In law and society, harassment is defined as a variety of behaviors, including verbal abuse, bullying, and soliciting sexual favors. There is no place for harassment in our society and it must be taken seriously. Each of these kinds has the potential to negatively affect a person's life, leaving them feeling frightened and humiliated.
“Harassment” is any verbal or physical act that makes a person feel uncomfortable or outcast. There are many distinct sorts of harassment, including stalking, cyberbullying, sexual harassment, racial harassment, psychological harassment, and workplace violence.
Workplace harassment: It includes physical assault, extortion, or bullying. Additionally, there may be screaming and abusive language in the place of work. This form of harassment frequently involves coworkers, but it can also involve clients and outside visitors.
Sexual harassment: Defined as unwanted sexual approaches or behavior, requests for sexual favors, dirty jokes with explicit language, or any verbal or physical behavior of a sexual character that is utilized to determine whether an applicant is hired or not.
Civil harassment: Consists of actions that put another person's safety, security, and privacy at risk. This can include harassing communications that intimidate, are offensive, or foster a hostile learning environment, such as stalking and cyberbullying.
Criminal harassment: This form of harassment entails persistent verbal threats, stalking, or other forms of harm against another individual.
Religious harassment: Any unwelcome verbal or physical conduct motivated by a person's religion, such as epithets, remarks that make fun of their faith, and jokes about their beliefs.
Racial harassment: When someone is subjected to insulting or offensive language or behavior because of their race or ethnicity. Racial insults, insulting jokes, and body language are examples of this, as well as treating someone differently based on their race or ethnicity.
Psychological harassment: Verbal assaults, threats, or intimidation that are meant to inflict emotional harm or harm a person's psychological well-being.
Gender-based harassment: Any verbal or physical act that targets a person based on their gender and turns their workplace into a hostile or intimidating place. Among these are gender-specific jokes, derogatory remarks about someone's gender identification, and incorrect pronoun usage.
Working environments are not free from harassment, as many people experience different types of harassment regularly because it’s difficult for both employees and the organization to create and maintain a dynamic, and productive work environment.
Many employees in both public and private enterprises must deal with an unfriendly work environment where insulting or offensive comments, constant criticism, personal abuse, or even violent abuse and threats are usual.
When an employee is subjected to harassment at work because of their color, religion, sex, national origin, age, handicap, or sexual orientation, it is known as "workplace harassment " or "workplace bullying."
Workplace harassment is illegal in every country and covers any unpleasant behavior toward another person at work.
Power harassment: When a supervisor engages in abusive or discriminatory behavior toward a subordinate at work.
Elder or Adult Abuse: The phrase "elder abuse" refers to a variety of violent acts committed against older people, such as physical violence, sexual assault, emotional abuse, financial abuse, and neglect.
Example: Teased and insulted, particularly when making references to age-based stereotypes.
Physical harassment: It can take many different forms. It could be sexual in nature, racial in nature, or national origin-related. Simply said, it occurs when someone touches another individual in an unwelcome or inappropriate manner.
Example: Blocking someone’s path.
Sexual harassment: Regrettably, it can affect anyone, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, or marital status.
Example: Inappropriate behavior i.e Unwanted physical contact, sexual remarks, and jokes, as well as pornographic emails and texts.
The Latin phrase "quid pro quo" means "something for something”. It occurs when an individual in a position of authority, typically a supervisor, requests that staff members put up with offensive behavior.
Example: sexual in exchange for getting or retaining a job or receiving a benefit from their job, salary increases, or promotions.
Psychological Harassment: It is frequently referred to as mental or emotional abuse. Example: aggressive body language, intimidating attitude.
Religious harassment: A person who practices a religion other than the "norm" inside the organization may experience workplace harassment or intolerance in several ways.
Example: Religious conversion pressure.
Personal harassment: It is any behavior that is judged to be harsh, unjust, or humiliating toward an individual or group of individuals.
Racial harassment: Because of their skin color, heritage, place of origin, or citizenship, a victim may encounter racial harassment at the workplace.
Example: Distributing racial satire, "memes," or pictures.
Gender-based harassment: It may happen to cis-gendered women or men, trans women or men, and non-binary or two-spirited employees.
Example: A female banker who is not "leader material" is rejected for a promotion.
Disability-based harassment: People with disabilities frequently encounter prejudice in public. Others occasionally stare and then look away quickly, as if nothing unusual occurred.
Sexual orientation-based harassment: The media has recently given increasing attention to the subject of sexual orientation. For the LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning) community, this is a positive development because discourse inherently increases awareness.
Third-party harassment: It is referred as Vendor harassment or contractor harassment is the term for sexual harassment committed by a person who is not an employee or supervisor at a corporation.
Criminal Harassment: The use of language against another individual with the purpose to harm that person. It refers to any conduct that repeatedly threatens another person verbally or physically, or makes derogatory remarks or acts with that goal in mind.
Example: Some words, remarks, or conversations may embarrass or humiliate a coworker.
Cyberbullying or cyberstalking: These are online harassment behaviors that happen on the internet or through digital means like social media or text messaging. These actions can seriously impact the victim's mental health, reputation, and safety. They can range from sending harassing messages and threats to posting private information or images without permission.
Example: insulting language, intentional humiliation.
Employees can take basic precautions to safeguard themselves and make sure that any inappropriate behavior is curbed.
It's critical to realize that the first step is to firmly demand that the offender halt any insulting or uncomfortable behavior.
A lot of firms provide new hires a copy of their employee handbook, which contains information about the business, guidelines, and rules, including ones about workplace harassment.
Workplace harassment training is a must. Employers should participate in workplace harassment training and make it mandatory for their employees to avoid workplace harassment issues in the first place.
The victim should seek assistance from a superior or human resources representative if they are afraid or feel intimidated.
Every episode of harassment needs to be thoroughly documented, including the dates, names of the harasser(s), witnesses, and descriptions of the activities. This can include keeping a record of incidents as well as retaining offending voicemails, emails, texts, and other correspondence. Making and preserving copies of obviously objectionable materials, such as posters, cartoons, and signs, may also be included.
