Defining Workplace Harassment
Harassment is unwelcome conduct based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, harassment becomes unlawful when 1) offensive conduct becomes a condition of continued employment, or 2) the offending behavior is severe or pervasive enough to create a work environment that reasonable employees consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive.
Petty slights, jokes, and single incidents are typically not on the level of illegality. Offensive conduct may include slurs, epithets or name calling, physical assaults or threats, intimidation, ridicule or mockery, insults or put-downs, offensive objects or pictures, and interference with work performance.
Hostile Work Lawsuits
Understanding when a workplace qualifies as being hostile is important for employers and employees. What can seem like harmless teasing can actually result in huge settlements for victims of constant workplace abuse. The potential liability of hosting a “hostile work environment” is complex and cannot be ignored.
Employers are encouraged to implement clear policies against harassment, and are responsible for not only establishing but also enforcing protocols for reporting and investigating complaints.
Managers and employers who make a concerted effort to promptly and adequately resolve a complaint can save themselves substantial time and money, and can create a reasonable and comfortable work environment for all employees.
An employer is automatically liable for harassment by a supervisor that results in a negative action such as termination, failure to promote or hire, and loss of wages. If a supervisor’s harassment results in a hostile work environment, an employer can avoid liability only if they can prove that they reasonably tried to prevent and promptly correct the harassing behavior.
Labor Recruiter Abuse
Labor recruiters all over the world use threats, deception, debt, or other forms of coercion to entice foreign workers into unfair work placement programs. The employers and recruiters make money and the workers are left with very little in the end.
This is especially a reality in the hospitality (hotels, resorts, restaurants), agriculture, landscaping, domestic service, nursing home and long-term care facility, nail salons and spas, and construction industries.
Labor traffickers and recruiters often make false promises of good opportunities in America, and workers wind up in terrible living and working conditions with little pay. Employers control passports and the workers’ finances to the point where they have no choice but to stay.
This is forced labor in America, a problem for millions of migrant and overseas workers. Racial and sexual discrimination are among the serious problems facing the nation’s migrant workers. Since 2007, the National Human Trafficking Hotline has received reports of over 7,800 labor trafficking cases inside the United States.
