Both federal law and New Jersey state law prohibit sexual harassment in the workplace. There are generally two forms of sexual harassment. There is quid pro quo harassment, which occurs when a superior demands sexual favors from a worker. And, there is the fostering of a hostile work environment, which takes place when a superviser or employee makes a worker uncomfortable by doing things like making sexual remarks, sharing explicit photos, or making unwanted sexual advances.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 states that employers cannot subject workers to harassment on the basis of sex, and a recent federal appeals court ruling shows that this law also extends to gender harassment.

The case involved a construction company that had been accused of subjecting an ironworker to harassment on the basis of gender. A superintendent at this company was said to have harassed the worker because he thought the man was feminine rather than masculine.

The harassment reportedly included verbal abuse and sexual exposure.

A jury originally ruled against the employer, finding it did subject the ironworker to illegal sexual harassment, but an appeals court later reversed that verdict. The three judges from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals found that it had not been proven that the man was harassed because of his sex.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has since agreed to rehear the case, and it has now reinstated the verdict against the construction company, agreeing with the jury.

The court’s ruling shows that harassment on the basis of gender stereoptypes is, in fact, illegal sexual harassment.

When an employer harasses a worker because of a gender stereotype – perhaps because it thinks that a woman does not act womanly enough or that a man is not manly enough – that employer is breaking the law. Workers here in New Jersey who are facing harassment based on gender stereotypes, or any other type of sexual harassment, may benefit from seeking legal advice.

Source: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, “Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Reinstates Same-Sex Harassment Verdict Against Boh Bros. Construction Co.,” Sept. 30, 2013