Question

What are 4 key things you learned about the topic from reading their paper?

How does the topic relate to you and your current or past job?

Critique the paper in terms of the organization and quality.

Team 3 answer questions above.

Part I

In today’s world we see fear among people when dealing with sexual harassment. This leads to people not reporting sexual harassment. A misconception about sexual harassment is that it’s only about touching and forcing other people to do something sexually that they do not want to. However, there is a lot more to sexual harassment than physical contact. According to the NY Times article, sexual harassment includes “nonphysical harassment, including suggestive remarks and gestures, or requests for sexual favors. Physical harassment includes touches, hugs, kisses and coerced sex acts.” The number of people that have experienced sexual harassment and have not reported is extremely high. Only about one in every five women actually reports. (Williams, 2017) If the victims don’t speak up, sexual harassment such as comments could become mainstream, where it could be treated as the new normal. It is extremely important for victims to report sexual harassment issues, and not be afraid of what consequences could come their way for reporting someone.

            The fight against sexual harassment is constant. The victims that have the courage to speak up and report are in fear of losing their jobs and suffer retaliation from other executives. The company needs to have a really strong sexual harassment policy in place in order to have an effective employee participation. The employees should feel protected for reporting someone and not fear that they will be harmed by reporting them. The human resources department plays a big role when dealing with these accusations and they also need to have a protection to investigate the issue when it comes to top executives.

One other issue that leads people not to report sexual harassment is that the court system also does not make it easy for victims to seek justice in court. In 2013, the Supreme Court’s conservatives issued a 5–4 decision that further limited the ability of harassment victims to vindicate their rights in court (Stern, 2013). It defined supervisor as a person who is able to hire and fire someone. Therefore, if an employee report sexual harassment to their supervisor and they feel like nothing was done, they could only seek justice in the court system if the supervisor was negligent, meaning if he knew about the issue and failed to address it. If the employer does what it’s known as “file cabinet compliance,” which includes only interviewing both parties and deciding that the accusation is ambiguous, they can just close the case. If the victim feels like they were not made whole and decides to go to court, it would be really hard for them to win because of previous court ruling.

Sexual harassment although is obviously wrong, it also happens a lot outside the workplace. There should be a bigger movement to encourage people to report sexual harassment. There is big coverage on the media about so many topics, but unfortunately sexual harassment is not one of them. Sexual harassment is not given the importance it needs unless it involves someone of big importance. For example, we are now hearing more about sexual harassment accusations against Trump. We have to wonder why all these accusations are coming public now when he was elected the president of the United States. The media coverage on all these accusations are huge and that is supposed to be the norm for every case, not just because someone is of higher importance than another ordinary citizen. The media can help the fight against sexual harassment, victims need to see that everybody is on their side and that the abuser should be punished, the accusations should not be in vain. By having the necessary media exposure, the offenders will think twice before approaching a possible victim and commit sexual harassment, and the victims will seek help instead of simply letting it go.

Part II

Sexual harassment is covered under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The EOCC states that harassment is unlawful and it includes direct as well as indirect acts against a person, based on that person’s sex. Both the victim and harasser can be either a woman or man, as well as the harasser can be of the same sex as the victim ("Sexual Harassment", 2018). While sexual harassment has been a pervasive problem for especially women throughout history, only in the past three decades have litigators won definition of sexual harassment as a form of sex discrimination. This lead to women being capable to come forward and demand remedies and institutional change. In the United States, sexual harassment in employment, housing (harassment by a landlord or building manager), or academia is illegal. ("Sexual Harassment - Fact Sheet - Feminist Majority Foundation", 2018)

Majority of movements that have been started are based as blogs that allow victims to share their pain and frustration with others and to let them know they are not alone. Harassment of NYC, founded in NYC and Was I Asking For It?, based in Seattle, Washington are examples of such movements. However, there are also organizations that involve groups with weekly and daily meeting for survivors, victims and people who are supporters that want to invoke change. Men Can Stop rape is one of these groups, founded in Washington DC, in which they stated their vision is “to institutionalize primary prevention of men’s violence against women through sustained initiatives that generate positive, measurable outcomes in populations throughout the world” ("Our Mission & History", 2018). Stop Street Harassment, founded in New York City, is another organization that has been involved in various projects to try to gain change.

As previously mentioned, most of these movements are local and city wide, but there was one movement that thanks to the new effect that social media has, reached to have a national and global impact. The #MeToo movement was begun by Tarana Burke in 2006, in which the purpose was to encourage women to support each other, especially when dealing with cases of sexual harassment. The social cause went viral in 2017 when the hashtag was created by Alyssa Milano to support her friend Rose McGowan’s allegations of sexual harassment against Harvey Weinstein.

The public support spread quickly and the ‘silence breakers’ were created, as a group of people who have stepped forward to not just tell their stories but also support the initiation of a movement against sexual harassment. The Silence Breakers consists of various people from celebrities like Taylor Swift and Ashley Judd to civilians such as Sandra Pezqueda. Time magazine granted the 2017 People Of The Year title to the ‘silence breakers’ to commemorate the “voices that launched a movement” ("TIME Person of the Year 2017: The Silence Breakers", 2018). Furthermore, they were in the spotlight in the 2018 Golden Globes in which attendees wore black to protest sexual harassment happening in Hollywood and to show their support for Time’s Up, an initiative begun to address the systemic inequality in the workplace that keeps groups from reaching their full potential.

After the accusations made it the Hollywood spectrum, and were shared via social media, that’s when the issue truly ignited a fire that has been spreading ever since. No true legal amends have been passed but the voice it has created, surpasses many others from history which leads to the conclusion that if we continue this path we are sure to gain an answer to a problem has been haunting many everywhere throughout history.

Part III

            In order to put a stop to sexual harassment, prevention is always the first step. The best way to combat sexual harassment is through prevention. In the workplace, preventing sexual harassment rests mainly on the employer but also on the employee. It is the employer’s job to ensure that their employees are in a safe working environment that is discrimination and harassment free. This is called employer liability. If an employer is found to have not taken reasonable steps to prevent or deal with workplace discrimination or harassment, then they may be found legally responsible. On the other hand, employees also have a responsibility to know the company’s policies and to follow them. It is extremely important for all companies to have set rules against sexual harassment.

            Steps that employers are using to prevent sexual harassment have adapted in recent years. A few methods that are being used today by employers include educating their employees about sexual harassment through training sessions and one-on-one meetings, creating an anti-harassment policy with employees, and a culture change. By educating your employees about sexual harassment, the employer makes behavioral expectations clear. “Most training programs aim to educate employees about the employer’s sexual harassment policies and procedures as well as the conduct that is explicitly prohibited” (Magley & Grossman, 2017). It is incredibly important for prevention that employees know all policies and abide by them. By conducting one-on-one meetings, the employer learns more about the employees concerns with policies and it is also an opportunity to ask questions. When an employer is creating their anti-harassment policy, it is important to include your employees in the creation process. It shows them how vital the policy is to the company and it also educates the employees on the importance of the policy. It also allows the employees to contribute to company policies and give their input. A culture change is used as a powerful tool when dealing with sexual harassment. Changing the culture of the company includes updating the policies and training sessions, as well as explaining how to deal with sexual harassment when it occurs. In order to change the culture, it must be clear that the policy pertains to everyone. For example, managers and supervisors must be held to the same standards as other employees. Often times, managers and leaders of the company can hide complaints and make it harder for harassment cases to be resolved.

            Although prevention policies are in place, sexual harassment may still occur. When it does, it is important to know and follow the right steps to resolve the issue properly. A company should provide several paths in which an employee can make a formal complaint. The person that an employee could be complaining to could be the harasser. It is important for your employees to have various options to file a complaint when it comes to addressing the problem so that this not does not occur. The company must act on all complaints they receive. Once a complaint is filed, the company should assign a knowledgeable staff member to the case. Next, a plan should be mapped out in order to investigate the situation and the important people involved, including witnesses, victim, and harasser. It is important to make sure that the employee that complained is safe from retaliation from complaining. Next, the map that was created is initiated and investigation begins. Conclusion is drawn from the investigation and an attorney is called for legal advice. It is important to look at all pieces of information that were gathered in investigation and to document everything.

            Prevention policies and handling harassment cases properly are detrimental to all businesses. By having a clear prevention policy, your employees will be more educated on the subject and what is expected of them. If sexual harassment still occurs, it is essential for the employer to know how to deal with it properly.

Part IV

Team 3 suggestions for aspects to be included in a sexual harassment policy in order to focus on preventing such actions to occur in the workplace. Our team feels confident that if these aspects of the policy are clearly defined at the time any employee is hired and with an annual company wide meeting to discuss the issue and bring awareness, we hope to eliminate this issue within our work environment.

Prohibited conduct:

The following topics are subjects that are strictly prohibited and will not be tolerated by any means.

Harassment:

There is no tolerance of any kind for those who are harassing someone by either verbal or non-verbal suggestions. This would include, but not limited to, conduct of such that is intended to intimidate or threaten a coworker.

The following will outline specifics that are not allowed in this workplace and will be held against you in the course of any reported misconduct, resulting in serious consequences:

Verbal:

Comments of any kind that are offensive or unwelcomed with the intention and purpose to directly harm an individual due to any aspect of their personal and physical characteristics.

Non-verbal:

Discussion or distribution of any content that is negative and intended to harm or disrespect any employee, including any graphic content that is not welcomed will not tolerated. This is monitored by the company's’ IT department and is strictly prohibited.

Discrimination:

This includes any and all forms of harassment that are directed towards an individual based on their sex, race, color, nationality, religion, beliefs and any other protected aspect of an individual.

Sexual harassment:

This form of harassment is commonly found in two forms:

“Quid pro quo” - This is typically occurring with those who are superiors in the workplace (ie: managers, supervisors, directors, C-suite). The reason for that is because when this form of sexual harassment occurs, the superior will suggest to the employee that in order for them to get a raise/promotion/more hours, they must go on a date with them or perform a sexual favor.

“Hostile work environment” - This occurs most commonly in the workplace and must everyone must be diligent with their humor to avoid this. This form of sexual harassment may be both direct and indirect, it is essentially any form of environmental abusive or vulgar sexual intimidation and general lewd sexual nature. If an employee feels uncomfortable coming into the workplace for this effect, there will be an investigation and review of the source of such nature to remediate the issue at hand.

How to report it, complaint policy and procedure:

Anonymous drop box for company that is an “open suggestion” box but this may be the place to drop a complaint about something that someone experienced or witnessed.

Confidentiality:

We encourage you to say something, you job is not at risk

Safe and discreet way to report it

Consequences:

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits sexual harassment. If an employer is found guilty of failing to stop sexual harassment, the law permits the following penalties:

Lost wages

Compensatory damages. Payments for emotional pain and anguish.

Punitive damages. Payments to punish the employer.

Attorney costs and court fees.

Reinstatement or promotion for victim.

Both public and private employers with at least 15 employees must uphold federal law.

It is very likely that a company can be held liable for harassment that occurs on its property. In this case you may be forced to pay compensation. When your company is held liable for harassment, they may be forced to compensate the victim by providing money for things like lost wages, legal fees, and counseling.

If sexual harassment is presented, the first consequence for this punishment may be that an employee may receive a conference with a human resource representative, and sometimes with the offended employee. In this meeting, the HR representative may work with the two employees to ensure that the person understands what the complainant finds offensive and promises to refrain from offending again. Also depending on the severity of the claim the employee may also be subject to counseling, monitoring, demotion, probation, transfer or a written warning. If the harassment is severe or happens more than once, an employee may be fired. But to take it a step further, harassment is a criminal charge and if the person presses charges, the person doing the harassing may face jail time, probation or community service.

Relationship disclosure:

Social relationships in the workplace, including dating are an issue most workplaces can have. Some try to ban dating relationships between employees but that is impossible. An alternative to banning workplace romance is to require employees to disclose social/romantic relationships and ask them to sign an agreement saying they are in a relationship together. This is to provide a workplace that is free of harassment, discrimination, and favoritism. This is used to provide employees with clarity about the relationship status between employees working in the same place.

Conclusion:

            To conclude, in today’s world, sexual harassment within the workplace is a big problem among almost any business or corporation. Many victims of sexual harassment fear to seek help or to speak up. There is an everlasting fight against the issue. Recently, there have been many organizations formed against sexual harassment, and many celebrity accusations. Employers have implemented appropriate steps for prevention, and will continue to do so. Appropriate policies and procedures will help lead to less and less cases reported. With adequate policies and procedures, victims will become less afraid to speak up, and accusers will become less tempted to pursue with their intentions. To also help in encouraging victims to speak up, managers must be willing to take complaints seriously, as well as pay attention to their demeanor when listening to their employees voice their concerns. Aside from company policies, there are legal actions as well that prohibit the act of sexual harassment, such as the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. As long as companies and lawmakers continue to work in unison, and perhaps increase the punishment of harassers, we are more likely to decrease the number of cases. The increase in support groups, and the media covering victim’s stories has helped victims become less afraid to come forward with accusations.

Answer 1

1.Ans:)-- The 4 key points which i have learn from reading this paper about sexual harasment topic are:

• Speak out against the harasser:-- This is often the simplest and most direct way to deal with sexual harassment. By getting to the root cause of it and addressing the provoker, you will make your message loud and clear that the behavior in question is not acceptable. While in some cases this verbal warning is enough to make the harasser stop, many cases escalate from this point on.
• Report the harassment to the appropriate people:-- Taking it to the next level, we may choose to take the harassment incident(s) to a supervisor, human resources department or internal social case worker. Make sure to follow exactly whatever company policies or procedures are in place so that our case will be treated with the appropriate timeliness and seriousness. Our company should be able to handle the sexual harassment charge from then on, either by dismissing or counseling the harasser, separating the harasser and the victim, or another method.
• File a charge with your state human or civil rights establishment:-- This next step in dealing with sexual harassment is a major one. We will contact the governing agency in our state which deals with issues of workplace discrimination and harassment, which is usually the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. This enforcement entity will typically strive to resolve the claim with your employer. If this fails, they may advise to bring a lawsuit against the company.
• Take legal action:-- Lastly, the most dramatic step we should take in dealing with sexual harassment in the workplace is filing a lawsuit against our employer. While this type of litigation may seem drastic, it is sometimes the only procedure that gets results, as long as the three above steps failed to resolve the problem. Victims of sexual harassment often file lawsuits against an employer for physical or emotional suffering, and they may be able to get their jobs back, receive lost wages and acquire damage costs for the events that occurred.

2.Ans:)-- The sexual harasment topic directly related to me because i am also part of human being.As human being ,some harasment always take place around the community and in company also.I am also the part of human race and sometime discrimation take place with me. And this topic directly related to my current job because i am also go through some training about sexual harasment which take place in company. It is important that this is communicated from the top down at a company so that supervisors are also informed of the consequences for retaliation. The fear of reprisal is all too real for my work. It’s invaluable to have support systems made up of family, friends, and colleagues to have our back while we are move through the system.

Don’t be a silent bystander and instead stand up for our colleagues as they report their experiences. Be an ally. If our colleague is nervous about reporting prohibited behavior, offer to accompany her or him during the reporting process. Available support systems are very important when coming forward with harassment experiences. Be a vocal support system for gender equity in our office. The courageous act of speaking up can change our employment culture and help to create more inclusive social norms at work.