Credit: Photo by MediaPunch/REX/Shutterstock (9219416e) Atmosphere
#MeToo women’s march, Los Angeles, USA – 12 Nov 2017

Do you know what to do if you are experiencing harassment at work? Would you know what constitutes harassment or something you should bring to your boss or HR?

We are seeing people getting held accountable for harassment and misconduct in the court of public opinion and in the court of law, which is great, but that isn’t a good option for everyone. Most people just want the harassment to stop and to feel comfortable at work. I recently learned that some professions that have less interaction with corporations, like health care providers, may not get training on sexual harassment, and they don’t know if and what and how they should report it. I have worked at many companies, and I am getting my Master of Human Resource Management degree, so I am well versed in the topic. I don’t want anyone’s uncertainty or fear around reporting uncomfortable behavior to stop them. You have the right to work in a safe place.

Because of that I want to explain the basics of what harassment is, what to do if you experience harassment at work, and how to avoid harassing others.Harassment comes in many different forms, it is not all sexual harassment and it is not all perpetuated by men even though that is what we see the most in the media. The law that covers harassment is Title 7 and this law covers employers with 15 or more employees nationally while Ohio that number is lessened to 4. It is NOT okay for a manager, principal, team lead, or other person with authority over you to tell you that you have to give in or go along with sexual activity in order to get ahead in your job or to avoid being fired. That is called quid pro quo harassment, and it is seen as the most cut and dry, but I doubt it feels that way to those who are experiencing it.

Other than quid pro quo, harassment, per the legal definition, is conduct that was severe or pervasive enough to alter the conditions of the complainant’s work environment by creating a hostile or abusive situation. The key words are severe and pervasive. A single off-color joke, while inappropriate, does not warrant harassment. However, that does not mean that you should make that inappropriate joke or that you should not report that single inappropriate joke, but we will get to that in a minute. What it does mean is that harassment is something that is significant in a single action, such as an assault, or not quite as severe and over a long period of time. Legally, harassment only covers protected classes (race, color, religion, sex, genetic info, national origin, and ability), but all bullying is bad and most companies won’t allow it because it is toxic. Policy is different than harassment, and most companies have stricter policies to protect employees from this type of behavior.

Now you might be asking yourself, “Is what happened to me harassment?” “Should I tell someone?” “Will it I be looked down upon if a do tell someone?”

If you are uncomfortable you should tell someone. The first person you should tell, if you feel safe, is the person who made the comment/joke/physical contact that you are uncomfortable and you would like them to not do that again. People come from a lot of different backgrounds and what makes me uncomfortable is not necessarily going to make you uncomfortable or vice versa. Just let the person know that the behavior or whatever wasn’t cool with you and you’d prefer for them not to do it again. Not comfortable talking to the person or the behavior continues, then you should decide if you want to take it to your manager or to HR. If your manager is the one doing the harassing or supporting it, head on over to HR. Do you not have HR because you work somewhere small or in a school or some other different-structured environment, then I recommend going to someone with power who you trust (your boss’s boss, the legal department, the principal, or the school board). Universities have HR and Title 9 offices where you can file complaints. Bigger companies will have the structure to support you, smaller companies or other institutions may handle things differently (which makes knowing your rights really powerful). However, your employer is liable if they know about the harassment and they don’t do what they should to protect you from it (key words: KNOW about, i.e. you need to report it to get protection). You do not get to be treated poorly because you reported harassment, and the employer is actually held to a pretty high standard when it comes to retaliation. If you truly don’t have anywhere to turn, and your employer is covered by the EEOC (4+ employees in Ohio, check your state laws) then they would be your next best option.

Some examples of harassment that you might think are not harassment or harassment that the company is not responsible for, but they are:

• You initiated a friendly relationship with a co-worker outside of work via social media or otherwise, but the relationship has mutated into something you are not comfortable with.
• Extended staring (i.e. leering).
• A customer, client, student, or patient is the one doing the harassing.
• Crude jokes or comments are made near you but not to you.
• Someone is commenting on your clothes or something that is showing through your clothes (like a bra) and it’s making you uncomfortable.

So you either: A. Approached the coworker or supervisor and asked them to stop and they did. Yay! B. Went to your manager (who likely called HR), HR, or someone who is now conducting an investigation. Not all complaints will turn into an investigation. Sometimes the manager will just call the person in and tell them to stop the behavior, it’s documented, and that’s that. Other times, HR wants to collect all of the information. We collect accounts from many different people, emails, and any other evidence and then base our decision on that evidence. The punishment will depend on the severity of the offense. In the mean time we have a duty to protect the complainant by moving the offender to another role or putting them on leave. Sometimes the outcome of the investigation warrants termination, sometimes it warrants suspension, sometimes it warrants training.

So now some people might be thinking, gee I goof around at work a lot, am I harassing people? Great question, and what a self-aware thing to ask. Friends at work are great, and teams that like each other do better work, so we should all make an effort to be kind to each other at work since we are all in it together. We build rapport with our coworkers and we say things on day 1,000 that we wouldn’t say on day 1, and that’s okay. Those friendships are invaluable. I would avoid any stories, jokes, or comments that are sexual or based on sex/gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, national origin, etc. If a coworkers says something made them uncomfortable apologize and don’t do it again, easy peasy. I know different work environments have different cultural norms, you might hear more swearing on a factory line than you do in a teacher’s lounge (I don’t know if that’s accurate, I’ve never been a teacher), but just be sensitive and open, and as a general rule don’t touch other people anywhere other than the arm region.

So hopefully this was helpful. If you have any questions please let me know. No one deserves to feel unsafe or harassed at work, and you don’t have to.

Best of luck. – K

“WAIT! My harasser was my supervisor and (s)he FIRED/DEMOTED/RE-ASSIGNED me!” – This is super bad and should never happen. You have a pretty good case here. Go to HR or a higher up immediately, and know that this should have never happened. You might consider getting a lawyer.

Shout out to Devin Kubat for the topic idea, Derek Lancashire for proof reading, and Rebecca Jacobs for being a great professor and for providing feedback on the post.