Harassment in the Workplace: Types, Ways to Address and Legal Background

Harassment in the workplace is very common and it often goes unreported and continues to be a big issue. This article discusses the types of harassment, ways to address it and legal background. It also provides information on sexual harassment, ways to control and monitor it, and steps that companies can take to reduce the rate of harassment.

Harrasment in the workplace

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Harassment in the workplace
Harassment in the workplace is very common and it often goes unreported and
continues to be a big issue. It is observed workplace harassment can ruin a better job
and turn a corporation and hospital into an unproductive or toxic environment.
Consumers and victims have felt more comfortable for reporting the incidences of
harassment and it is evaluated that 33 million United State female have been sexually
harassed in the workplace ( 1Armstrong, 20 6). The problem of harassment becomes
unlawful when enduring the offensive conduct becomes a prerequisite to continued
consumers. There are various kinds of harassment occurs in the workplace, for
example, sexual harassment, offensive jokes, intimidation, assault, ridicule, and many
others. Harassment in the workplace is not limited to sexual harassment and it does not
preclude harassment between two individuals of the same gender.
The harasser can be employee-boss, supervision in other department and many
more. Such kind of activity also occurs at the time of interview where individuals should
not ask about your gender, material status, and ethnic background and sexual
preferences. All these are not related to the job and irrelevant but some interviewers
ask such type of questions which create harassment. Interfacing with the employees and
consumers ability can lead the issue of harassment and the negative work environment
can increase the rate of harassment. The gender-based harassment is the discriminatory
nature towards the individual based on their gender and an employee with a religion
which differs from the norm of the corporation may face the problem of harassment in
the work-field ( 18Cheung, Baum, & Hsueh, 20 ). It is evaluated that the harassment is
one of the major sensitive sectors of the effective workplace because it has the potential
to affect their performance and productivity. Sexual harassment is a very common type
of harassment that occurs in the workplace, corporation, and hospitals.
Ways to address workplace harassment
In any situation of the harassment, a consumer or worker nature must meet a
particular standard in the eyes of the law. The management team can make the
strategies and policies in their organization to control and manage the issue of the
harassment ( 18Hersch, 20 ). Making the anti-harassment policy in an efficient manner

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and motivate employees to take it seriously and employers should clearly define
inappropriate actions, communication, and nature. Workers, employees, and managers
should be trained and educated for the harassment and communicate with consumers
to reduce this issue. If the harassment is mentioned to the higher authority the
consumer is particularly liable if an investigation was not showed. Communicate with
the HR team if any consumer found such kind of activity in the organization and train
18the recently joined employees reading the harassment (AFSCME, 20 ).
Take action immediately if the consumer found such kind of activity in the
workplace and investigate the complaints of harassment. Conduct as a training session
in the organization and provide complete guidelines about harassment to ensure
employees about such kind of problem. Design and develop the acknowledgment form
and take the signature of every employee that can help companies to reduce the rate of
harassment. There are a few other techniques and methods to reduce the issue of
harassment in the organization:
 Design and develop an effective complaint process and technique and encourage
the individual to feel comfortable to face such kind of issue.
 Identify the key factors quickly that can lead the issue of harassment in the
workplace
 Do not take any action which can be seen as harming the individual for making
the compliment
 Restore the job advantages which were lost to the issue of harassment
 Motivate employees and explain about harassment and their impacts on their life
and carrier
 Investigate each compliment
Sexual harassment is a very common issue faced in the workplace and companies
and which is growing rapidly which can impact on the productivity of the companies. To
resolve such kind of harassment companies can adopt the following steps and methods:
Legal background
It is observed that sexual harassment is prohibited on the federal level under
1title VII of the civil right act of the year 964. According to this law, the discrimination is
prohibited on the basis of someone’s sex along with few another protected

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characteristics. Term harassment is defined as discrimination and it is strictly
prohibited in the workplace but many consumers and employees are facing this issue
18(HG.ORG, 20 ). There are many rules and regulation provided by the government
regarding the harassment and companies can provide this information to their
employees and management team to aware of the harassment. Many countries like the
United State, United Kingdom, Australia and other adopted policies to control and
monitor the harassment in the organizations, corporation, and hospitals.
Claims for sexual harassment
It is completely based on the numbers of various factual scenarios and the major
sexual harassment is quid pro quo in which a management team promises a promotion
to their employees if they perform certain sexual favour for him. Many harassment
issues claims are alleged due to gender-biased slurs, physical assaults, and indicating
offensive pictures at the workplace ( 18Jackson, 20 ).
Employer Liability
It is analyzed that an individual is liable for the act of manager when the
harassment issue resulted in an adverse employment action ( 18Wang, et al., 20 ).
Organizations can provide liable to the employees if they found any such activity which
increases the rate of harassment. The workers are liable for the act of another consumer
guilty of sexual harassment if the consumers knew about workplace harassment.
Train supervisors
Supervisors and higher authority should get adequate training and education to
learn the concept and factors behind the harassment and their impacts on their
company growth and productivity ( 1Malhotra, & Srivastava, 20 6). Additionally, they
should learn the methods and processes to handle such kind of activity in their
organization.
Establishing protocols
Companies should adopt and produce a particular department who is
responsible for identifying and taking actions regarding the harassment and another
kind of prohibited discrimination. Employees and individuals should know about the
complete process and how to file a complaint reading the harassment issue by which
such kind of issue can be reduced in the corporate sectors.

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Investigate complaints
It is very important that individuals and employees do not brush off complaints
as trivial and they should conduct an investigation to identify the key factors that
increase such problems. The research should be documented along with policies and
acknowledgment paper which can help them to mitigate the problem of harassment
( 1Nielsen, Glasø, & Einarsen, 20 7). The reporting consumers should be protected from
further abuse and take action immediately for reducing their negative impacts in the
workplace.
Therefore, with the help of all these steps and methods companies, hospitals,
universities, and corporation can control and monitor the issue of harassment.
Moreover, companies can fill feedback form from the employees in order to understand
their views on harassment and evaluating such kind of activity between employees.

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References
18AFSCME (20 ).
Preventing and Combating Sexual Harassment in the Workplace.
Available from:
https://afscmeatwork.org/harassment-conversation/preventing-and-
combating-sexual-harassment-workplace
1Armstrong, L. (20 6). “Who’s the slut, who’s the whore?” Street harassment in the
workplace among female sex workers in New Zealand.
Feminist
Criminology,
11 8(3), 2 5-303.
18Cheung, C., Baum, T., & Hsueh, A. (20 ). Workplace sexual harassment: exploring the
experience of tour leaders in an Asian context.
Current Issues in Tourism,
12 1( 3),
1 8 1 846 - 4 5.
18Hersch, J. (20 ). Valuing the risk of workplace sexual harassment.
Journal of Risk and
Uncertainty,
57 111 1 1(2), - 3 .
18HG.ORG (20 ).
Avoiding Sexual Harassment in the Workplace. Available from:
https://www.hg.org/legal-articles/avoiding-sexual-harassment-in-the-
1workplace-2920
18Jackson, R. A. (20 ). INTO the light:# MeToo is shining a light on the harassment
women have faced in the workplace for decades and have been afraid to
report.
Internal Auditor,
75(3), 20-27.
1Malhotra, S., & Srivastava, A. (20 6). Sexual harassment at the workplace: how
organizations can pro-actively reduce its incidence.
Human Resource
Management International Digest,
24 1(7), -3.
1Nielsen, M. B., Glasø, L., & Einarsen, S. (20 7). Exposure to workplace harassment and
the Five-Factor Model of personality: A meta-analysis.
Personality and individual
differences,
104 1, 95-206.
18Wang, Q., Bowling, N. A., Tian, Q. T., Alarcon, G. M., & Kwan, H. K. (20 ). Workplace
harassment intensity and revenge: Mediation and moderation effects.
Journal of
Business Ethics,
1 15 1 1( ), 2 3-234.

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