How to report sexual harassment in the workplace and the organizations that can help you are given at the end of this topic. Sexual harassment is prohibited in the workplace under a federal law called Title VII and under Oregon s anti-discrimination statute. Under both laws, sexual harassment is considered to be a form of gender discrimination. Gender discrimination occurs when employees are treated better or worse than other employees simply because of their gender. This can occur without sexual harassment.
Sexual harassment is a particular kind of discrimination based on sex.
To qualify as sexual harassment, the behavior must be both offensive to the person who is affected and it must be behavior that would offend a reasonable person. For example, a super-sensitive woman might not like being patted on the back for a job well done, but she cannot prevail in a sexual harassment lawsuit if a reasonable person would not be offended by this conduct. To constitute sexual harassment, the offensive behavior must be severe and pervasive. The behavior can be verbal, written, physical, or a combination of these. Severe and pervasive behavior must actually alter the work environment.