Futeral Law Firm, LLC - Lawyers Serving South Carolina's Lowcountry

sexual harassment / discrimination

Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII, applies to any company with more than 15 employees when it comes to sexual harassment. The company must also be in an industry affecting interstate commerce.

The United Stated Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) defines sexual harassment as:

Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitutes sexual harassment when submission to or rejection of this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual's employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual's work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.

According to the EEOC, sexual harassment can occur in a variety of circumstances, including but not limited to the following:

  • The victim as well as the harasser may be a woman or a man.
  • The victim does not have to be of the opposite sex.
  • The harasser can be the victim's supervisor, an agent of the employer, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or a non-employee.
  • The victim does not have to be the person harassed but could be anyone affected by the offensive conduct.
  • Unlawful sexual harassment may occur without economic injury to or discharge of the victim.
  • The harasser's conduct must be unwelcome.

Title VII charges must be filed with the South Carolina Human Affairs Commision (SCHAC) within 180 days of the alleged discriminatory act. However, you can still file after 180 days if less than 300 days have passed, in which case the charge will be transferred from SCHAC to the EEOC.

According to the "South Carolina Human Affairs Law," S.C. Code Ann. § 1-13-10 et seq., it is against the law for an employer, employment agency, or t is an unlawful employment practice for an employment agency, or labor organization to discriminate against an individual based on their sex.    

There are two basic types of sexual harassment:

Quid pro quo sexual harassment - Quid pro quo sexual harassment is when someone with authority over your job, such as supervisor, demands sexual favors from an employee in exchange for assistance in promoting, hiring, or retaining the employee.   

Hostile environment sexual harassment - Hostile environment sexual harassment occurs when unwelcome sexual conduct unreasonably interferes with an individual's job performance or creates a hostile, intimidating or offensive work environment.

If you or someone you know has been discriminated against by an employer, labor union or employment agency when applying for a job or while on the job because of your race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, or disability call the Futeral Law Firm locally at (843) 284-5500, toll free at (877) 913-5500, or fill out our online questionnaire.

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