Hostile Work Environment and Harassment Law

The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission enforces the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Title VII that makes it illegal to discriminate against an employee or job applicant based on his race, color, religion, sex and national origin. The EEOC also enforces the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the Age Discrimination Act of 1975 and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008. 

The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Harassment is when verbal or physical conduct is severe enough to cause a hostile work environment or when a supervisor's conduct causes the employee to not be promoted, be demoted or lose his or her job. Harassment interferes with the employee's job performance, where the person cannot do his or her job as well as the person would in a normal environment. The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigates the discrimination complaints, looks at all the incident records and makes a final decision from the case facts.

Two Types of Sexual Harassment Situations

• Quid pro quo refers to situations where the person is hired or promoted if he or she submits to sexual favors or is fired if the person does not submit.


• Hostile work environment sexual harassment refers to situations where the employee's workplace is hostile, offensive and intimidating because of the unwelcome sexual conduct of a co-worker or boss. This harassing conduct causes the employee not to work as well as he or she would have in a normal environment.

Who the Harasser and Victim Are

The victim may be a woman or a man. The harasser may be a woman or man. The harasser and victim might be of the same or the opposite sex. The victim does not have to be the person to whom the sexual conduct is directed, but could be anyone at the workplace that is affected by the offensive conduct.

The Employer's Responsibility

Employers should establish a policy to prevent, report, investigate harassment issues and punish the one who is contributing to the abuse. The employer is responsible for the workplace being harassment free. The employer may be held liable for sexual harassment committed by employees. The employer can even be liable if a non-employee causes harassment in the workplace.

Who to Report Harassment To

Report abuse to the supervisor, a member of management and/or to the Director of the Office of Workplace Diversity.