SOUTH CAROLINA HUMAN AFFAIRS COMMISSION Presenting the...
Dec 25, 2015
Declaration of Independence
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness…”
Laws Enforced by the Human Affairs Commission
South Carolina Human Affairs Law
South Carolina Fair Housing Law
South Carolina Equal Enjoyment and Privileges to Public Accommodations
Federal Laws Prohibiting Discrimination
EEOC LAWS ENFORCEDTitle VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act
Bans discrimination in employment because of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) Makes unlawful employment discrimination because of age against anyone 40 years of age and older.
Pregnancy Discrimination Act Amends Title VII and states that employment discrimination is prohibited when based on pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Prohibits employment discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities in the private sector, and in state and local governments.
Employers must be prepared to prevent harassment based on:
racecolor
national originreligion
sexage
disability
SEXUAL
ATTRACTION vs Positive Admiring Does not diminish Expression of
Sexuality Ceases when
Unwanted or Unwelcome
Negative Degrading Absent Respect for
Integrity of Another Escalates Abuse of Power not
Abuse of Passion
SEXUAL HARASSMENT
Sexual Harassmentjokes…innuendos…banter
INTENT
friendly, amiable, humorous
vs
EFFECT
insulted, embarrassed, demeaned
“Perspective of reasonable woman,
rather than reasonable person, is adopted primarily because of belief that sex-blind reasonable person standard tends to be male-biased and tends systematically to ignore experiences of women.”
- Ellison v. Brady- US Court of Appeals
Elements of Harassment
Submission to conduct is made explicitly or implicitly a condition of an individual’s employment
Submission or rejection of the conduct is used as the basis for making employment decisions that affect the individual.
Such conduct has the purpose or the effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work performance, or creating an intimidating, hostile , or offensive working environment.
Defense / Liability Courts have ruled that employers
are “vicariously liable” for harassment by supervisors.
However if the harassment did not result in a tangible job action, the employer can raise an affirmative defense that it exercised “reasonable care” to prevent and correct the harassment, and that the employee failed to use its complaint procedure.
Instead of marking out two areas -- a hostile environment or a non-hostile environment -- the courts mark out three areas:
Hostile Environment Environments that any reasonable fact-finder would
conclude are hostile
Environments that no reasonable fact-finder would conclude are hostile
Environments on which reasonable fact-finders would disagree
If your case falls in the third area, a broad area indeed, all you can know is that the result depends on the judge or jury you draw.
STEPS FOR ANALYZING HARASSMENT COMPLAINTS
BASED ON SEX ?
UNWELCOMED ?
UNREASONABLE ?
SEVERE OR PERVASIVE ?
Prevention
Train Provide for internal complaints Publicize efforts to prevent harassment Do not retaliate Publicize policy Be fair
ASK YOURSELF…. Would I make these comments to this person if my
spouse could overhear me?
Would I tell this joke or story to an employee if my Mother or Father could overhear me ?
Would I be comfortable if my behavior were published in the agency’s newsletter?
Is there equal participation?