It's been almost thirty years since movie audiences first watched the executive secretary played by Dolly Parton in the 1980 comedy "Nine to Five" get sexually harassed by her "sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot" boss, played by Dabney Coleman.  The issues raised in the movie are apparently not ancient history, however – among other things, a musical version of the film, with new songs written by Parton, is scheduled  to begin a run on Broadway in 2009.  

A lot of workers don't need to see the movie, listen to the soundtrack, or go to the upcoming musical, however, in order to know that the workplace is not yet free from sexual harassment.   Even today they face daily reminders of this in their own workplaces, a full 44 years after Title VII of the Civil Rights Act was enacted to prohibit discrimination with respect to "compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment" based on any person's sex.  

Under this law, as well as under many state laws, "sexual harassment" is a form of unlawful sex discrimination.  By tolerating sexual harassment, the employer has negatively impacted the employee's terms of employment.  

"Quid Pro Quo" Versus "Hostile Work Environment" Sexual Harassment

There are two basic types of sexual harassment: (1) “quid pro quo” harassment and (2) “hostile work environment” harassment.

In "quid pro quo" harassment, a supervisor or employer seeks to extort sexual favors in exchange for a job benefit (or the absence of a job detriment). While it can be hard to prove that promises or threats involving sexual favors were made, it's usually pretty clear to the employee what's going on in this type of situation.

By contrast, in "hostile work environment" situations, the employee is not being pressured to provide sexual favors, but is subjected to sexual harassment.  "Sexual harassment" can include words and actions which display hostility or inappropriate and unwelcome attention to an employee because of his or her sex.  Harassment of an employee for not conforming to his or her harassers' stereotypical concept of gender (e.g., that a man is insufficiently "masculine," or a woman is insufficiently "feminine") has also been held to be actionable, because it occurred because of the employee’s sex.

Title VII's prohibition of discrimination "because of ... sex" protects men as well as women.  Also, nothing in the statute precludes a claim merely because the victim and the harasser are of the same sex.

To learn more about what constitutes a sexually hostile work environment and what to do next, please see Part 2 of this post here.