Harassment is a form of discrimination. It is illegal under
federal and/or state laws to harass any employee on the basis
of the protected characteristics: Sex/gender, age 40 and over,
sexual orientation, race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry,
physical disability, mental disability, medical condition or
genetic characteristic, martial status, pregnancy, childbirth
and related medical conditions, family leave, status as domestic
violence victim, medical leave, citizenship, and veteran/military
status.
Read below for a general overview of this issue, or click here to see FAQs.
Sometimes employees claim that being criticized or disciplined
at all is harassment. Unless the discipline is explicitly related
to a protected characteristic, it is not illegal under these
laws.
However, behavior that is not illegal harassment may still violate
other laws. Unwanted touching may not be harassment but it is
a battery. Calling someone names may not be harassment, but could
be intentional infliction of emotional distress. Exposing oneself
may not be illegal harassment but it may be indecent exposure,
a criminal offense. And if employees become stressed by unpleasant
behavior at work, they may be able to get workers’ compensation
benefits.
While reading the information on this site, remember that the
law sets a floor for behavior, not a ceiling. As you will see,
there is a trend in the law to lower the standard for what is
acceptable behavior. Often times courts say that although certain
behavior is crude or repugnant it is not serious enough to constitute
harassment until and unless someone is unable to perform their
job duties – a very low standard indeed!
Remember, though, that just because something is “legal” doesn’t
mean that employers are going to tolerate the behavior. Employers
have the right to set a higher standard by policy. The employer
could require all employees to treat each other with the utmost
respect and dignity. As long as the policy is enforced consistently,
employees can be terminated for not violating employer policy
even if the underlying conduct is not illegal.
Click here for Harassment Law FAQs.