Valentine’s Day: a fine line between romance and sexual harassment – Comment by Peninsula Head of Advisory Kate Palmer
Valentine’s Day is a day to celebrate romance and relationships; however, it might not be all hearts and flowers for employers. Celebrating the occasion can lead to an increase in claims of sexual harassment at work, especially due to the increasing awareness and understanding within this area.Sexual
harassment can take place where there is unwanted conduct relating to sex, or
of a sexual nature, which causes the recipient or any person witnessing the
conduct to feel that their dignity has been violated or it has created an
intimidating, humiliating, hostile or degrading environment.
There
is a risk that traditional Valentine’s Day gestures can lead to incidents of
sexual harassment in the workplace where these are unwanted by employees. For
example, take the Valentine’s Day card. Although the employee giving the card
may view the card’s message as nice, funny or romantic, the words written in a
card can be viewed as unwanted conduct which goes on to create the necessary
environment. There has been a recent example of this where an employment
tribunal found a factory worker was sexually harassed by her manager after a
crude comment in her birthday card led her to feel humiliated.
It’s
not just cards, however. Valentine’s Day emails, instant messages, presents or
physical gestures can all increase the risk of sexual harassment taking place.
Even where the intentions of the employees are good, it is the perception of
the person claiming sexual harassment that will be looked at. A tribunal has
even found that an employee was subjected to sexual harassment when colleagues repeatedly,
but good-naturedly, tried to set them up with another member of staff.
To
ensure sexual harassment is not occurring in the workplace, on Valentine’s Day
or at any other time, employers can take positive steps to increase awareness
and deter staff. One of the most effective deterrents will be having a clear,
well-drafted sexual harassment policy which outlines the rules on acceptable,
and unacceptable, conduct within the workplace. The policy can also state how
to make complaints once harassment has occurred and it should also give an
indication of the consequences of sexually harassing colleagues. Training
should be provided to all members of staff and it will be useful to include
real-life examples of what can be seen as sexual harassment.
In the
days leading up to Valentine’s Day, and on the day itself, a gentle reminder to
employees about what is acceptable in the workplace can be an effective way of
reducing the risk of sexual harassment taking place. Employees can also be told
to exchange Valentine’s Day cards and gifts outside the workplace during
personal time and managers should lead by example in this area.
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