There are many ways for discrimination or harassment to manifest in the workplace. In some cases, mistreatment at work is overt and hard to ignore. One supervisor consistently engages in quid pro quo harassment, where they attempt to solicit favors from a subordinate, or a group of coworkers frequently makes rude and outright offensive comments.
Other times, conduct may fall into what people perceive as a gray area. Particularly when talking about humor, what is funny and what is offensive is somewhat subjective. A coworker with a very crass sense of humor might send offensive and inappropriate content to coworkers using social media, email or even company-issued mobile phones.
Content that offends people could range from memes and images to videos and verbal jokes. Those attempts at edgy humor may feel abusive to some professionals and may make them suspect that they have experienced harassment or discrimination on the job.
How can employees feeling targeted, judged or mistreated by others within a company determine if content sharing crossed the line and became harassment or discrimination?
How common is the issue?
Sometimes, one coworker may display a somewhat distasteful sense of humor. Many other people working at the company may have acclimated to it over time, but some people may still find their behavior inappropriate.
The more frequently one person sends inappropriate messages to their co-workers or to a group chat, it may be easier to establish that there is a pattern of inappropriate conduct. Particularly if one worker has requested that the employee disseminating inappropriate content cease doing so, continued inappropriate humor and sharing could cross the line and become harassment.
How overtly distasteful is the content?
Another key consideration is whether most people might agree that the shared content is inappropriate and therefore distasteful. Some people who have had certain difficult personal experiences in the past may be more sensitive to certain materials than the average person.
Generally speaking, in harassment and discrimination cases, the perspective of the offended or targeted party is what is most important. However, the more likely other people are to readily acknowledge the inappropriateness of certain content, the easier it may be to hold a coworker or a company accountable.
If jokes include pornographic content or racial slurs, most people could understand why that might offend. Especially in scenarios where employers do not take appropriate steps to intervene for the protection of workers who feel abused or targeted by such content, they may have reasonable grounds to assert that the company permitted harassment and therefore engaged in discrimination.
Documenting inappropriate digital content and reviewing it with a skilled legal team can help people determine if jokes are just crass or if they cross the line and become workplace discrimination. Humor can be a source of sexual harassment and other forms of workplace discrimination in many work environments.
