You believe that you experienced sexual harassment at work. You’re interested in your legal options as a result.
One thing to remember is that you must show two key things in a case like this to give yourself a chance to demonstrate that you were harassed. They are:
- You thought that the actions of the other party were offensive, abusive and/or hostile toward you.
- In your position, a reasonable third party would also have thought that the actions were offensive, abusive and/or hostile.
Essentially, you just need to show that you felt that way at the time and that it’s clear that the actions toward you were not minor or expected in a normal workplace environment.
For instance, say a co-worker decided to ask you out. You have no desire to go out with them and you tell them so. Unless something else happened at the same time — lewd comments or unwanted physical contact, for example — that’s likely not harassment. It was just a one-time event.
However, if you turned your co-worker down and they started pestering you, asking you out repeatedly and growing more insistent, that changes things. It shows that they started harassing you and trying to force you into a date, making the workplace uncomfortable. Anyone else in your position would agree.
This is just one aspect of a sexual harassment case, but it helps to show how complex it can be and how you really do need to understand your rights and what steps you should take during every stage of the legal process.
