Sexual Harassment Awareness for Employees

Overview/Description
 Did you know that the term "sexual harassment" wasn't coined until the 1960s? Or that sexual harassment didn't become illegal until 1976? Yet, sexually harassing behaviors started long before the 60s--perhaps as early as 1734--and still occur today. Defining the term "sexual harassment" and outlining the boundaries of acceptable and unacceptable behaviors are ever-changing tasks. Behavior that was considered legally acceptable a few years ago may not be so today. In this course, learners will be asked to set aside previous notions, and learn about four elements that identify behavior as sexual harassment. These elements allow employees to objectively analyze whether or not the behavior is sexual harassment instead of jumping to conclusions. To fully understand sexual harassment in context, employees will also learn about the characteristics of sexual harassment perpetrators and guidelines of acceptable workplace behavior. Employees have a responsibility to themselves and to their coworkers to minimize harassment in the workplace. However, employees need to understand that just because someone finds behavior offensive, the behavior is not always sexual harassment. In this course, employees will also have the opportunity to draw some conclusions about how sexual harassment issues have shaped the workplace and how this personally affects them. Employees will need to be prepared to take a closer look at their own behavior and decide whether flirting with, talking seductively with, or having a sexual-relationship with, a coworker is in their best interest.

Target Audience
 All employees

Expected Duration
2.0 hours

Lesson Objectives:

Recognizing Sexual Harassment

  • recognize the importance of understanding the legally-defined elements of sexual harassment.
  • select examples of gender-directed conduct.
  • identify examples of unwelcome behavior.
  • select the best explanation of the reasonable person standard for sexual harassment.
  • classify examples of sexual behavior as severe or pervasive.
  • select examples of actions that could qualify as tangible job detriment in a workplace sexual harassment claim.

    • Understanding Sexual Harassment

  • recognize the benefits of understanding typical characteristics of sexual harassers, and the guidelines for appropriate workplace behavior.
  • match the behavioral characteristics that sexual harassment perpetrators are likely to possess with examples.
  • select the employee most likely to engage in sexual harassment in a workplace situation.
  • select examples of the guidelines for appropriate workplace behavior.
  • use the guidelines to modify behavior in hypothetical interactions, so that the behavior is appropriate to the workplace.

    • Course Number: HR0181