Employers in Florida and throughout the country are generally required to provide workplaces that are free from sexual and other types of harassment. However, a study conducted by Pan Atlantic Research of Portland found that this isn’t necessarily the case for individuals living in Maine. Of those who responded, 21.9% of men and 23.4% of women said that they had seen sexual harassment take place at work. Furthermore, 57.6% of female respondents said that they had been victims of such harassment themselves.
This was roughly three times the number of male respondents who said that they had experienced sexual harassment themselves. The study also found that both workers and employers feel the same about the potential consequences of reporting harassment in the workplace. Nearly half of employers said that reporting sexual harassment at work could threaten a person’s career. Among workers who took part in the survey, 63.8% said that reporting harassment put their jobs at risk.
Furthermore, a majority of employees polled said that nothing would happen even if an incident were to be reported. Among study participants, 57% between the ages of 18 and 34 said that they were sexually harassed at work, which was the highest among any age group. Individuals age 55 and older were the least likely to say that they had been sexually harassed on the job.
Obtaining South Florida sexual harassment legal assistance may help a worker resolve a case in a favorable manner. An attorney may be able to use witness and manager statements and performance records to verify that an employee was treated improperly at work. If a person was retaliated against for making a harassment complaint, he or she may be entitled to compensation for back pay and other damages.
