Are men protected from sexual harassment in the workplace?
Is sexual harassment by a member of the same sex against the law? Under federal law, for the longest time the answers have not been certain. Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court settled the issue once and for all. In March, 1998, the Court decided, in the case of Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc., that sex discrimination consisting of same-sex sexual harassment is actionable under Title VII; that Title VII’s prohibition of discrimination “because of…sex” protects men as well as women. The Supreme Court also explained that sexual harassment in the workplace should be judged be from the perspective of a reasonable person in the employee’s position, considering “all of the circumstances.” The Supreme Court also noted that Title VII does not prohibit all verbal or physical harassment in the workplace; it is directed only at discrimination because of sex. Workplace harassment, even harassment between men and women, is not automatically discrimination because of sex merely because th
