Sexual Harassment
Sexual harassment is any physical or verbal conduct of a sexual nature that is unwanted or unwelcome or offends, humiliates or intimidates the person.
Sexual harassment in the workplace is against the law and the SDA is here to support you.
Sexual Harassment can take many different forms – it can be obvious or indirect, repeated or one-off and perpretrated by males and females against people of the same or opposite sex.
Sexual Harassment may include:
- Making comments about a person’s appearance or attractiveness;
- Asking a person questions about their relationship status or sexual activity;
- Sexually explicit conversation or messages
- showing a person a pornographic image;
- Unwelcome physical touching
Whether it’s your boss, manager or a co-worker, sexual harassment at work is against the law and is a breach of your right to a safe workplace.
Your employer has a duty of care to provide a safe workplace and should have clear sexual harassment policies.
All supervisors and staff members should receive training about acceptable behaviour at work and be aware of the consequences of breaching those expectations.
- Tell a co-worker when their behaviour makes you feel uncomfortable
- If you are not comfortable doing this, contact the SDA straight away
- Keep a detailed record of what happened including when it happened, where it happened, where it happened, who was involved and what was said. Also keep a record of any one who witnessed the incident.
The SDA is committed to eliminating sexual harassment from workplaces.
The SDA treats all sexual harassment complaints seriously and is committed to resolving these issues quickly, confidentially and sympathetically.
If you have experienced sexual harassment you should seek legal advice from the SDA
about your options ASAP – there are time limits for making a claim for sexual harassment.
You can find the contact details of your local SDA branch here