Sexual Assault In The Workplace

Sexual harassment and assault is prevalent in our society. According to the New York Times, 60 percent of women have been sexually harassed. Of the women who answered this poll, 69% percent said the harassment happened at work, “43% said on the street and 15 percent said it happened at home.” Men also endure sexual harassment as 20% have stated they have been the victims of sexual harassment. This paper will focus on sexual harassment that happens at work.

The statistics on sexual assault are also daunting. In 2015, it was reported that that the rate of sexual assault and rape were 1.6 per 1000 people. People of all ages can be the victims of sexual assault but this paper will focus on sexual assault in the workplace. For instance, of the “general

For instance, the United States District Court in Arizona in 1975, rejected that employees had a Title VII claim due to sexual harassment they endured at the hand of supervisor. The rationale was that “there was no employer policy served by supervisor’s alleged conduct, no benefit to employer was involved and supervisor’s alleged conduct had no relationship to nature of employment.” Other federal courts concluded that sexual harassment happened in personal relationships at work and therefore were not covered by Title

This means that if a person has endured sexual harassment their only remedy is not only a federal claim but also state claims as well. Since sexual harassment and assault claims are all judge made, there was a pioneer in the field, Catherine A. MacKinnon, who invented the claims. MacKinnon went to Yale Law School and when she was in law school she coined the arguments behind sexual harassment and eventually argued it in front of the Supreme Court. Practitioners and judges across the United States adopted it and it has become law. MacKinnon coined two types of sexual harassment claims which were quid pro quo and hostile work environment that were adopted for “framing and proving allegations of sexual harassment. In 1980, the EEOC also adopted these guidelines which are as