Kate, a trainee copywriter with an advertising agency, was sitting at her computer punching keys. Suddenly she felt a pair of hands on her shoulders. As she looked up, she saw her senior standing right behind her, rubbing the nape of her neck with his thumbs. Before she could say anything, he started reading aloud. Even though she felt uncomfortable, she mutely listened to her copy being read in a tone that was slowly taking a sarcastic edge. “This kind of copy just won’t do, Miss Kate”, declared her boss. And this was not the first time that Kate had to endure the touch or the barbs.

Say, what the heck! Isn’t this a common sight in any workplace? But hold! If it had made Kate uncomfortable, it wasn’t innocent and may well constitute sexual harassment. Now, wasn’t sexual harassment supposed to mean that you have to perform sexual favors in order to get a promotion or hold on to your job? No. And it is important for all employees to know that the law protects them from all kinds of inappropriate touches, suggestions and other more subtle sexual innuendoes.

Defining sexual harassment

Sexual harassment at workplace is a universal occurrence. It can occur in a variety of situations. In the U.S., sexual harassment is considered a form of discrimination that violates ‘Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964’. According to this Act, sexual harassment occurs when one employee makes continued, unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature, to another employee, against his or her wishes.

According to Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, sexual harassment occurs "when submission to or rejection of this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual's employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual's work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment."

What’s more, a 1998 Supreme Court judgment has made employers more liable for incidents of sexual harassment. According to the Supreme Court an employer is responsible for the actions of his or her supervisor, even when the employer is unaware of the supervisor’s behavior. The employers can no longer claim that they did not know about the sexual harassment because the employee did not inform them, nor can they claim that they were unaware of the supervisor’s behavior.