Question

Assignment: explain each scenario and determine whether each constitutes sexual harassment, and explain why or why not. cite the sources and list your references.

Scenario 1

Mary and Bill work in the same department and have known each other for over a year. Mary and Bill are friendly, but nothing romantic has occurred between them. One day, Mary asks Bill if he would like to go out after work.

Scenario 2

Charles is attracted to his coworker, Shelly, but Shelly is unaware of the attraction. He tells her one morning, "You look really nice today."

Scenario 3

At a company party, employees are called up individually to receive year-end bonuses. Susan is shocked to discover that whereas the men in her department receive cash, she and her female coworkers receive flowers.

Scenario 4

Adam and a coworker are looking at a sexually explicit Web site. Someone walks in and sees the Web site. That person is offended and reports the incident to Adam's supervisor, who never tells Adam about the complaint. The person walks into Adam's office three more times in the next several months and again sees sexually explicit material on Adam's screen. The person never tells Adam that he is offended.

Answer 1

Scenario 1

No, I do not believe that this is sexual harassment. Mary and Bill have an established work relationship and looks have no tension between the two of them. Mary is simply asking Bill if he would like to do something after work as colleagues. If Bill accepts, it looks to be completely innocent.

Scenario 2

This is not a form of sexual harassment. Charles has not made his feelings known to Shelly and he paid her compliment simply based on her general appearance, he did not bring inappropriate attention to Shelly. What will be important to watch is the reaction to Shelly and if Charles continues to escalate his attention to her, if it begins to make Shelly feel uncomfortable or Charles makes inappropriate comments to her then yes it will be considered sexual harassment.

Scenario 3

In this scenario where the men receive a cash bonus versus the woman receiving flowers, is not a clear-cut case of sexual harassment because no remarks were made to the woman while they received their gifts. This absolutely a case for gender discrimination, everyone should have received a cash bonus, or everyone should have received flowers.

Scenario 4

In this situation, due to the poor communication, it creates a hostile work environment where the coworker feels offended by the material on the computer screen and also feels their concerns are being ignored. This would qualify as sexual harassment, they can even have a case on the supervisor for ignoring the claim.

References:

Cañas, K. A., & Sondak, H. (2014). Opportunities and challenges of workplace diversity: Theory, cases, and exercises (3rd ed.). Boston: Pearson

Oppenheimer, A., & Pratt, C. (2008). Investigating Workplace Harassment: How to Be Fair, Thorough, and Legal (Practical HR Series). Society for Human Resource Management.

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