For millions of teenagers working in the American workforce, being sexually harassed is not an uncommon occurrence in their daily work environment. Unfortunately, teenagers in the workforce become particularly vulnerable to acts of harassment because they lack awareness about their rights as an employee and do not have enough work experience or maturity to address situations that arise in the work environment. These teenagers are usually part-time workers, overlooked for training, view their supervisors as having the ultimate authority over their job, and are more likely to be unaware of harassment policies than other workers within the workforce. Despite all of these factors, more and more organizations in industries like retail (i.e. Kmart), entertainment (i.e. movie theatres), and food services (i.e. McDonalds) to be specific, have turned to teenagers as a key source of labor. In doing so, these organizations have exposed themselves to the liability of protecting the youth that they employ and must take even greater measures to prevent these teenagers from being subjected to a hostile work environment.
Where these organizations fail to protect the youth that they employ, the federal (and State) government, by way of passing labor laws and through the administration of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), attempts to ensure that teens are fairly educated and represented if such a hostile work environment occurs. It is through the EEOC’s guardianship that the government has recognized as well as acknowledged a need to protect teenagers from harassment in the workplace and have more recently been active in taking action against organizations that fail to do so. Despite these efforts, an increasing number of...
... middle of paper ...
...nd successfully prove harassment in the workplace. Larger increases in punitive and compensatory damages are becoming more common as awards by juries in cases involving working teenagers. Despite these legal protections, there is still more that needs to be done in order to ensure that employed teenagers are being protected in the workplace from harassment. Employers must recognize their neglect of teenagers within the workforce in order to become more conscious about the hostile work environments that they may be creating or promoting for the teens that they employ. With the establishment of initiatives by the EEOC to educate these teens about their rights as employees and providing assistance to employers through the creation of specific harassment prevention guidelines, it is likely that the work environment for teens in the future will change for the better.
The youth work relationship is generally more informal than those that young people have with other adults. Unlike in many other relationships young people encounter, youth workers provide opportunities for them to exercise a high level of power and control. This accountability and openness enables young people to trust the workers to be honest and reliable. Just as Ruiz (2012) extolls authenticity, the success of youth work depends on the genuine openness and transparency of the youth worker (Henry et al.
"Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is the single most important piece of legislation that has helped to shape and define employment law rights in this country (Bennett-Alexander & Hartman, 2001)". Title VII prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, age, gender, disability, religion and national origin. However, it was racial discrimination that was the moving force of the law that created a whirlwind of a variety of discriminations to be amended into Title VII. Title VII was a striving section of legislation, an effort which had never been tried which made the passage of the law an extremely uneasy task. This paper will discuss the evolution of Title VII as well as the impact Title VII has had in the workforce.
Walmart is a multi-billion dollar retail industry that hires thousands of employees a year. Over the last decade Walmart, there has been some speculation that Walmart discriminates against women. They employ 815,000 women, which is 57 percent of its U.S. workforce (Reed). Over 2,000 women from each of 48 states have filed legal complaints against Walmart and the company is said to have a history of unfair treatment of these female employees by under paid and how there are so many lawsuits against them given few opportunities for advancement (Hines). I selected this topic because after doing some research I discovered some shocking information about how Walmart supposedly treats their female employees and how there are so many lawsuits filed against them. This relates to my field of study because it shows what goes on internally between a company and its employees and how a company’s decision affects their employees. This also relates to my field of study because it an example of what occurs sometimes within a company and that is legal action from employee to the employer.
According to legal dictionary (2013), sexual harassment refers to any form of unwelcome sexual behavior or advances, appeals for sexual errands, and other form of physical or verbal conduct or behavior that portrays sex nature and tends to make the working environment offensive or hostile. Any behavior or remarks that take such forms constitute sexual harassment when: Compliance to such conduct happens either implicitly or explicitly based on employment of an individual, rejection or compliance to such conduct is used to make decisions during employment and when such conduct interferes or affects performance of a person at the workplace. Sexual harassment ta...
Roberts, Barry S. and Richard A. Mann. ?Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: A Primer.? n.pag. On-line. Internet. 5 Dec 2000. Available WWW:
Since sexual harassment is a serious problem, people need to learn how to avoid it. There are a number of strategies to prevent the harassment. First, the company should have a sexual harassment policy. The policy should have a definition of sexual harassment, no such uncertain or broad items like sexual harassment is not tolerated, the punishments for wrongdoers, the procedure to deal with sexual harassment complaints, the responsibility of the company to investigate the issue, and the prohibition of the retaliation after the victims report the incident. There should be training programs for employees and supervisors and managers. The training program for the employees should be at least once a year. In the program, the employees should be trained with the definition of sexual harassment, clarity of the rights the employees have in the workplace to resist sexual harassment, being familiar with the procedure of claiming the harassment, and the company should encourage the employees to use the policy. The training programs for the supervisors should also be at least once a year. The training for the supervisors and managers should be separate from the training for employees. The supervisors should be trained to know about sexual harassment and the procedure to deal with the claims. The training programs are required by some states, such as California, Connecticut, and Maine. Other states encourage the companies to open the programs although it is not required by law. As the managers, they should be responsible for the working environment. The managers should get the feedback of the work environment periodically to know if there is harassment incident. It is a good way to keep communication with the employees. If the employees claim...
Today’s economy is changing, not only in this country, but around the world as well. People today are struggling to find steady employment, maintaining their employment and still having a difficult time to make ends-meet. Looking for a job, especially while unemployed and running low on money, has to be one of the most stressful times of a person’s life. However, there is another issue in regarding to today’s workforce. We can assume that most of us have experienced some type of bullying while in our younger years. Unfortunately, bullying exists in one’s adulthood as well, especially within the work environment. Additionally, workplace bullying is one of the biggest complaints from both employers and employees today.
Why should Lael get involved in reporting if she has not experienced any of the allegations the other employees are making?
Statistics show that eighty-one percent of teens, ages thirteen to eighteen, have been sexually harassed in school alone. In school the number of teens who are sexually harassed are astounding. Eighty-five percent of female teen are sexually harassed in school, which is slightly higher then the seventy-six percent of male teens harassed(3). One in ever four girls,
A major reason why young workers are more vulnerable than older workers is their limited knowledge of employment rights. Even if they know about some those rights they usually don’t know how to uphold those rights when needed. Workplaces, such as retail or food industries, don’t give young people, many opportunities to voice their concerns or get involved with unions. As a result, young workers are more prone to experience unpleasant working conditions. Some factors that impact them include: workplace harassment and bullying, incorrect wages for their labor, insufficient breaks, and imprecise Occupational Health and Safety Standards. Many young people endure these poor working conditions for so long because they have not yet attained any other skills or education to help them attain a better job. It is vital for young people to better understand their employment rights and develop the courage to
gives all of us the right to be treated fairly and to take action if
Workplace harassment is unwelcome actions that are based on a person’s race, religion, color, and sex, and gender, country of origin, age, ethnicity or disability. The targets of the harassment are people who are usually perceived as “weaker” or “inferior” by the person who is harassing them. Companies and employers can also be guilty of workplace harassment if they utilize discriminatory practices against persons based on ethnicity, country of origin, religion, race, color, age, disability, or sex. These discriminatory practices have been illegal since the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Civil Rights Act of 1964), and have been amended to be more inclusive of other people who experience discrimination by the Civil Rights Act of 1991 (The Civil Rights Act of 1991), and most recently, President Obama’s signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 (Stolberg, 2009).
Harassment and discrimination claims are due to lack of education about the subject. As an independent human resources consultant, Santiago-Santos will organize a local education campaign and provide employers with different trainings to educate them and their employees about harassment and discrimination. Employers will have a better understanding on how to develop internal policies and procedures to address these claims. Also, trainings will be provided for employees and they will be educated on how to prevent and identify harassment and discrimination as well as what steps to take in order to report such behavior.
Sexual assault is a very serious issue that many people face all around the world. Sexual assault is any type of unwanted or forced sexual behavior inflicted on someone. This includes anything from non-contact sexual abuse such as harassment or threats, to issues severe as rape. One in three women are affected by sexual violence and one in six men are involved. Sexual assault affects people physically, as well as mentally and emotionally.
For instance some of the sign of the sexual harassment can be from small comments on women's breast, unwanted body contact, offensive graphic pictures being sent directly to any individual. Sexual harassment can happen in a form of belittling remarks regarding specific ge...