Examples of Sexual Harassment

Examples of Sexual Harassment under Florida and federal law that are illegal include the following:

  1. Creating an offensive working environment by repeated written, verbal, or visual contacts with sexual overtones; written forms may include suggestive or obscene letters, notes, invitations; verbal forms may include derogatory comments, slurs, jokes, epithets; physical forms may include assault, unwelcome touching, impeding or blocking movements; and visual forms may include leering, gestures, display of sexually offensive objects, pictures, cartoons or posters.
  2. Establishing a pattern of conduct that would cause discomfort or humiliate a reasonable person at whom the conduct was directed and that includes one or more of the following:
    • unnecessary touching, patting, hugging, or brushing against a person’s body;
    • remarks of a sexual nature about a person’s clothing or body; or remarks about sexual activity or speculations about previous sexual experiences;
    • expressions of sexual interest after being informed that the interest is unwelcome.
  3. Making reprisals, threats of reprisal, or implied threats of reprisal following a rebuff of harassing behavior.
  4. Retaliating against a person for reporting or threatening to report sexual harassment.
  5. Engaging in explicit or implicit coercive sexual behavior within the work environment which is used to control, influence or affect the employee’s career, salary or work environment, such as implying or actually withholding support for a promotion or change of assignment; submitting or threatening to submit an undeserved performance report, failing or threatening to fail the probationary period.

If you have a question about whether you have been subjected to sexual harassment or punished for reporting sexual harassment, please feel free to give us a call. We do not charge for consultations and under the law everything you tell us is confidential until you decide.

When you challenge inappropriate workplace behavior you are not only asserting your right to work in a workplace free of sexual harassment, you are protecting our daughters, sons and fellow citizens from being bullied or intimidated because of sex- It simply makes the workplace safer and more secure for everyone in our community.