Know Your Rights: Sexual Harassment At Work
Ever since reports of sexual harassment being rife in Hollywood broke last year, there have been a string of stories about sexual harassment in all walks of life. But when this kind of thing happens to you at work, it can be very difficult to know how to deal with it.
The Huffington Post recently spoke to employment lawyer Katie Mahoney, who offered some advice about what to do if you’re subjected to sexual harassment at work, and what your legal rights actually are.
She explained that, if an act of sexual harassment happens at work, you’re protected under the Equality Act. This means you should be able to raise any incidents with your employer, and if you don’t get the outcome you want that you’re entitled to take it to an employment tribunal.
Although you can go through this process alone, you may benefit from having employment solicitors who can help you.
Ms Mahoney explained that the deadlines relating to the process for submitting a complaint through an employment tribunal are strict, and you need to ensure you adhere to them.
If you’re still not clear on what constitutes sexual harassment, she noted that the law covers a broad spectrum of behaviour, ranging from touching and groping to sexual jokes in an email and staring in a sexually suggestive way.
One of the latest things to come under the spotlight, following alleged sexual harassment at an all-men’s fundraising dinner for the President’s Club, is the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).
Many in the legal world have criticised the use of NDAs to prevent people from speaking out about inappropriate behaviour, and are now calling for clearer rules to be introduced governing their use.