The recent scandal at Penn State involving as many as 14 cases going back many years only serves to heighten the severe problem of sexual harassment in the workplace. Shortly after that scandal came to light, another scandal involving a basketball coach at a different University surfaced.
These two scandals of course received a lot of publicity and will for weeks and months to come. On a daily basis sexual harassment that occurs in the workplace is a big problem. Workplace harassment and just harassment in general is a huge problem and always has been.
Then there were the allegations against a presidential candidate who was essentially forced to withdraw his candidacy because of them.
Workplace sexual harassment is nothing new. It is technically defined as “unwelcome verbal, visual or physical conduct of a sexual nature that is severe or pervasive and affects working conditions or creates a hostile work environment.”
It can be a simple comment like “that’s a sexy dress” or a physical gesture like putting your arm around someone’s shoulders to something as suggestive as just looking up and down the body with a slight whistle. The point is it can be manifested in several ways.
For human resources professionals it can be a nightmare because it is very difficult to prove. It is usually a case of “he said, she said.” But there is one thing for sure: it is against the law. There are laws on the books on the federal level such as Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that “make it the responsibility of employers to prevent or stop sexual harassment in workplaces that have 15 or more employees.”
It should be noted that not only is sexual harassment illegal, but if someone files a complaint it is illegal to retaliate against them.
The first thing you should do, of course, is to report any sexual harassment to your personnel office. They will guide you on what to do but keeping documentation is critical to building a case. It’s important to write down specifics of what happened. And because it is so easy for someone to deny, it also helps if you have a voice or audio recording of several incidents if possible.
A hidden camera with a microphone can provide such documentation. The Pen Spy Camera can provide clear video and audio evidence. It is a simple looking device and no one would ever know that they are being recorded. That’s why it’s so effective.
Here are some other Spy Cameras that can document sexual harassment in the workplace too.