What is Workplace sexual harassment?
Sexual harassment involves any kind of unwanted sexual behavior, making a person feel uneasy, humiliated or embarrassed. This can assume several forms and can be of different types including- written, verbal and physical. Often, wrong comparisons are made between sexual harassment and normal workplace behavior, a simple case of touching can be both, friendly or uncomfortable. A distinction has to be made and is dependent on primarily two factors- the intention of the parties and absence of mutually agreed behavior. Workplace Sexual harassment at the workplace can happen at the workspace, work-related area where the individual has to carry out his or her work-related functions and between people who share the workplace. Some typical examples of this sort of harassment include-
making sexually colored remarks,
inappropriate staring,
sending text messages or emails of sexual nature,
requesting for sex or forcing the other person to come for a date,
Offenses of criminal nature including stalking and physical assault, etc.
What are the laws in place?
Section 28A of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, defines sexual harassment as when a person makes an unwelcome sexual advance, an unwelcome request for sexual favors.
Under section 106 of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, employers may also be vicariously liable if an employee commits sexual harassment, and the employer did not take all reasonable steps to prevent the employee from doing these acts.
There is also another act, protecting victims of sexual harassment, Equal Opportunity Act, 2010.
The rampancy of the issue:
Between April and June 2018, the Australian Human Rights Commission conducted a national survey to investigate the frequency, nature, and coverage of sexual harassment in Australian workplaces and the community more generally. Some of the findings are as follows:
85% of Australian women and 57% of Australian men have experienced some sort of sexual harassment at some point in their lives.
39% of women and 26% of men witnessed workplace sexual harassment in the last five years.
In the last five years, 81% of the employees in the information, media and telecommunications industries, 42% of people in retail and 40% of people in mining have experienced workplace sexual harassment.
Less than 17% of the people made a formal complaint about workplace sexual harassment. People reporting about these instances have faced ostracism, victimization by colleagues or labeled as troublemakers. Some people had to resign for the said reason as well.
What do we do?
Employment Lawyers Perth fundamentally believes in respect for the dignity of an individual. Any sort of interference with that is the grossest form of human right violation. Sexual harassment at the workplace is growing day by day, it is affecting millions of people around the world, and the Australian statistical data has already been mentioned above.
Workplace sexual harassment causes a great level of distress to the victims. Survivors of workplace sexual harassment experience deterioration in their mental and physical well-being. It can lead to a great rise in the anxiety level as well. The hostile work environment causes financial problems too; the victims are often denied their rightful wages and are denied their basic rights such as extending of the work hours, etc.
Any person who has contracted untoward behavior in the workplace, of a sexual nature has a right to consult a sexual harassment attorney. We have one of the best lawyers working in the field of workplace sexual harassment. We make all ends meet to secure the rights of our clients and repose their faith in the justice system. Our lawyers are well trained in the particular field, more so because of their treatment of the particular cases. Our lawyers are very well equipped of the ways to deal with survivors of sexual harassment. They are able to grasp what the survivor may require and they are efficient in the handling of sensitive subjects with the utmost ease.
We have an excellent success rate, a proof of our outstanding services in the particular domain. Our clients have reposed great faith in us and their trust is our most essential commodity. Nothing is greater for us than our client’s satisfaction. If you have experienced any work-related sexual harassment or witnessed the same around you, you can contact us immediately. We perform our best so that the client is rightfully compensated for the sufferings and tortures they have faced. The gravity of the issue is not to be ignored and it is duly advised by us that being silent and facing any kind of unjust behavior will only perpetuate the menace of sexual harassment, it is high time that we fight this issue with all our might. Several recent cases relating to the issue at hand have set high hopes for other people as well. This is in another cornerstone achieved by our legal system and we welcome it.
We offer free consultation services in Perth for the benefit of our clients. Our lawyers and professionals are always available for your help.