as same-sex advances.
A Hostile Work Environment
A hostile work environment is very similar to a quid pro quo sexual harassment, but there are a couple of differences.
Instead of an authoritative figure exchanging or offering up employee benefits, the figure could just give you unwelcomed sexual comments, make advances, flirt with you even though you’ve asked them to stop, etc.
These sexual harassment acts can go from being innocent to pretty extreme, which in turn makes you or your workplace feel hostile, threatened, or offensive. A hostile work environment could also keep you from doing your job properly.
Also, in a hostile work environment, the harasser isn’t always an authoritative figure. Instead, it might be a co-worker or a 3rd party such as the cleaning crew that comes in, suppliers for the company, or even delivery people!
Examples of a hostile work environment can include:
- Repetitive dirty jokes
- Images, Videos, Memes, Cartoons, etc that are sexual in nature
- Emails that are being written with sexual undertones
- Repetitive unwanted touching, rubbing, groping or anything else that is done without your consent.
As if this weren’t bad enough, you might not have even thought about what this can do to a person. If someone is at work and going through this they could start to feel guilt, shame, anxiety, nervousness, depression or even self-blame.
The number of physical, emotional and psychological side-effects are crazy when it comes to sexual harassment in California.
Thankfully a lot of workplaces do have guidelines and rules to deal with sexual harassment and it can come to a stop as quickly as you speak up. Not all workplaces will have policies though, so if you find that you are going through either a quid pro quo or hostile work environment sexual harassment situation and nothing is being done about it, it’s time to hire a lawyer.
A lawyer will be aware of what your rights are and is willing to fight for you and your rights.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock Ditty_about_summer/Dmytro Zinkevych
