Every employee deserves to work in a safe and respectful environment. Unfortunately, workplace harassment remains a significant issue for many people, often creating toxic and abusive conditions that negatively impact victims both personally and professionally. We are here to advocate for employees subjected to unlawful harassment, helping them seek justice and protect their rights.
What Is Workplace Harassment?
Workplace harassment occurs when unwelcome conduct—verbal, physical, or visual—is directed at an employee because of a protected characteristic, such as gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, age, or disability. This behavior can create an intimidating, threatening, or offensive work environment. Harassment is not job-related conduct; no one agrees to be harassed when they accept employment. California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) offers robust protections against harassment and holds employers accountable for failing to maintain a harassment-free workplace.
Hostile Work Environment Harassment
A hostile work environment can result from conduct that is based on an employee’s protected status. For instance, derogatory comments, slurs, or jokes about an employee’s race, national origin, religion, or age can create a work environment that is hostile and discriminatory.
The harassing behavior must meet the following criteria:
- The conduct is unwelcome.
- The conduct is based on a protected characteristic.
- The behavior is severe or pervasive enough to establish an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.
- The conduct must alter the conditions of the victim’s employment and create an abusive atmosphere. This evaluation considers the victim’s perception and what a reasonable person in the victim’s position would perceive.
Sexual Harassment
While no form of harassing conduct is acceptable, sexual harassment is a particularly egregious and prevalent form of workplace harassment. Sexual harassment includes any unwanted sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature, but it need not be motivated by sexual desire. Rather, it reflects a misuse or an abuse of power. Given the historical imbalance of power between men and women in the workplace, most instances of sexual harassment involve men harassing women, and courts have recognized that when male supervisors harass their female subordinates the supervisors exploit both workplace and societal power imbalances.
Types of Sexual Harassment:
- Quid Pro Quo: This occurs when job benefits, such as promotions, raises, or continued employment, are conditioned on submitting to unwelcome sexual advances or favors.
- Physical touching or assault: This involves some physical act that is unwanted, such as kissing, hugging, grabbing, impeding/blocking the victim’s movement, or actual sexual assault.
- Hostile Work Environment: This includes unwelcome non-physical conduct — such as lewd comments, sexual jokes, or offensive images — that interferes with an employee’s ability to do their job or that creates an intimidating work setting. This form of harassment can come from a boss, other co-workers, or even the company’s clients or customers.
Holding Employers Accountable
Under California law, employers are legally responsible for preventing and addressing harassment. This includes providing proper training, enforcing anti-harassment policies, and taking immediate action when complaints are filed. At Sansanowicz Law Group, we are experienced in handling harassment cases and will work tirelessly to protect your rights.
