You�ve Been Sexually Harassed: What Are Your Rights?

Sexual harassment has been around forever, but legal protections for victims are surprisingly recent. The civil rights movement, the women’s movement, and a groundswell of victims’ stories and protests became the catalysts society needed to finally realize no one deserves to be insulted, threatened or demeaned, including in the workplace.

Laws protect employees from conduct that unreasonably interferes with their job performance. Getting a job, keeping a job or retaining job benefits are no longer contingent on submitting to unwelcome sexual advances or other harassment.

Still, harassment continues. Workplace laws work only when they are enforced and when ordinary workers know and stand up for their rights. Dennis Abrams, a workers’ compensation lawyer in Philadelphia, has laid out what every employee should be able to expect on the job:

1. You have the right to be considered for employment regardless of gender. Eligibility for work is based on job requirements, not outdated gender-based assumptions traditionally used to bar women from dangerous work. For example, today, women in the military and women firefighters are proving themselves capable at all levels of command.

2. You have the right to do the work and obtain the benefits defined in your employment agreement. Your employer can’t require you to perform duties that will subject you to sexual harassment

You�ve Been Sexually Harassed: What Are Your Rights?

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