Employment Law
7 Things You Should Know About Harassment in the Workplace

1. Federal and state laws prohibit discrimination, harassment and retaliation in the workplace based on:
   • Race
   • Color
   • Religion
   • Sex (including pregnancy and/or gender)
   • Sexual orientation
   • Marital status
   • National origin (including language use restrictions)
   • Ancestry
   • Mental or physical disability (including HIV/AIDS diagnosis)
   • Medical condition (including cancer and genetic characteristics)
   • Age
   • Denial of family and medical care leave
   • Denial of pregnancy disability leave or reasonable accommodation
     
     
2. Discrimination is prohibited in all employment practices, including:
   • Advertisements
   • Applications and interviews
   • Hiring, transferring, promoting or leaving a job
   • Working conditions
     
     
3. Types of harassment include:
   • Verbal harassment: such as epithets, derogatory comments or slurs (or repeated romantic overtures, sexual comments and jokes or prying into one’s personal affairs);
   • Physical harassment: such as unwanted touching, rubbing against someone, assault and physical interference with movement or work; and
   • Visual harassment: such as derogatory cartoons, drawings or posters, lewd gestures or leering
     
     
4. Examples of harassment include:
   • Unwanted sexual advances
   • Offering employment benefits in exchange for sexual favors
   • Making or threatening reprisals after a negative response to sexual advances
   • Leering, making sexual gestures, displaying sexually suggestive objects or depictions
   • Making or using derogatory comments, epithets, slurs and jokes
   • Verbal sexual advances or propositions
   • Verbal abuse of a sexual nature
   • Graphic verbal commentaries about an individual’s body
   • Sexually degrading words used to describe a person; suggestive or obscene letters; notes or invitations
   • Harassment based on gender (such as targeting a person for mistreatment because she is female)
   • Physical conduct (such as touching, assault, impeding or blocking movements)
     
     
5. Sexual harassment can occur under a variety of circumstances:
   • The victim as well as the harasser may be a woman or a man and does not have to be of the opposite sex
   • The harasser can be the victim’s supervisor, an agent of the employer, a supervisor or a co-worker
   • The victim does not have to be the person harassed and can be anyone affected by the offensive conduct
   • Unlawful sexual harassment may occur without economic injury to or discharge of the victim
     
     
6. State law prohibits harassment of independent contractors and job applicants as well as employees.
   
   
7. Individuals who are victims of unlawful discrimination, harassment, or retaliation in the workplace may be eligible for monetary and equitable remedies, including:
   Hiring, front pay, back pay, promotion, reinstatement, cease-and-desist orders, punitive damages, and damages for emotional distress.
   
   Lawsuits involving discrimination, harassment and retaliation in the workplace require extensive knowledge of employment laws and careful consideration of the facts and circumstances of each case. You should consult with an experienced employment law attorney to determine whether you have a legally recognized claim under federal or state law. If you wish to speak with a lawyer regarding any type of employment related, workplace harassment, discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination or whistleblower case, please contact Silldorf & Levine, LLP for a free consultation. We take most cases on a contingency fee basis, with no fee to you unless and until you win.