Responsibility at work
Employers have an obligation to put an end to workplace harassment as soon as they are notified of it—even if the harasser is someone who is not employed by the company.
Harassment is any form of unwelcome conduct, including insulting jokes, physical threats, intimidation, or offensive gestures. There are two types of harassment: a hostile work environment and quid pro quo harassment. In order to be considered a hostile work environment, the harassment must interfere with the employee’s ability to perform their job duties. This means an isolated incident will typically not be viewed as harassment since one joke or gesture is not enough to affect the work environment.
Sex and gender harassment, like other forms of harassment, generally occurs when an employer creates or knowingly allows the existence of a hostile, offensive, abusive or intimidating work environment to exist, which negatively affects an employee’s ability to perform their job. In the case of sex and gender harassment, this negative treatment is because of the employee’s sex and gender — whether it is because the employee is male, female, transgender or otherwise gender nonconforming.