Sexual Harassment Attorneys

The Harassment Must be Severe or Pervasive.

While not all physical touching is considered “severe,” severe sexual harassment frequently involves physical touching. If sexual assault or rape is involved, even a single occurrence should meet the “severe” standard.

While certain forms of sexual harassment may not meet the “severe standard,” less severe harassment may still meet the “pervasive” standard if it occurs frequently enough. This is the case even if there is only verbal harassment with no touching at all. While harassment may be both severe and pervasive, the law only requires that one of these elements must be present for a successful sexual harassment claim.

The Harassment Must Be Unwelcome.

Though there are exceptions, a fully consensual and welcome relationship with someone at work is not necessarily considered sexual harassment. Sexual harassment may come into play, however, if one person seeks to end a consensual relationship and the other person continues to pursue them sexually or takes a negative employment action against them.

The Harassment Must Create a Hostile or Abusive Workplace

To be illegal, a hostile work environment must be connected to a protected characteristic that has been targeted. Someone’s sex would be the protected characteristic in the case of sexual harassment. Courts typically apply a “reasonable person” standard to judge whether a workplace is illegally hostile.

The Harassment Must be Because of the Victim’s Sex.

This isn’t a particularly difficult element to establish in a sexual harassment claim. Sexual harassment may be about attraction or power, but it is nearly always an abuse that is based on the sex of the victim.

The Harassment Must be Such that the Employer Can be Held Liable.

This element of a sexual harassment claim depends on several factors. This includes:

• How much power or influence the harasser had over the victim. An uneven power dynamic allows for quid quo pro sexual harassment, where a superior can coerce an underling for sexual favors.
• Whether the employer knew or should have known about the harassment. For this reason, you do need to report the incident to Human Resources. If an employer does nothing to correct the issue, they can be held legally liable.
• Whether the employer exercised reasonable care to address and stop the harassment. If they have done this, then the sexual harassment has stopped. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you don’t have a legal case against your employer.