Media discussions of workplace sexual harassment tend to focus on the “sexual” part of the equation instead of the “harassment” part. After all, advertisers and TV producers have known that sex sells since long before we started measuring the success of a piece of published content by its number of likes and shares. News reports about sexual harassment cases tend to sound like news reports about celebrity breakups; the characters in the story are either famous or else they are willing to say anything to anyone to get famous, that is, they are as greedy for attention as anyone else in today’s attention economy.
Sexual harassment looks very different when you are a target of it, as opposed to a consumer of clickbait content about it. From your perspective, you are just trying to do your job, and someone at your workplace keeps bothering you and bullying you. The only difference between sexual harassment and the schoolyard bullying of your childhood is that the bullies are adults, so they know enough about sexuality to speak about it or allude to it in ways that are even more intimidating and distracting than the scatological but G-rated repertoire of insults the schoolyard bullies used to use. Sexual harassment in the workplace is employment discrimination, and the Bozeman sexual harassment lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys LLP can help you file a formal complaint about sexual harassment in your workplace.
“Work Spouse” Relationships Are Supposed to Be Platonic
Sexual harassment includes a wide range of behaviors by coworkers who mean to make you uncomfortable at work. It differs from just plain harassment, which is also illegal if it is based on a protected characteristic or protected activity, in that it focuses on the target employee’s sex or sexuality. Unwanted flirtation by a coworker, if it continues after you ask the coworker to stop or say that it makes you uncomfortable, counts as sexual harassment. How much friendly banter is appropriate at work depends on context.
It is sexual harassment if a coworker keeps telling you that she has a crush on you or tries to persuade you to go on a date with her. It is also sexual harassment if a coworker constantly gives you unsolicited advice about dating or finds fault with your romantic partner and tries to persuade you to dump him.
Conversations of a personal nature are not always inappropriate at work. Sometimes coworkers develop a friendly rapport together, and their other coworkers might even think of them as “work spouses” because they often collaborate or because they are on friendly terms with each other. Work spouse relationships can be productive and uplifting because they are about collegiality and work. If your work spouse has too much to say about your personal life, and it is interfering with your ability to work, then it is harassment.
What is Quid Pro Quo Sexual Harassment?
A disproportionate number of sexual harassment complaints arise from quid pro quo sexual harassment, not because it is the most common kind, but because when people experience it, they are sure that it is sexual harassment, and they are upset enough to complain about it. “Quid pro quo” is a Latin phrase that means “this for that.” In the context of sexual harassment, it means that your work supervisor, or someone else in authority at your workplace, offers you a professional favor if you engage in sexual or amorous activities with him and threatens to retaliate against you if you do not.
The Law Protects You From Mean Girls in the Workplace
The most egregious forms of sexual harassment are the ones that involve non-consensual touching or explicitly sexual remarks, but remember that sexual harassment involves a wide range of gender and sexuality-related bullying. In other words, a steady stream of insulting and disrespectful comments from the mean girls or mean guys at your workplace can meet the legal definition of sexual harassment. For example, it is sexual harassment if a woman receives frequent disparaging remarks about her appearance and romantic relationship, or lack thereof, from other women at her workplace. For example, in a high-profile case, a woman who worked as a backup dancer on a concert tour for a famous recording artist filed a sexual harassment claim because the recording artist and the other female dancers constantly teased her about being a virgin. It would also be sexual harassment if a group of straight men were constantly trying to set up a gay male coworker to go on dates with women, especially if he already told them that he does not want to.
If these scenarios happened outside the workplace, they would merely be annoying, and you could mostly avoid interacting with the bullies. Since work is a source of income and not merely a social event, frequent unpleasant conversations about your personal life are more disruptive than they would be if they happened elsewhere.
Filing an Employment Discrimination Claim About Sexual Harassment
From a legal perspective, sexual harassment at work is employment discrimination. The protected characteristic in this case is the employee’s sex or marital status; you can cite discrimination based on sexual orientation if you live and work in a part of Montana that recognizes sexual orientation as a protected characteristic. The local laws of Bozeman recognize it as a protected characteristic, but state law does not. The adverse action in this case is a hostile work environment.
When you file a sexual harassment claim, you must first contact the Montana Human Rights Bureau or the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). You cannot file your lawsuit in court until after the Montana Human Rights Bureau or the EEOC investigates your claim and authorizes you to sue.
Lawyer for Sexual Harassment in Bozeman, MT
The Bozeman employment lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys LLP can counsel you about employment discrimination claims arising from sexual harassment. Contact our office in Bozeman, Montana, to set up a consultation.
