Evidence of Employment Harassment

Evidence of Employment Harassment
A Bronx employment law attorney will advise you that harassment is forbidden by Title VII as well as the anti-discrimination statutes of all states due to the fact that an individual is a member of a protected class.

Whenever a possible claim of harassment is made, an evaluation will be made to determine if evidence of the harassing conduct exists that reveals conduct that is severe or extensive enough to give rise to a work environment that is offensive or hostile.
A Bronx employment law attorney knows that the conduct must either be:
• Based upon the class of the employee (e.g., remarks of a sexually explicit nature said to a female employee or anti-black statements given to an African-American); or
• Targeted to an employee as a direct result of her or his class (e.g., the least desirable assignments given (by a white employee) to African-Americans while the best are given to Caucasians, or profanity directed (by a white supervisor) to Latino employees.
EEOC Definitions
When working with sexual harassment claims, a Bronx employment law attorney will need to determine if threatening work environment or quid pro quo claims can be made.
Hostile work environment sexual harassment is defined by the EEOC as:
[u]nwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature that has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment.
Quid pro quo sexual harassment is defined by the EEOC as:
[u]nwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature . . . when (1) submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual’s employment, [or] (2) submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used at the basis for employment decisions affecting such individual . . .
By definition, a quid pro quo harassment claim is limited to harassment of a sexual nature while a hostile work environment harassment claim has broader applications. All the classifications that are given protection by Title VII are examined under identical criteria as a hostile work environment sexual harassment claim.
Contact
If you have questions and concerns regarding an employment matter and would like to speak with a Bronx employment law attorney, please contact the Law Office of Delmas Costin, Jr., by calling 718-618-0589.