To bring an action for sexual harassment, you must usually establish that you found the conduct against you to be hostile, abusive or offensive. You do not necessarily have to be the victim of the harassment in order to file a complaint about workplace sexual harassment.
Ordinarily before you can file a suit based on sexual harassment, you must file a complaint about the conduct with an administrative agency. For a federal complaint, you would file the complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). There are also state and local agencies to which complaints may be made. Sometimes one of these agencies will take your case and prosecute your discrimination on your behalf. If the agency does not act promptly or declines to act on your behalf, you may file a private lawsuit.
If you feel that you are the subject of sexual harassment, you should inform the harasser that the conduct is unwelcome and must stop, either through words or through conduct that demonstrates that the harassment is unwelcome. This is necessary to ensure that the harasser does not mistakenly believe that you welcome the conduct. You should also use any complaint mechanism or grievance system available from your employer.
If these methods are ineffective, you should contact the EEOC or a similar state agency. You may benefit from consulting an attorney before contacting a government agency about the harassment.
Typically, in defending against a sexual harassment charge, an employer will attempt to establish that it took reasonable measures to prevent and correct any sexual harassment behavior within the workplace and that you failed to take advantage of preventive or corrective opportunities that the employer provided.
Title VII also protects employees who file sexual harassment charges, who participate in an investigation or litigation associated with a sexual harassment complaint, or who testify in related proceedings. State laws typically have similar provisions. It is possible for you to lose a sexual harassment claim but still win a judgment against an employer on the basis of retaliation.
Sexual harassment claims end up costing everyone. Each year, sexual harassment claims ends up costing this nation hundreds of millions of dollars in lost educational and professional opportunities.
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