PRACTICE AREAS       Sexual Harassment   “Quid Pro Quo” Harassment   Hostile Work Environment   Sexual Harassment and Discrimination Sexual harassment can include unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, verbal conduct, or physical conduct which affect or interfere with an individual’s work performance or create an offensive work environment for that individual. Sexual discrimination can include denial due to gender or sexual orientation. Individuals who feel that they are a victim of sexual harassment or discrimination must take action right away. Employers are obligated to put an end to such conduct immediately. The Broderick Law Firm believes strongly in the fair treatment of all individuals regardless of sex and is committed to representing individuals who have been victims of sexual harassment in the workplace. Mr. Broderick has the experience and knowledge necessary to help you recover the damages you are due. He will vigorously pursue your claim of sexual harassment or sexual discrimination to get you a positive result.   "Quid Pro Quo" Sexual Harassment “Quid Pro Quo” sexual harassment is when a supervisor makes sexual conduct of an employee a condition for employment benefits or advancement or a condition for avoiding adverse employment action. Adverse employment action may include poor performance reviews and preclusion from advancement or salary increases. In order to prove “quid pro quo” sexual harassment, you must show by a preponderance of the evidence the harasser made unwanted sexual advances or directed behavior of a sexual nature to you as a condition for receiving concrete employee benefits and/or for avoiding adverse employment action. A “preponderance of the evidence” means that after looking at all the evidence, it is more likely than not that the claimed events occurred.   Hostile Work Environment Sexual Harassment Hostile work environment sexual harassment occurs when an employee is subject to unwelcome advances or the use sexual innuendos or offensive gender-related language that is sufficiently severe or pervasive from the perspective of a reasonable person with the same fundamental characteristics as the offended employee. This type of harassment must be sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of the offended employee’s employment and create an abusive environment. A single instance of sexual harassment in the “hostile work environment” context may be sufficient, but repeated instances increase the severity of the events, so that a reasonable person would be more likely to find the conduct sexually harassing due to its repetition. It is possible for an employee to make a hostile work environment claim when the harassment is not directly directed to the complaining employee, if the harassment permeated the complaining employee’s work environment. Thus, an employee can make a hostile work environment claim if the employee witnessed the harassing conduct and the conduct was severe or pervasive enough to be considered harassment by a reasonable person with the same fundamental characteristics as the complaining employee. In regard to unwanted sexual advances, a complaining employee must generally show that he or she gave notice that the advances are unwelcome. Although favoritism by a supervisor towards an employee with whom the supervisor is having a consensual sexual affair does not ordinarily constitute harassment of other employees, a pattern of sexual favoritism may constitute a hostile work environment in the event that the message by management is that sexual affairs are a way to get ahead in the workplace.
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