Are you being sexually harassed at work? We have created a series of educational videos explaining what constitutes illegal workplace sexual harassment, and what you can do if you are being sexually harassed. In the first video, New York Employment Attorney Jack Tuckner explains what types of conduct constitute illegal sexual harassment.
In our second video, New York Employment Attorney Jack Tuckner explains how you should report workplace sexual harassment to management.
My name is Jack Tuckner. I’m a women’s rights in the workplace advocate with Tuckner, Sipser, Weinstock & Sipser, and I’m here today in the second video in a series on sexual harassment. In the first video I discussed what is sexual harassment in the workplaceand what laws protect you, and in this video I want to discuss briefly what to do about it (sexual harassment) in terms of notifying your company.
Let Your Harasser Know That Their Behavior is Unwelcomed
The first thing to do is to let the harasser know that his or her behavior is unwelcomed. If that doesn’t do the trick, and often it does not, you must complain to your company to give the corporation, the employer, the opportunity to investigate your protected civil rights complaint, and that’s what sexual harassment is, it’s illegal sex discrimination, and to correct it, to remediate it, to fix it for you.
Complain to the Company in Writing
The way to properly do this that shows the most regard and protection for yourself is to put that complaint in writing, at least the first complaint. Make sure that your company receives your sexual harassment complaint where you document what has occurred, what the harasser has done and said explicitly and what you’ve done and said, and now you’re coming to your company for assistance because you’re distressed about it.
What Should You Say?
The conditions and the terms of your employment, you want to tell them, are degraded now because you’re working in a hostile work environment as a result of the sexual harassment. You need their help with this. That in plain English is what you want to put in the letter, that it’s sex discrimination and you’re upset about it and you need your company’s assistance. That’s the letter that you want to send initially in some provable way to show that your company is in receipt of it.
Then after your company investigates the complaint, they will select someone to discuss this with you. You want to make sure that you follow up. They don’t all have to be letters sent by FedEx or Priority Mail. You can email them, but you want to have an ongoing paper trail in order to hold your company accountable and to have your documentary narrative in writing so that if they don’t take it seriously or if things go south for you at work because of these protected sexual harassment complaints, you’ll be in a strong position to hold your company accountable for their lapses in not standing up for you and protecting you and stopping the sexual harassment which is clearly illegal.
In our next video I will talk about what to expect from your company after you file your sexual harassment complaint. If you have any questions feel free to call me, Jack Tuckner, or email us at Tuckner, Sipser, Weinstock & Sipser and we’ll brainstorm with you about your unique workplace challenge in total confidence and free of charge.
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Learn what constitutes sexual harassment, what you should do to stop it, how to report it, and how to protect your rights in the event of backlash in the workplace.