Los Angeles Sexual Harassment Lawyer

Same Sex Sexual Harassment

The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that same-sex sexual harassment is a form of discrimination that is protected by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. This ruling came in Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services. The Oncale decision gave both the employee and employer victories.

The Supreme Court ruled that men are capable of sexually harassing other men and that women are equally capable of sexually harassing other women. The sexual orientation of the individual involved is not important. It is possible for a heterosexual man or women to harass another heterosexual man or woman sexually. By the same rule, a homosexual man or women can sexually harass a heterosexual or homosexual man or woman. Because of this, the sexual orientation of the parties involved should not be an issue when an employer investigates a complaint of sexual harassment.

The key ingredients for sexual harassment are some form of sexual content and some form of discrimination occurring in the workplace. The parties do not have to be sexually interested in each other for sexual harassment to occur.

Harassment and discrimination are similar. All employees and employers need to understand that sexual harassment is a form of sexual discrimination. If an unpopular coworker talks with another coworker about a rerun of a comedy that involved a female body part, that coworker may be annoying or bothering other coworkers but there isn’t necessarily discrimination. While it would be easy to say that this precludes a sexual harassment suit from success, this is not true. The Supreme Court has also ruled that it is possible for an uncomfortable work environment to constitute sexual harassment.

The Oncale discussion determined that a “reasonable person” standard would be used to evaluate whether or not the sexual content was harassment or horseplay.

Contact a Los Angeles Sexual Harassment Lawyer

If you have been a victim of sexual harassment, contact Los Angeles sexual harassment lawyer Perry Smith at 1-800-356-2529 to discuss your case and to determine your legal options.