Workplace sexual harassment is however a tricky situation because most often than not, your supervisor or boss is the one harassing and threatening you sexually. When this occurs, the person you report to must be in a higher position than your boss. If your overall boss is the one harassing you, then you can report to an independent department like human resources. This way, they are obligated by law to document all evidence and complaints filed on sexual harassment cases so the matter is dealt with the right way. If you’re being sexually harassed by your colleague, the first thing to do is to talk to them personally to let them know you’re not interested and that if they don’t stop, you’ll report them to a higher authority. Threatening to report them to a higher authority is likely to work. If you just tell them “stop! I don’t like that”, they surely won’t take you seriously and they’ll keep coming back. Threatening to report them to a higher authority is your best play. Genuinely, some of the offenders may not know they’re sexually harassing you. They may think it’s a game you enjoy until you give them a reason to start taking you seriously. Otherwise, they’ll just take you for granted and keep coming back.
If the offender keeps coming back after talking to them personally and threatening to report them to a higher authority, make sure you report to the higher authority with a formal written complaint stating exactly what happened in detail with date and time of occurrence. Report swiftly so the necessary actions can be taken. Attach any forms of evidence you may have to support your case. The higher authority could be your immediate supervisor or the human resources department of your organization. There should definitely be someone to report to who is obligated to handle the case. Delaying to report will only make matters worse for you and will make it seem like you took so long to report because you enjoyed it. Reporting late will also make your story less authentic, especially when the offender gets all they want from you and later comes to apologize for harassing you. By then, reporting would not help you since considerable time had passed, there had been an apology and therefore any actions taken in your favour won’t be as satisfying as reporting the incident the moment it occurred.
Follow the laid down rules in your organization concerning the reporting of complaints and when you feel your justice is being delayed, you can move to a higher authority directly to report the matter. This way, you can justify yourself for acting swiftly since no immediate actions were taken when you followed the reporting line. Thus, not only will the offender be in trouble but the person whose job it was to take the necessary steps to handle the matter.
Workplace sexual harassment is likely to occur in any workplace so it isn’t really a matter of quitting your job to find another. If you decide to quit your job because of sexual harassment, make sure you get the justice you deserve before you quit. You can file a lawsuit for sexual harassment if you feel your workplace didn’t handle the matter appropriately to give you the satisfaction and justice you deserve. For you to get any compensation from the lawsuit, you must ensure you have documentary and credible evidence to support your case. If the sexual harassment had been occurring for some time and no assistance was given you, be sure to document all that in your lawsuit. Keep track with dates, detailed events, action steps and any failed resolutions towards the matter. Document everything. There should also be written proof that you filed a complaint with your workplace and no actions were taken; or the actions taken weren’t satisfying enough and so you’re seeking a redress with legal action.
To support your lawsuit, keeping track and documenting the events of the sexual harassment as well as the actions you took to handle the matter will help you build a strong case acting as considerable proof in the court of law to give you a satisfying justice.
Exercise
Have you ever felt sexually harassed? What steps did you take? Do you feel better placed to handle sexual harassment now after reading this text? Follow the action steps detailed in the topic if it should occur again.
