Sexual Harassment in the Workplace - You Could Be the Next Victim, and Not Even Know It
What is sexual harassment and how common is it in the workplace? What can a victim of sexual harassment do? What does your workplace look like? In an ideal workplace sexual harassment would not occur because all staff clearly know what behavior is sexual harassment and they choose not to engage in that behavior.
In a less than ideal, but still good workplace staff know what behaviour is sexual harassment and most staff do not engage in that behavior.
The small minority of people who are sexually harassed report the harassment to their employer/manager soon after it has happened, the employer deals with it appropriately and the victim is satisfied with the outcome.
In a very less than ideal, and according to the statistics, real workplace, sexual harassment occurs regularly, some people do not even know what sexual harassment is and those that do know, often don't formally report it and if they do report it they may be further victimized (1).
What is sexual harassment? When I was a student, back in the '80s I worked at a very well known 5 star hotel as a waitress in one of their restaurants.
One of the chefs was a guy not much older than me who was known for his cheeky, often sexually overt behavior.
One night, while I was working there, he had skillfully carved a big penis out of a carrot and enjoyed waving it around at me while making sexual comments.
I was embarrassed and felt uncomfortable about it.
Was his behavior sexual harassment? Yes and no! In Western Australia, sexual harassment has 2 parts to it (2).
The first part of the legislation says that the behavior has to be unwelcomed by the victim and that the harasser's behavior is of a sexual nature, which includes a sexual advance or request for sexual favours.
Let's apply this definition to what happened to me as a waitress.
I did not want or welcome the chef's behavior and it was of a sexual nature as it involved sexual comments connected to the carrot penis.
So the answer to the first part of the definition is a clear yes (although I didn't know it at the time).
The second part has to do with a belief that rejecting the behavior will disadvantage the victim in his/her employment or that as a result of the rejection of the behavior the victim is disadvantaged.
If we apply this part of the definition to what happened to me as a waitress then I do not think that if I had told him to stop his behavior it would have affected my employment.
So the answer to the second part of the definition is no.
The result is that legally what happened to me was not sexual harassment.
The second part of the definition is often where employees can fall down in their claim and has raised some concerns in Western Australia about it being included.
In fact the federal legislation (and other States) does not include the part requiring the victim to be disadvantaged and instead has a section that says if the harasser intended to offend, humiliate or intimidate the victim or if a reasonable person would have thought the other person would feel this way, then that is sufficient to make out a claim of sexual harassment.
If I apply this definition to what happened to me as a waitress then I was offended and humiliated by his carrot penis talk and so he behavior to me was sexual harassment.
In effect the test on a federal level and in other states is easier to make out than the test in Western Australia.
So what can an employee do if they have been harassed sexually? Staff policy First place to start is to find out what your organizations staff policies and procedures are in relation to sexual harassment.
They should have a written policy in line with the legislation mentioned previously.
Part of the written policy should identify who an employee can go to, to talk about the inappropriate behavior.
If there is no policy then speak to the HR person about this.
Ask them where their written policy is and/or ask them why they don't have a written policy.
If they do have a written policy that appears to be in line with the legislation then talk with the HR person about the inappropriate behavior and what you would like done about it.
It is important to think about how you want it handled, for example you may want - example you may want - - the person to be told their behavior is not appropriate and why, or - a verbal or written apology - a third person to mediate between you and the offending person - to be moved to another section of the organization - counseling - the person to be fired - financial compensation - the Equal Opportunity Commission to be involved Once the inappropriate behavior has been dealt with you may want to find out if your organization offers all staff training in relation to the policy.
The organisation has a requirement under the legislation to take all reasonable steps to prevent their employees sexually harassing another employee (3) Training is part of this.
Remember if you don't speak out when someone is acting inappropriately to you then that person may go on to do the same to other employees and your employer may simply not be aware of the behavior because no one has taken the time and courage to tell them
In a less than ideal, but still good workplace staff know what behaviour is sexual harassment and most staff do not engage in that behavior.
The small minority of people who are sexually harassed report the harassment to their employer/manager soon after it has happened, the employer deals with it appropriately and the victim is satisfied with the outcome.
In a very less than ideal, and according to the statistics, real workplace, sexual harassment occurs regularly, some people do not even know what sexual harassment is and those that do know, often don't formally report it and if they do report it they may be further victimized (1).
What is sexual harassment? When I was a student, back in the '80s I worked at a very well known 5 star hotel as a waitress in one of their restaurants.
One of the chefs was a guy not much older than me who was known for his cheeky, often sexually overt behavior.
One night, while I was working there, he had skillfully carved a big penis out of a carrot and enjoyed waving it around at me while making sexual comments.
I was embarrassed and felt uncomfortable about it.
Was his behavior sexual harassment? Yes and no! In Western Australia, sexual harassment has 2 parts to it (2).
The first part of the legislation says that the behavior has to be unwelcomed by the victim and that the harasser's behavior is of a sexual nature, which includes a sexual advance or request for sexual favours.
Let's apply this definition to what happened to me as a waitress.
I did not want or welcome the chef's behavior and it was of a sexual nature as it involved sexual comments connected to the carrot penis.
So the answer to the first part of the definition is a clear yes (although I didn't know it at the time).
The second part has to do with a belief that rejecting the behavior will disadvantage the victim in his/her employment or that as a result of the rejection of the behavior the victim is disadvantaged.
If we apply this part of the definition to what happened to me as a waitress then I do not think that if I had told him to stop his behavior it would have affected my employment.
So the answer to the second part of the definition is no.
The result is that legally what happened to me was not sexual harassment.
The second part of the definition is often where employees can fall down in their claim and has raised some concerns in Western Australia about it being included.
In fact the federal legislation (and other States) does not include the part requiring the victim to be disadvantaged and instead has a section that says if the harasser intended to offend, humiliate or intimidate the victim or if a reasonable person would have thought the other person would feel this way, then that is sufficient to make out a claim of sexual harassment.
If I apply this definition to what happened to me as a waitress then I was offended and humiliated by his carrot penis talk and so he behavior to me was sexual harassment.
In effect the test on a federal level and in other states is easier to make out than the test in Western Australia.
So what can an employee do if they have been harassed sexually? Staff policy First place to start is to find out what your organizations staff policies and procedures are in relation to sexual harassment.
They should have a written policy in line with the legislation mentioned previously.
Part of the written policy should identify who an employee can go to, to talk about the inappropriate behavior.
If there is no policy then speak to the HR person about this.
Ask them where their written policy is and/or ask them why they don't have a written policy.
If they do have a written policy that appears to be in line with the legislation then talk with the HR person about the inappropriate behavior and what you would like done about it.
It is important to think about how you want it handled, for example you may want - example you may want - - the person to be told their behavior is not appropriate and why, or - a verbal or written apology - a third person to mediate between you and the offending person - to be moved to another section of the organization - counseling - the person to be fired - financial compensation - the Equal Opportunity Commission to be involved Once the inappropriate behavior has been dealt with you may want to find out if your organization offers all staff training in relation to the policy.
The organisation has a requirement under the legislation to take all reasonable steps to prevent their employees sexually harassing another employee (3) Training is part of this.
Remember if you don't speak out when someone is acting inappropriately to you then that person may go on to do the same to other employees and your employer may simply not be aware of the behavior because no one has taken the time and courage to tell them