North Carolina Business Attorneys Focus on Sexual Harassment

Employment Law Firm Helps Employees Who Have Been Sexually Harassed

According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), 11,364 complaints of sexual harassment were made to the EEOC in 2011, with 84 percent filed by women.

There are some clear signs of sexual harassment at work, including persistent requests for dates, inappropriate touching, and unwelcome advancement. However, the signs of sexual harassment aren’t always so obvious.

Name-Calling

According to the EEOC, harassment doesn’t have to be of a sexual nature and can include offensive remarks about a person’s sex. For example, if a class of workers (single men or women with children) are called offensive names in the workplace while other groups are not, this could be considered sex-based harassment, even if the name-calling doesn’t include sexual content.

Unwelcome Sexually-Oriented Behavior

Sexual harassment can extend to any sexually-oriented behavior that is unwelcome and creates a hostile work environment, even if it isn’t intentionally offensive. This type of behavior might include Sports Illustrated calendars and Playboy magazines in the workplace, or a co-worker who insists on talking freely about his own sexual escapades or whistles at customers.

Seemingly Harmless, Nonverbal Gestures

Sexual harassment doesn’t have to be explicit in nature but can include seemingly harmless, nonverbal gestures that might be a joke to everyone except for the person being harassed.

Inappropriate Mass Emails

Thanks to technology, harassers are finding new ways to behave offensively, including sending out inappropriate mass emails that contain sexual jokes and images. Cyberstalking also allows managers and co-workers to invade an employee’s private life by using camera phones to take inappropriate photos or employing new surveillance technologies to be intrusive.

Contact Our North Carolina Sexual Harassment Attorneys Today

Do you believe that you might have been sexually harassed at work and need competent legal advice? The experienced employment law attorneys at Law Offices of Robert Crawford are dedicated to protecting the rights of business professionals throughout Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Contact our firm online or call 919-296-8508 to schedule your initial consultation today.