Same Sex Sexual Harassment

Workplace sexual harassment is a type of discrimination that violates California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). Sexual harassment in El Segundo can be perpetrated by either sex, and it may be same sex sexual harassment. Often workers who have been sexually harassed feel shame, humiliation and degradation. There may be economic or financial consequences. Sometimes workers lose their jobs or face demotion due to being sexually harassed, or complaining about the harassment. However, it may be possible to hold an employer accountable for damages arising out of same sex sexual harassment. An El Segundo sexual harassment attorney can help you assert your legal rights.

Sexual harassment can include any unwelcome sexual advances or other physical, verbal, or visual behavior that is based on an employee’s sex. Sexually harassing behavior doesn’t need to be motivated by sexual desire, although most people associate it with desire. Harassing behavior can include groping, touching, fondling, rude remarks, jokes, sending memes, and more. It can include actions that are so severe or pervasive that they create a hostile work environment. This kind of conduct can be based on the victim’s actual or perceived sex, as well as the victim’s actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. It can include gender-based harassment even if you are of the same sex as the harasser and neither of you identify as LGBTQ.

FEHA makes it an illegal employment practice to harass an employee due to his or her sex. This law includes protection against a wide array of behavior. Same sex sexual harassment can include a supervisor or manager implicitly or expressly conditioning employment benefits on the victim submitting to unwelcome sexual advances. It can also include behavior by coworkers, supervisors, managers, or customers that creates a work environment that is abusive or hostile on the basis of sex. If you don’t show that you were subject to unwelcome sexual advances as a condition of employment, you will need to establish an abusive or hostile work environment.

Hostile work environment claims mandate that you show: (1) you were subject to unwelcome sexual comments or behavior or advances, (2) the harassment was based on sex, and (3) it was severe or pervasive enough to change your work conditions and generate an abusive working environment. Actions that are pervasive or severe enough to generate an objectively hostile work environment are illegal even when a particular plaintiff isn’t psychologically injured by them.

When determining whether you were subject to actionable same sex harassment, the court will look at the situation objectively, meaning it will look at your situation from the perspective of a reasonable person in your position, considering all the circumstances. Often the impact of sexual harassment hinges on many factors, and it may be important to bring in evidence associated with all of them. Trivial one-off behavior or mild teasing may not meet the standard for same sex sexual harassment, and it’s important to consult an attorney about your particular situation.

Same sex sexual harassment is unlawful under Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964. You can file a lawsuit because you are a woman being harassed on the basis of sex by a woman, or because you are a man being harassed on the basis of sex by men. The harassment doesn’t need to spring from sexual desire. Sometimes people are harassed because they don’t conform to gender stereotypes; this is unlawful and actionable under Title VII. For example, your coworkers shouldn’t harass you for being too feminine. Title VII does not contain an express prohibition on sexual orientation discrimination, whether it is discrimination involving harassment or otherwise. However, it is enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which has issued guidance that sexual orientation discrimination is a subset of sex discrimination.

If you are concerned about same sex sexual harassment in El Segundo, you can discuss your situation with a lawyer at the Calderone Law Firm. Our firm aggressively represents workers in sexual harassment claims. Call us at (424) 348-8290 or complete our online form.