Sexual Harassment in the Workplace Essay -- Sexual Harassment Essays

Sexual harassment is an important issue in every business; if left unattended it could cost companies millions in damages. In 1980 the Supreme Court ruled that sexual harassment was a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. From 1978 to 1980, sexual harassment cases brought against companies cost them $189 million. This number rose to $267 million from 1985-1987. Damages are just measured only by numbers. Sexual harassment can cause harm to a company's image, reputation, customers, as well as their revenue. In earlier years, women use to think in order to get along in the workplace they must "go with the flow" of whatever may happen in the office. Co-workers often looked negatively upon people who stuck up for themselves. Men's behaviors at work had always been accepted without question. When women were sexually harassed they had no where to turn. Today, the EEOC receives more than 16,000 sexual harassment complaints in a year. This is hardly the amount of situations that happen. 95% of sexual harassment incidents are left unreported! We cannot follow in our government?s footsteps down this road. Our so-called Congress is the worse place to work in dealing with sexual harassment. Until 1994, they were not under compliance with any laws for the protection of workers in the workplace. Even the regulations of 1994 did not provide strict enforcement so the problem remains. Statistics have shown that in the Supreme Court one-third of the people has been a victim of some form of sexual harassment. A member of Congress harassed one in nine of these persons! 42% of women and 15% of men in the federal government have reported sexual harassment. Do you think our government does a great job of covering up things? It is estimated that nine out of ten women will be victims of sexual advances at work. The courts are making it easier to hold a company liable for any sexual harassment behavior that occurs within the workplace. The employer does not even need to know that the sexual harassment is taking place for an employee to file a suit and win. It is almost impossible to find a ?solution? or ?magic key? that will end the problem. There is no guarantee that anything will prevent sexual harassment from happening. There are only suggestions that might help in depleting the problem. Developing an effective policy against sexual haras... ... McGraw-Hill, 1998. Mcafee, R. Bruce. ?Workplace Harassment: employees vs. customers.? (Mar.-Apr. 1999): n.pag. Online. Internet. 5 Dec 2000. Available WWW: http://www.findarticles.com/cf_o/m1038/2_42/54370819/print.jhtml. McShane, Steven L., and Mary Ann Von Glinow. Organizational Behavior. Boston: Irwin McGraw-Hill, 2000. Miramontes, David J. How To Deal With Sexual Harassment. San Diego: Network Communications, 1983. Roberts, Barry S. and Richard A. Mann. ?Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: A Primer.? n.pag. On-line. Internet. 5 Dec 2000. Available WWW: http://www.uakron.edu/lawrev/robert1.html. ?Same Sex Harassment.? n.pag. On-line. Internet. 5 Dec 2000. Available WWW: http://www.employer-employee.com/sexhar1.html. ?Same Sex Harassment.? n.pag. On-line. Internet. 5 Dec 2000. Available WWW: http://www.employer-employee.com/sexhar4.html. ?Sexual Harassment in the Workplace.? n.pag. On-line. Internet. 5 Dec 2000. Available WWW: http//www.de.psu.edu/harass/analysis/work.html. Sexual Harassment in the Workplace?: n.pag. On-line. Internet. 5 Dec 2000. Avaliable WWW:http//www.flabar.org/newflabar/consumerservices/General/Consumer.Pam/37PAMPH.html.