What You Must Know About Sexual Harassment

Sexual Harassment can affect both men and women. It can happen everywhere, including educational institutions, employment institutions, among friends, family, and strangers. Any verbal, non-verbal, or physical advance can be classified as harassment.

Cases of harassment often occur on a continuous basis and bother the victim tremendously. People often joke too much, provoke people intentionally, or act idiotically. Some harassers are attracted to the people that they interact with, and others are discussed by the people they interact with. Harassers have no right to comment or act upon another person's life.

Sexual harassment often gives a victim the feeling of being exposed in front of the harasser and others around them. Those that harass others are breaking the law and deserve to be reprimanded for their actions.

Sexual Harassment Laws

Laws governing harassment are used to convict those that bother others. The instant gratification that may come to a person who harasses a victim is not worth the consequences that are often faced in return. Many times people are subjected to loss of income, court fees, lawyer fees, increasing debt, unemployment, prison time, fines, and even counseling. This is all in addition to the embarrassment they will feel among family, friends, and co-workers for their actions.

Harassment laws work in favor of the victim since they undergo an abundance of stress in these situations. Harassment laws are often preventative measures, but all too often are enforced after harassment has been committed rather than before.

Citizens in the United States have the right to work, learn, and live free of harassment under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Individuals who violate this act, as well as other laws within specific states, are subject to penalties under the law.

Sexual Harassment Attorney

Sexual harassment attorneys specialize in the field of harassment. They are useful for those that believe that their rights were violated. Every citizen deserves to know their rights and prosecute those that have violated their rights. Harassment attorneys are useful if a person wants to file a lawsuit against an employee, employer, or an individual outside of the work environment that has subjected them to harassment. If an individual wishes to reach a settlement rather than file suit,an attorney may still come in handy.

Sexual harassment attorneys are likely to have handled an array of different harassment cases. They can provide opportunities for justice that require the harasser to forfeit their paycheck, serve time in prison, or even lose their job. Additionally, harassment attorneys can get victims support in the forms of cash and outreach for therapy or counseling.

When individuals are harassed, many times they have to continue working and living life throughout legal proceedings. Attorneys help ease the stress so that they can remain productive in their lives.

Sentencing and Punishment

Harassment charges for sexual harassment are particular to the circumstances in a case. The punishment is a tool used to keep harassers from thinking it is acceptable to bother other people's lives. In harassment cases, harassers are punished in a way that leaves a scar. They usually do not get a slap on the wrist.

In many instances, the harasser is stripped of the most valuable aspects keeping them comfortable in their lives. Harassment charges affect jobs, paychecks, and freedoms. When a harasser bothers children, typically those that are under the age of sixteen, they are punished even harsher. It is not out of the ordinary for a harasser to serve some jail time in exchange for their actions. In a court of law, harassment of any kind, especially sexual, is treated at the highest magnitude.

Statistics

Sexual harassment statistics are often used to formulate research on ways to stop the crime of harassment. Harassment statistics have proven that it occurs in both educational and professional sectors.

In many instances, harassment cases go unreported and never reache trial. Statistics show that this usually occurs when a victim is trying to protect themselves from further scrutiny. In both arenas, females are harassed more often than males, even if by a small percentage.

The statistics regarding sexual harassment change from year to year and are controlled by many different factors. Sometimes these factors cause harassment cases to increase, and other times they decrease. These statistics are an important asset needed to figure out why harassment occurs at any rate.

Verbal Sexual Harassment

Verbal harassment is a more casual form of harassment that can be exchanged in simple conversation. A popular way this type of harassment occurs is through joking or teasing. A gray area often presents itself in these situations that make it hard for a harasser realize when they have gone to far. Additionally, when in a joking setting, a victim may feel uncomfortable speaking up since the person started poking fun initially. This lack of response can leave the window open for the harasser to repeat the offense in the future.

Sexual harassment is often slid into conversations that may be flirtatious in nature as well. These situations also make it hard to distinguish what qualifies as sexual harassment. Any verbalization that insinuates sexual actions or thoughts can easily be considered sexual harassment, depending upon the context in which it occurred.

Physical Sexual Harassment

Physical harassment is more obvious to detect. A person can almost always be sure when they were touch in an in appropriate manner. This kind of sexual harassment does not always have to occur over a long period of time. One situation in which physical harassment is demonstrated on a person can be enough to press charges.

Physical harassment can also be much more dangerous and traumatic for the victim. If a harasser is comfortable enough to physically touch another person without their permission, they are capable of doing more harm. Physical harassment is against the law at all times and in every arena.

Although some physical sexual harassment can encourage more dangerous situations, not all physical harassment is intentional. Physical sexual harassment can be as simple as touching a persons hand while looking in their eyes. The validity depends largely on how the victim feels at the time of the act.

Sexual Harassment at The Workplace

Sexual harassment in the workplace is an occurrence that has decreased over time. However, no industry can protect themselves fully from harassment. People commit this crime, and when they are hired, an employer may not detect this kind of behavior. To demonstrate the stance that a particular company or employer may have on harassment, a harassment policy is usually put in place for all employees to follow.

In the workplace employers at the same level are capable of harassing one another. Additionally, superiors are capable of sexual harassing an employee that is subordinate to them.

Since the 1980s, women have been subjected to sexual harassment in the workplace in a number of different industries. Harassment in the workplace does affect men as well, just in smaller numbers.