In legal terms, sexual harassment is any unwelcome sexual advance or conduct on the job that creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment. In practice, sexually harassing behavior can range from repeated offensive comments, to offensive pornography, to a sexual assault.
There are generally two types of sexual harassment that occur in the workplace: "quid-pro-quo" and "hostile work environment." Quid-pro-quo translates to "this for that" and signifies a trade, such as sex in return for a promotion. It is illegal for an employer to use sex as a prerequisite for benefits in the workplace, or as a condition of employment.
"Hostile work environment" includes any situation in which an employer, supervisor or co-worker engages in conduct that makes a co-worker feel uncomfortable because of his/her sex. Although a hostile work environment may exist simultaneously with a quid-pro-quo situation, there does not need to be a demand for an exchange of sex for a job benefit to constitute a hostile work environment. Courts have found that sexual jokes, offensive pictures, unwanted touching, leering, and requests for dates constitute sexual harassment in certain cases. The conduct must be offensive and unwanted by the victim.
While sexual discrimination most often affects women in the workplace, it is also illegal for men to be discriminated against because of their sex. Please link to the FMLA section of this site for an example of sexual discrimination against men.
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