It is a common misconception that the harassment you have been a victim of must be sexual in order for you to need to hire a sexual harassment lawyer. Truthfully, sexual harassment lawyers deal with cases of harassment that have nothing to do with sexual acts on a daily basis. Any time you are harassed in a place of employment, you have the right to hire a lawyer like Campbell, Dille, Barnett & Smith, P.L.L.C. and get justice for it. Being aware of what is considered sexual harassment is the easiest way to protect yourself in your place of employment from being harassed as well as accidentally doing the harassing.

What is Harassment Anyway?

Harassment is defined as any physical or verbal action that is pervasive or offensive enough to create an abusive or hostile environment for an individual to be in. Basically, anything you do or say that makes someone else feel uncomfortable could be viewed as harassment.

Exploring Different Types of Harassment

Religion, Race, Gender: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act that was put in place in 1964 bans employers from harassing based on religion, race, gender, or national origin. An employer or co-worker using any of these traits regarding who you are as a person to treat you a certain way is considered harassment.

Age and Experience: The Age Discrimination Act prevents employers and co-workers from discriminating and harassing an individual because of his or her age or experience. The original goal of this act was to prevent an employer from refusing to hire someone simply because he or she thought the individual was too young for the job.

Disability: The Americans with Disabilities Act was put in place to prevent individuals who suffer from a disability from being harassed and discriminated against in their place of employment as well as in several other areas of their life such as government activities and public transportation.  

What Should You do if You Are Being Harassed at Work?

As tempting as it might be, the last thing you want to do is quit if you are being harassed at work. First of all, quitting is going to make getting unemployment benefits next to impossible as your employer will more than likely challenge your claim. Second, it is also more difficult for you to file any kind of harassment claim against your employer after you quit.

The best thing you can do for yourself in this situation is write down every detail and contact a lawyer. You should write down exactly what happened, where it happened, when it happened, and who was involved. The more specific you are with the details, the more helpful what you wrote down will be for your lawyer.