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Harassment on the job can take the
form of any of several offensive behaviors by an
employer or co-worker. It typically refers to
acts found threatening or those objectionable acts
found to be beyond those accepted by society.
Harassment my take
the form of spreading lies about an employee or the
receiving of unwanted sexual advances, particularly
unwanted
sexual advances
that may place the employee in a potentially
disadvantageous position. What is considered harassment in one local may not
be harassment in another. It is often defined
by the social norms of the country in question.
For instance, in many countries just insulting a
religion in the workplace is considered to be
harassment and has legal consequences. In more
open societies, such comments may be allowed without
consequence. These differences render the
definition of harassment on the job difficult to define without
specifying the country and local region. Some
anti-defamation groups may provide definitions of
harassment that vary widely from the legal
definition in the same local.
Sexual Harassment
Sexual harassment in the workplace
typically involves unwanted sexual advances that
could be considered intimidating, offensive or
threatening to an employee. In most cultures,
including the U.S., there is legal recourse for any
employee experiencing sexual harassment.
Since sexual interaction is a
normal behavior in society, the definition of sexual
harassment in the workplace is often a fuzzy and
controversial subject. Typically, sexual
harassment can include the touching of an employee's
private parts, sexual jokes or comments, lewd
remarks, etc. Even commenting on an employee's
physical appearance could be considered sexual
harassment by some employers and employees.
There are a number of ways that
sexual harassment can occur. The victim does
not have to be a woman but can also be a man and the
harasser can be a person of the same sex. The
victim may be harassed by a customer, supervisor,
co-worker, schoolmate, teacher or practically
anyone. The victim may not be the one harassed
by the offensive behavior and while the harassment
may effect the victim the actions don't necessarily
need to effect the victim to be a violation of the
law. Often, the one doing the harassing is
totally unaware that their behavior is being
construed as offensive and could be considered to be
unlawful and subject to severe consequences.
Many companies have learned that
sexual harassment in the workplace is a serious
problem and have taken steps to protect workers and
the company from such charges and harassment on the
job.
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