Experiencing discrimination or harassment in the workplace can have a devasting impact on an individual’s job performance, confidence, and even mental health. Most full-time working Americans spend more daytime hours with their coworkers than their own family members, so when the workplace is toxic, it can have a profound impact on an individual’s life.
Harassment based on one’s sex, gender, sexual orientation, or pregnancy can also make an individual fear for their safety. People who are experiencing this type of discrimination and harassment in the workplace may feel embarrassed around coworkers who have witnessed the behavior, even though, as a victim, they have nothing to be ashamed of.
While educational institutions are often on the forefront of advocacy and progressive solutions to combat discrimination based on sex, their work environments are not immune from harmful discrimination and harassment that makes the work environment toxic and even causes talented educators to leave.
If you are an educator or any type of employee for an educational institution, federal and state laws protect you against these behaviors in the workplace. Read on to learn what sexual harassment in the workplace looks like, what laws protect you, and what you need to prove to prevail in a claim against your employer.
What does sexual harassment in the workplace look like?
Legally speaking, sexual harassment in the workplace can take two different forms: quid pro quo harassment or a hostile work environment.
Quid pro quo harassment occurs when there is an explicit or implied condition of a sexual nature placed on an employment action or decision. Typically, this form of harassment involves a supervisor and subordinate. For example, if a supervisor asks for sexual favors or even ask a subordinate not to disclose the supervisor’s advancements towards them in exchange for some employment benefit like a bonus, raise, better assignment, time off, or a promotion, this is quid pro quo harassment. The same expectations in exchange for avoiding a negative employment action like termination, an undesirable change in work location, hours, or duties, or a loss of salary is also quid pro quo harassment.
To prevail in a claim against your employer for quid pro quo harassment, you must prove by a preponderance of the evidence (more likely than not) that you received unwanted advances or harassment that was sexually motivated and that your reactions to the harassment influenced some type of employment decision.
Sexual harassment may also create a hostile work environment. This form of sexual harassment differs from quid pro quo harassment in that there need not be an underlying exchange, threat, or resulting employment action. A hostile work environment is created by inappropriate behavior in the workplace that is so severe or pervasive that it causes the work environment to be abusive to at least one or more employees.
If you can prove that your supervisor’s behavior created a hostile work environment, then the educational institution (your employer) will be held liable unless they can prove that they made reasonable efforts to prevent and correct the behavior and you unreasonably did not take advantage of opportunities provided by the employer to prevent or correct the behavior, like reporting the conduct through an internal ethics hotline.
Laws that Apply Specifically to Employees in Education
If you work in education, there are federal laws that protect you from discrimination in the workplace based on your sex, gender, sexual orientation, or pregnancy. You may have heard of Title VII, a federal law that applies to employees in any industry, but if you work in education, there is another law, Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1972 that specifically protects individuals who work in an educational setting, as well as students, from sex-based discrimination. Both part-time and full-time employees of educational institutions are protected by Title IX, regardless of their position.
Title IX applies to any educational institution that accepts federal funding or aid. This includes all public schools and universities, as well as many private education institutions. If a school participates in a program like the National School Lunch Program, then it accepts federal funding.
If your employer is an educational institution that received federal funding of any amount, then Title IX protect you against discrimination in the workplace on the basis of sex. This includes gender, sexual orientation, or pregnancy. Recently, the definition of sex under this law was further expanded to include sexual assault. It also protects you against retaliation if you make a complaint of discrimination in the workplace under Title IX.
Discrimination may occur through disparate treatment in the form of an adverse employment action like a demotion of termination on the basis of sex. It may also take the form of sexual harassment.
Examples of actions that would constitute a violation of Title IX include making inappropriate or harassing remarks about an individual’s sexual orientation. It would also include demoting a woman due to her pregnancy or declining to hire a woman because she is pregnant.
Experiencing Discrimination as an Employee in Education? Call us today.
If you believe you have been the victim of any type of sex-based discrimination or harassment in the workplace, including your sex, gender, sexual orientation, pregnancy, or if you have been sexually assaulted in the workplace, it is critical that you consult with an experienced employment attorney.
Our team of experienced employment lawyers has years of experience, a comprehensive understanding of the law, and can help you successfully navigate your sex-based discrimination or harassment case. Call us today for a consultation of your case.
