How the Internet is Becoming a New Source for Workplace Sexual Harassment

Today, most businesses, organizations, and nonprofits have Internet service at work and on mobile devices. While the Internet makes communication across the globe and throughout companies easier, it is also a new source for sexual harassment. People can now use a variety of technologies to make workers of both sexes feel frightened to open their emails, look at their social media posts, or access the Internet in any way.

The platforms for online sexual harassment

Emails tend to be the most common types of online sexual harassment. The worker opens the email expecting to find information on work-related topics, only to find abusive or obscene language or photos or to be propositioned without justification.

Workers can also be harassed through any of the following online mediums:

• Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter
• Image conscious sites like Pinterest
• Chat rooms
• Message boards
• Text messages
• Pop-ups
• Posting on company websites

New forms (and forums) are being added all the time as new software and hardware develops.

Types of online sexual harassment

Emails, social media posts, and other technologies are just the way in which online harassment takes place. The types of sexual harassment common online in workplaces are:

• Language-based gender harassment. This includes offensive words, insults, and comments that make the reader feel bad or attacked because of his/her gender or sexual orientation.
• Graphic gender harassment. This includes pornography, erotica, lewd pictures, and even videos.
• Unwanted sexual attention. This covers comments or pictures about the reader’s sex organs, sex life, and insinuating certain sexual activities by the reader.
• Sexual coercion. This includes threats of physical or emotional harm if the victim doesn’t cooperate sexually with the sender of the emails.

Legal actions

Employers have a general duty to take steps to avoid sexual harassment in the workplace. If harassment creates a hostile workplace environment, then the worker may have the right to bring a California or federal sexual harassment lawsuit against certain employers. These lawsuits demand that the sexual harassment stop and that the employer take precautions to stop further sexual harassment. We also demand civil compensation for any emotional injuries the victim suffers, including the need for psychological counseling and punitive damages to deter future misconduct.

It is generally not a defense for the company to say they did not know what is taking place. If they should have known, they can be liable.

Speak with a Southern California online sexual harassment lawyer to stop misconduct at work

At Taylor & Ring, our Los Angeles online sexual harassment attorneys understand the various ways sexual harassment at work occurs and how to prove harassment in court. Our lawyers bring the right actions against the right people and employers for wrongful online conduct. Our staff is sensitive to the emotional anxieties and stress our clients go through in just talking about what took place at work. To stop workplace online sexual harassment and get justice in court, please call at 310-776-6390 or complete our contact form to speak with one of our caring, skilled attorneys.

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