Staff Writer
“Jill that’s a nice dress.”
“That haircut looks good, Bob.”
Can these comments be construed as sexual harassment in the workplace?
The question was asked during a “brown bag lunch and information exchange” titled “No really means No! Sexual Harassment in the Workplace” sponsored by the Jacksonville Human Rights Commission Thursday. There were about 20 people in attendance with a majority having a background in human resources.
“If someone says you look pretty today or you have a nice suit on, that’s a compliment,” said Mary Jarrett, guest speaker from the Office of General Counsel. “It’s not sexual harassment.”
Jarrett joined the OGC in March 2007 and specializes in providing labor and employment advice and defense to city agencies. She was invited as the guest speaker to provide her experience and knowledge of preventing and responding to sexual harassment claims.
“Many of the important sexual harassment cases come out of Florida,” said Jarrett, referring to Henson v. City of Dundee, Fla.
The two categories of harassment described in that case, she explained, were quid pro quo and creating a hostile work environment. Quid pro quo, which means this for that, involves a supervisor demanding sexual favors for a job benefit or to help an employee avoid some kind of penalty at the job. A hostile work environment can be created when someone “makes unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors or other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature and such conduct unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment.”
“We are finding this environment can be created by certain radio stations being played in the office,” said Jarrett. “If the station is playing music with lyrics that some might find offensive or the DJ’s using explicit language, that can create a difficult work environment for people.”
Jarrett explained that the most common complaint she handles comes from female employees uncomfortable with comments or teasing that may occur. But women aren’t the only people who can be harassed by men.
“There was a case involving an oil rig in the middle of the ocean,” said Jarrett. “One of the guys was kind of short and he had to put up with a sort of hazing where other men on the rig would use sexually explicit language to insult or harass him.”
And the argument of “boys will be boys” isn’t a sufficient defense.
“The courts have ruled that blue collar work environments don’t have more leeway for those types of comments,” said Jarrett. “’That’s just the way it is’ isn’t a good defense.”
She also stressed the importance of paying attention to the smallest claim.
“It’s important to encourage your clients to report, even if it’s something that sounds really minor,” said Jarrett. “I had a case where a female employee of a hotel went to her female supervisor and told her that the general manager of the hotel had kissed her. That’s all she told her, so the manager didn’t think it was that big of a deal, didn’t report it, didn’t do anything about it. By the time we settled that case we had learned that he had engaged in asking for sexual favors from at least five women who had worked for him, including the one who had brought up the kissing.”
This example was used to show how important it is to take every complaint seriously.
“Why did she only bring up the kissing?” said Jarrett. “She was testing. She wanted to see if it was safe to say anything.”
JHRC Chair Michael Wachholz was pleased with the turnout and content of the lunch series.
“It was really informative,” said Wachholz. “It’s good information for our staff, who deal with these issues on a regular basis.”
The mission of the JHRC is “to promote and encourage fair treatment and equal opportunity for all persons regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, marital or familial status, pregnancy or ancestry.”
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