Workplace Sexual Harassment Case
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Sexual harassment in the workplace is not a new problem, though it has been given a great deal of attention in recent years because the public consciousness about the issue has increased. The fact that this problem had been underground for so long also showed that more knowledge of the subject was needed and perhaps that legislation was required to assure a harassment-free workplace in the future. The precise definition of what constitutes sexual harassment has had to be determined by legislation and court decisions and so has shifted over the past several years. The Supreme Court decision in Harris v. Forklift Systems, Inc. refined and expanded the concept of the hostile workplace and so made it easier to win sexual harassment suits. How you view this case and its effects may be a function of whether you are an employee concerned about sexual harassment or an employer concerned about being sued, but everyone has a stake in the equitable work environment this case would promote. In this case, a young woman was repeatedly subjected to sexual innuendo and demeaning comments by the president of the company for which she worked over a two-year period. She eventually resigned her job. The Supreme Court rejected the stricter standard used before, which had required plaintiffs to show "severe psychological injury" brought on by a hostile work environment. Now, says the Court, other factors should be involved, among them the degree to which the employer's behavior might be
. . .
e apparent rejection of the "reasonable woman" standard favors employers by eliminating the requirement that a factfinder must review workplace conduct from the exclusive perspective of a female employee (Flaxman and Jackson 19).
What the Court did not do was provide a definition that is clear enough to avoid ambiguities and to give employers a proper guideline, as some critics have noted.
However, it is not really the role of the court to set such guidelines except when forced to do so by the inaction of Congress. The courts have shifted their view of sexual harassment because society at large has done so. As Baum notes, "courts tend to mirror their society" in terms of reflecting "the pattern of social values and attitudes in the United States" (Baum 16). In the case of sexual discrimination and sexual harassment, as noted, Congress was not clear about its original intent, and so how the statute would be applied and to what extent evolved over time. Congress could try to counter this trend, though this seems unlikely given the difficulty of doing so successfully and also the fact that society has come to accept sexual harassment as the Supreme Court has defined and treated it and so would oppose congressional action to tu
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2139
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)
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