so, at a painting event, a guy says about someones picture, " oh, if you turn the picture sideways, it looks like a womans breast".. she took offence to that remark.. (this was not a work situation.)
a big deal was made about it .. was that sexual harassment?
I think some people need to get a life.
There's gonna be a lot of "banter" between co-workers in any environment.
Trouble is determining what "crosses the line" and what is just workplace joshing around. If somebody feels harassed and or bullied, they should bring it up with management. That said, when someone in a supervisory position shows his "package" to a female employee and asks for a sex act or makes lewd comments that calls for a law suit.
The question that comes to mind is
Are people reacting to things because they are 'that' sensitive or
Are they reacting because they know they can cause a stir?
I've known women mechanics that would just deck you if you offended them.
I've known men that whine about any insinuation.
You can ask a co-worker out to a date many times, but as soon as they say no, you gotta drop it.
Its the harassment that defines the problem.
Even if the person being harassed displays compliance with the harassment they could be secretly offended. I have known a few examples where this was true and resulted in people being fired.
At one time, before I was manager, all nicknames were against policy. Yes, it got that bad. One guy was nicknamed "Peaches' because everyday he had fresh fruit in his lunch and most of the time, they were peaches. Another guy, tended to drool while working on electrical, we called him "Dribbles". I was known as the "Tree Rat" because I was always everywhere quickly like a squirrel. While it didn't phase me because I was there to make money, others had problems with the names. Thing is, they didn't start having problems till nicknames were focused upon.
We had this one secretary with a rather large protruding chest. She would find ways to rub her chest on the men whenever possible.
She did it to me. At the time, I was happily married and didn't really like her advances. I said nothing because I understood it was her personality. I just kept away from her (arms length). She had a bubbly personality. She ended up getting transferred to a different site and they let her go for sexual harassment.
Harassment only needs one official complaint. Laws are set to side with the complainant not the accused.
http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/crc/2011-workplace-harassment.htm
Quid Pro Quo Harassment – "This for That"
Examples:
supervisor who fires or denies promotion to a subordinate for refusing to be sexually cooperative;
supervisor requires a subordinate to participate in religious activities as a condition of employment;
supervisor offers preferential treatment/promotion if subordinate sexually cooperates or joins supervisor's religion.
Hostile Work Environment Harassment
Examples of behaviors that may contribute to an unlawful hostile environment include:
discussing sexual activities;
telling off-color jokes concerning race, sex, disability, or other protected bases;
unnecessary touching;
commenting on physical attributes;
displaying sexually suggestive or racially insensitive pictures;
using demeaning or inappropriate terms or epithets;
using indecent gestures;
using crude language;
sabotaging the victim's work;
engaging in hostile physical conduct.
First, unlawful harassing conduct must be unwelcome and based on the victim's protected status.
Second, the conduct must be:
subjectively abusive to the person affected; and
objectively severe and pervasive enough to create a work environment that a reasonable person would find hostile or abusive.
Whether an instance or a pattern of harassing conduct is severe or pervasive is determined on a case-by-case basis, with consideration paid to the following factors:
the frequency of the unwelcome discriminatory conduct;
the severity of the conduct;
whether the conduct was physically threatening or humiliating, or a mere offensive utterance;
whether the conduct unreasonably interfered with work performance;
the effect on the employee's psychological well-being; and
whether the harasser was a superior within the organization.
Management must take prompt, remedial action to investigate and eliminate any harassing conduct. All information will be maintained on a confidential basis to the greatest extent possible.
The Department cannot correct harassing conduct if a supervisor, manager or other Department official does not become aware of it. When an employee unreasonably fails to report harassing conduct, the Department has the right to raise this as a defense against a suit for harassment.
