You have multiple workplace protections aimed at keeping you safe on the job. Yet, employers and co-workers violate these protections all time. Sadly, though, many workers fail to realize when they’ve been subjected to egregious behavior like sexual harassment, which can unnecessarily affect their mental and psychological well-being and their career trajectory. Therefore, to protect your interests as much as possible, you have to be able to recognize sexual harassment so that you can act on it quickly.
When does joking go too far and become sexual harassment?
This is one of the circumstances that’s often overlooked as problematic. In too many instances, lewd comments are chalked up as nothing more than jokes made in bad taste. But this is a mistake. Here’s what you need to be on the lookout for as indicators that joking has gone too far and may have crossed over into sexual harassment:
- The comments are sexually explicit and make unwelcome comments about your physical appearance.
- Constant joking leaves you feeling belittled.
- The jokes tease about your sexuality.
- The joking probes your sexual history.
- “Funny” gifts that are sexual in nature make you feel uncomfortable.
- The jokes are accompanied by overt or shrouded sexual advances that make you feel uneasy.
Have you been subjected to sexual harassment in the workplace?
Each case is highly fact specific, meaning that the analysis of whether sexual harassment exists in your case has to be carefully conducted. There very well may be other indications that you’ve been subjected to sexual harassment, too, so be sure to discuss all the facts of your case with your attorney. Only then can you rest assured that you’ve done everything possible to find accountability and fight for compensation to offset the harm that’s been caused to you.