Steps Women Can Take If a Victim of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

Even though sexual harassment of women in the workplace has decreased substantially from previous decades, it’s still something that happens to women in every industry, especially in service industries.

The group Stop Street Harassment conducted a survey which found that almost 81% of women had experienced some form of harassment at work. But you don’t have to stay silent about sexual harassment at work.

Federal and state laws protect women in the workplace from harassment, discrimination, and from retaliation if you do report the harassment.

The Civil Rights Act contains a clause, Title VII, which explicitly forbids employers from discriminating against workers on the basis of sex, race, color, religion, or national origin.

What You Can Do if You’re a Victim

If you have experienced sexual harassment at your place of work you should immediately find out if your company has a written policy regarding sexual harassment.

Most companies do, check the employee handbook or ask your HR department for a copy of the company’s written policy on sexual harassment.

Read through the policy carefully making note of how the harassment you experienced violates the company’s written policy.

Then you need to write down all the incidents of harassment or discrimination that happen to you. Write down the date and time as well as who was involved.

Then write a quick summary of what happened while everything is fresh in your mind. Write an email or letter to your boss and the company’s HR department documenting the harassment you’ve experienced.

Point out how each incident violates the company’s stated policies. You need to report any incidents of sexual harassment quickly because the law limits the amount of time that you have to report the incidents.

If you don’t report them in a timely way you might lose the chance to pursue any legal remedies against your employer.

Gathering evidence is critically important. Try to get photographs, recordings, and even eyewitness statements from others who witness the harassment. The more evidence you can get the stronger your case will be.

Filing A Claim For Sexual Harassment

Depending on where you live there may be state agencies that you can file complaints with against your employer. You an also file a discrimination complaint with the EEOC, which is a Federal agency.

In order to file a complaint with the EEOC you must file within either 180 days or 300 days of the incident depending on what company you work for.

It’s not easy to file a complaint against your employer for sexual harassment, but you should still consider filing that complaint. You are guaranteed the right to work in a place free from harassment and discrimination by law.

Employers who break that law need to be held accountable. When you file a complaint, you are standing up for all the women who work there because its very likely other women are experiencing harassment also.

Don’t wait to file a complaint if you are being harassed or discriminated against at work.