Sexual Harassment Policies
In the past few years, sexual harassment has become a very serious issue. Sexual harassment is described in the dictionary as “harassment (typically of a woman) in a workplace, or other professional or social situation, involving the making of unwanted sexual advances or obscene remarks.” This sort of harassment has been very prevalent in the workforce. One case, in particular, involves a female in the workplace who has been verbally harassed in a few ways. These ways violate the company’s sexual harassment policy for various reasons.
Jane Asher recently took a job at Galaxy Oil Company. She works in a field with mostly men due to the fact that she is a geologist. Her job is to analyze geological data and identify areas where oil might be discovered. It is the same basic job as all the other men besides the supervisor. Within the first six months of working at Galaxy Oil Company, Jane Asher experienced a few things.
It started off with almost all of the men going out to lunch but not inviting her. After that, it became more and more serious. Hung in various places around the office are posters of naked women. Ms. Asher brought up to them that she didn’t really find having those pictures to be appropriate. Only to find pornographic pictures of naked men on her desk the following day. There have been multiple occasions in which she walks by a group of co-workers and they have been talking about one of the men’s recent sexual encounter. On the occasions in which he talks about his sex life, he then turns to Ms. Asher and asks if she would enjoy something like that.
That’s not even the worst thing that has happened in the office. There was one day when Jane Asher’s boss tells her that he is glad to see someone with nice breasts working there. He has also recommended that she wear tighter clothes so that people can see her body better.
The Galaxy Oil Company does have a sexual harassment policy set in place. The policy states that sexual harassment constitutes “any conduct, verbal or physical, of a sexual nature that a reasonable employee would regard as either significantly interfering with an individual’s work performance and/or chance for promotion or by creating a significantly and unreasonably intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.” By having this policy put in place, it covers almost every aspect of sexual harassment.
Any reasonable person would look at all of this evidence, read the company policy, and agree that sexual harassment has occurred. Granted, Ms. Asher’s co-workers never took advantage of her physically. However, they didn’t abide by the Galaxy Oil Company’s sexual harassment policy. By allowing these men to have provocative posters of naked women hung sporadically around the office, he is saying that it’s accepted and okay to have that in the work environment. No woman, nor man, should be afraid to enter their office because they are worried about being harassed for something that they did or didn’t do.
Sexual harassment is prohibited in many countries as well as it violates a man’s or woman’s rights. Because this is such a growing and pressing issue, almost every single company has in their handbook (or rule book) a policy that helps prevent sexual harassment from occurring. Based on this company’s policy, Ms. Asher’s co-workers have violated it. They clearly were showing verbal conduct of a sexual nature.
Jane Asher recently took a job at Galaxy Oil Company. She works in a field with mostly men due to the fact that she is a geologist. Her job is to analyze geological data and identify areas where oil might be discovered. It is the same basic job as all the other men besides the supervisor. Within the first six months of working at Galaxy Oil Company, Jane Asher experienced a few things.
It started off with almost all of the men going out to lunch but not inviting her. After that, it became more and more serious. Hung in various places around the office are posters of naked women. Ms. Asher brought up to them that she didn’t really find having those pictures to be appropriate. Only to find pornographic pictures of naked men on her desk the following day. There have been multiple occasions in which she walks by a group of co-workers and they have been talking about one of the men’s recent sexual encounter. On the occasions in which he talks about his sex life, he then turns to Ms. Asher and asks if she would enjoy something like that.
That’s not even the worst thing that has happened in the office. There was one day when Jane Asher’s boss tells her that he is glad to see someone with nice breasts working there. He has also recommended that she wear tighter clothes so that people can see her body better.
The Galaxy Oil Company does have a sexual harassment policy set in place. The policy states that sexual harassment constitutes “any conduct, verbal or physical, of a sexual nature that a reasonable employee would regard as either significantly interfering with an individual’s work performance and/or chance for promotion or by creating a significantly and unreasonably intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.” By having this policy put in place, it covers almost every aspect of sexual harassment.
Any reasonable person would look at all of this evidence, read the company policy, and agree that sexual harassment has occurred. Granted, Ms. Asher’s co-workers never took advantage of her physically. However, they didn’t abide by the Galaxy Oil Company’s sexual harassment policy. By allowing these men to have provocative posters of naked women hung sporadically around the office, he is saying that it’s accepted and okay to have that in the work environment. No woman, nor man, should be afraid to enter their office because they are worried about being harassed for something that they did or didn’t do.
Sexual harassment is prohibited in many countries as well as it violates a man’s or woman’s rights. Because this is such a growing and pressing issue, almost every single company has in their handbook (or rule book) a policy that helps prevent sexual harassment from occurring. Based on this company’s policy, Ms. Asher’s co-workers have violated it. They clearly were showing verbal conduct of a sexual nature.