Hostile Environment Sexual Harassment is the most common harassment to occur in the workplace today.  Companies need to be cognizant of this type of harassment and make sure that their sexual harassment training covers every aspect of it.  Here are some facts about Hostile Environment harassment.

The courts have adopted the “Reasonable Person Standard” when addressing Sexual Harassment. In other words, would a reasonable person find the behavior offensive? The fact is that most sexual behaviors when they are continuous and unwanted meet this standard. Some states have actually adopted the “Reasonable Woman’s Standard” after it was found that men and women have a vastly different tolerance for offensive behavior. The safe way to avoid Sexual Harassment is to avoid these behaviors entirely.

Hostile environment Sexual Harassment can occur between:

  • Employees of the same gender
  • Employees of different genders
  • A manager harassing an employee
  • An employee harassing a manager
  • Employees of the same rank

    Every employee has the potential to be a harasser or become harassed in an organization. Harassing jokes, comments or other behavior can create a hostile work environment even if they aren’t directly targeted at the individual making the harassment complaint. This means that telling jokes and making comments of a sexual nature to others who are not offended can still be considered Sexual Harassment if they offend “bystanders” – co-workers who are not involved in the conversation but are affected by being in the work environment where the behavior(s) occured.

    Sexual Harassment is not limited to just co-workers. Harassment can also occur with individuals not directly employed by an organization.

  • Contractors
  • Consultants
  • Delivery persons
  • Vendors
  • Customers
  • Sales personsSexual Harassment can occur anywhere that an employee represents their organization.
  • Work parties
  • Dinner with clients
  • Conferences
  • Trade shows
  • Sales calls
  • Charity events

Charlie Bentson King is a writer and producer of sexual harassment training videos for TrainingABC. TrainingABC is a distributor of sexual harassment video and sexual harassment DVD training programs.