How do you define a hostile work environment? What it boils down to is whether the words and actions of coworkers or managers prevent you from successively doing your job.
Perhaps there is ongoing name calling, vulgar acts and words that target you, anonymous threats left on your work station, office desk or car’s windshield. A workplace can become a nightmare, where there is no comfort and no room for advancement simply based on a number of things such as the color of your skin, gender, sexual orientation and age.
Continued harassment that interferes with job duties
A hostile work environment must meet certain legal standards as deemed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Here are some of the characteristics of a hostile work environment:
- The presence of harassment: This unwelcome conduct is blatant mistreatment from co-workers, supervisors and upper management. Victims may be harassed because of their race, gender, religion, country of origin, age, disability and the way they have their hair style.
- Continued harassment: In certain cases, the harassment lingers over an extended period of time, weeks, months and even years. This represents a way that harassers try to lower a person’s esteem and continue to alienate them.
- Conduct that leads to an abusive work environment: Sometimes, workplace harassers resort to conduct that is excessively nasty, abusive, vicious and intimidating.
- A harasser’s action interferes with a person’s job duties: The employee must prove that the behavior of his or her coworkers or supervisor make it difficult to effectively perform his or her job.
- Discrimination surfaces: This is the unfair treatment of people due to their race, age, gender, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation and disability. Victims may be overlooked for promotions or employment opportunities. But discrimination does not just surface in the workplace. It also may occur during the hiring and firing of employees.
And if the employer knows about the treatment you have received and fails to take the necessary steps to eliminate such behavior, then the employer is responsible for harboring a hostile work environment.
Document every incident, seek an attorney
It falls to the victim to prove that this harsh, persistent and unwelcome behavior created a hostile work environment that also hinders his or her chances of advancing in the workplace. To support your case, document every incident and save all evidence. Report the incidents to your manager or human resources. But, in some instances, your manager may be the harasser and human resources may focus instead on protecting the company and not you. Then you need to find an aggressive, knowledgeable and experienced employment law attorney.