Sexual harassment in the workplace is something that can be difficult to define. There are of course situations in which sexual harassment is obvious and others in which it is not so cut and dried. From a legal standpoint, however, sexual harassment in Memphis, Tennessee is considered a form of discrimination that is based on gender. Various groups are protected from sexual harassment in the workplace by the laws that stem from the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in conjunction with the Civil Right Act of 1991. The latter put a much more stringent emphasis on the breadth of the legal protection that is available from sexual harassment and also provides recourse for those who believe they may be a victim of this particular brand of discrimination.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the US Department of Labor are the two primary federal agencies that work closely with the Tennessee state government as well as with employers throughout the state to ensure the prevention of and protection from sexual harassment for employees. Sexual harassment often comes down to a matter of “he said, she said” but victims are always encouraged to report any incidents to the appropriate personnel at work and/or to a competent attorney as well as to the EEOC as soon as possible after the harassment occurs.
So what exactly constitutes sexual harassment? Again there is something of a gray area in this and every situation is a little different, but generally speaking sexual harassment includes:
- Verbal or physical conduct that is sexual in nature
- Sexually charged advances
- Requests for sexual favors
- Unwelcome sexual advances
- Attempts to engage in sexually charged conversation
Conduct that “implicitly affects a person’s employment or unreasonably interferes with a person’s performance in the workplace or creates an offensive, intimidating, or hostile environment” can be considered sexual harassment. Both men and women can be either perpetrators or victims of sexual harassment and the legal system in Tennessee treats both with impartiality.
