Sexual harassment is often associated with physical actions. But, these days, sexual harassment often takes place virtually, through social media.
What Is Sexual Harassment?
Sexual harassment is a form of harassment that involves:
- Unwelcome sexual advances.
- Requests for sexual favors.
Other forms of physical and verbal sexual conduct become sexual harassment when at least one of the following conditions is met:
- The sexual conduct within a workplace actively affects an employee’s work performance, due to the hostile and/or intimidating workplace that the sexual conduct creates.
- To maintain their employment, an employee must submit to the sexual conduct that they are the recipient of; this particular rule can be conveyed explicitly or implicitly.
- The employment decisions that affect a particular employee are made on the basis of whether or not they have submitted to the sexual conduct that they have been subjected to.
Within the United States and, in turn, the state of California, sexual harassment is a crime.
Someone who has been subjected to sexual harassment can, and should, speak with a lawyer to obtain justice for the sexual harassment that they have been subjected to.
How Does Social Media Play A Role In Sexual Harassment?
Social media can and, these days, often does play a role in sexual harassment. Some of the most notable ways in which sexual harassment can play a role in sexual harassment are as follows:
- Sending inappropriate messages, with sexual content, to employees.
- Stalking an employee outside of work, and doing so to threaten/make this employee uncomfortable.
- Sharing photos and/or videos that are sexual and humiliating in nature.
- Sending messages that threaten to release private information.
Many of the items listed above can be, and often are, paired with repeated threats, requests, and demands for sexual favor.
None of the items listed above are considered worse than – or, consequently, better than – physical forms of sexual harassment. Rather, these acts of sexual harassment are just as unethical as physical acts of sexual harassment.
What Should You Do If You Are Being Sexually Harassed Through Social Media?
A person who is being sexually harassed, through social media, should, first and foremost, report it to the people within the company who possess the ability to address the sexual harassment that is occuring.
Sometimes, though, reaching out to an H.R. official or another, equally relevant, authority figure fails to resolve the sexual harassment that is occuring.
If this is the case, then an employee should speak with a lawyer.
By speaking with a sexual harassment lawyer, an employee can work to build a case against the company, who has done nothing to resolve the sexual harassment, as well as the person who is instigating the sexual harassment.
The act of building a case will allow an employee, who has been sexually harassed, to obtain damages for the sexual harassment that they have endured.
Speak With A Sexual Harassment Lawyer
Sexual harassment is illegal and, if you have been the victim of sexual harassment, you may be entitled to damages.
Speak with a sexual harassment lawyer and we will help you obtain the damages you are entitled to.
Max Akin Writing 