FACTS: Harris was a former employee of Forklift Systems. She made claims that the president of the company (Hardy) would harass her because of her gender at work and create an “abusive work environment” (Harris v. Forklift Systems). This was a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which is a law that protects employees from being discriminated on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin, and religion (www.aauw.org). The president would make unwanted sexual remarks, and hint at her doing sexual favors for him, or make suggestive statements about her gender. Some of the statements included: “You're a woman, what do you know”, “We need a man as the rental manager”, she was a “dumb ass woman”, he would suggest that they
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I think it is extremely unreasonable to have the criteria of physical or psychological injury to constitute as a violation of Title VII. Not to mention injuries as stated above can last for extended periods of time or throughout the rest of the person’s life. Why should such extremes be needed to have a valid case for harassment or abuse? I think if any act or statements, continue after being confronted about, or get to the point they are affecting the person’s ability to perform at work or make them feel uncomfortable to go to work, should be classified as an act of harassment. I can also understand why there needs to be strict guidelines for what constitutes as harassment and a violation of Title VII, if there were no standards it would be very easy for employees to sue for the violation of the title for minute issues, that with a standard of what is harassment would not qualify. I also feel there needs to be more laws in place to create a resource for employees to anonymously voice concerns, and acts of harassment in the work place. All too many times work place harassment goes unreported for fear of embarrassment, losing a job or losing respect in their place of work. If companies such as Forklift Systems had in place a way of reporting work place harassment and had a party to hold upper level executives accountable, the harassment Harris faced may have been
I think it is extremely unreasonable to have the criteria of physical or psychological injury to constitute as a violation of Title VII. Not to mention injuries as stated above can last for extended periods of time or throughout the rest of the person’s life. Why should such extremes be needed to have a valid case for harassment or abuse? I think if any act or statements, continue after being confronted about, or get to the point they are affecting the person’s ability to perform at work or make them feel uncomfortable to go to work, should be classified as an act of harassment. I can also understand why there needs to be strict guidelines for what constitutes as harassment and a violation of Title VII, if there were no standards it would be very easy for employees to sue for the violation of the title for minute issues, that with a standard of what is harassment would not qualify. I also feel there needs to be more laws in place to create a resource for employees to anonymously voice concerns, and acts of harassment in the work place. All too many times work place harassment goes unreported for fear of embarrassment, losing a job or losing respect in their place of work. If companies such as Forklift Systems had in place a way of reporting work place harassment and had a party to hold upper level executives accountable, the harassment Harris faced may have been