Sexual Harassment Lawyer in Winston-Salem NC

What is “sexual harassment.”  Sexual harassment includes unwelcome sexual advances or conduct in the workplace such as demands for sexual favors in return for employment benefits (“quid pro quo” harassment) or to avoid adverse employment action and an oppressive atmosphere of sexual innuendo or intimidation that is encouraged or tolerated by the employer (hostile work environment).

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against any individual with respect to the terms, conditions or privileges of employment because of that person’s sex.  42 U.S.C. §2000e-2(a)(1).

Such discrimination includes maintaining a [sexually] hostile work environment; i.e., a “workplace…permeated with discriminatory intimidation, ridicule, and insult that is sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of the victim’s employment and create an abusive working environment.

Jordan v. Alternative Resources Corp., 458 F.3d 332, 339 (4th Cir. 2006), certiorari denied 127 S.Ct. 2036, 167 L.Ed.2d 804 (2007) (citations omitted).   “To establish a Title VII claim for sexual harassment in the workplace,  a female plaintiff must prove that the offending conduct (1) was unwelcome, (2) was based on her sex, (3) was sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of her employment and create an abusive work environment, and (4) was imputable to her employer.  Ocheltree v. Scollon Productions, Inc.  335 F.3d 325, 331 (4th Cir. 2003), certiorari denied 540 U.S. 1177, 124 S.Ct. 1411, 158 L.Ed.2d 77 (2004).

The element requiring that the discriminatory conduct occur “because of [the plaintiff’s] sex” has been defined as follows:

A woman may prove sex-based discrimination in the workplace even though she is not subjected to sexual advances or propositions.  A trier of fact [a judge or jury as the case may be]may reasonably find discrimination, for example, when a woman is the individual target of open hostility because of her sex or when “a female victim is harassed in such sex-specific and derogatory terms…as to make it clear that the harasser is motivated by general hostility to the presence of women in the workplace.” 

WHAT TO DO

If you believe you are being sexually harassed on the job, here is a general outline of what you should do:

• Start a daily diary about the incidents of harassment.
• Complain in writing to your employer. If requested, speak with someone from management about the problem.
• Keep written records of all contacts with management (or anyone else) about the problem.
• If the problem persists, file a grievance with the nearest EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission-a federal agency) office. You can do this on your own (not recommended) or you can retain a lawyer to handle this for you.  Contact us today to discuss your case.
• After six months the EEOC will issue you a “right to sue” letter (if the matter has not already been resolved.)  Once you have that letter, you then have 90 days to file a lawsuit in either federal or state court.