Sexual harassment is legally defined as unwelcome sexual behavior in the workplace that adversely affects the terms and conditions of employment. Until the mid 1990`s, though, employees who believed that they were sexually harassed on the job had to demonstrate that they suffered psychological injury to collect a damage reward. Now, thanks to a Supreme Court ruling passed in the mid 1990s, an employee simply must show that an employer allowed a "hostile or abusive working environment."
For this reason it makes it easier for an employee to sue an employer and for employers to enforce company policies against sexual harassment. The numbers prove it as sexual harassment cases reported to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and state agencies have been constantly growing (www.eeoc.gov/statistics~numbers/). However, for every case reported, there are hundreds of others where the victims endure the day-to-day frustration and manipulation by a co-worker, making life in the workplace a daily, dreaded thought. Male and female victims can be found in the federal government, corporate America, schools, and other workplaces, suffering in silence. …
