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Workplace harassment can take many forms. Sexual harassment is perhaps the best-known form of mistreatment, particularly in the wake of the #MeToo movement. However, everyone can fall victim to workplace harassment if their workplace is particularly toxic.

You do not have to endure workplace harassment to maintain your position. Nor do you have to figure out how to report workplace harassment alone. Instead, you can work with a personal injury lawyer at Morelli Law Firm to safely report workplace harassment and enact the practical consequences.

How Can You Identify Workplace Harassment?

Before you can determine how to file a complaint of workplace harassment, you need to identify it.

Unlawful workplace harassment takes on many forms. It can be obvious enough that it becomes the talk of the office or insidious enough that even you may not realize that you’re suffering from mistreatment. That’s why it’s important to know what the range of harassment can look like – and what your options are in the face of it.

Some of the most common forms of workplace harassment include:

Sexual Harassment and Quid Pro Quo

Sexual harassment is often the focus of conversations about workplace misconduct. This form of harassment often sees a person in power use that power to request sexual favors from an underling or similar party. Alternatively, sexual harassment may be as innocuous as frequent leering or inappropriate language around the workplace.

Sexual harassment becomes more explicit when tied to quid pro quo. Quid pro quo can see an office superior use sexual favors as currency for promotions, increased pay, time off, or other workplace benefits.

Neither form of sexual harassment is considered acceptable in the eyes of workplace ethics boards. As such, anyone who suffers from workplace sexual harassment, regardless of gender, can bring forward a sexual harassment claim.

Social Harassment

Social harassment is a subtler form of workplace misconduct. This harassment can exhibit itself in a variety of ways, including by:

  • Isolating an employee from their coworkers
  • Cutting an employee’s hours for no explained reason
  • Making an employee the continual, non-consensual focus of a joke
  • Implying negative things about an employee’s performance
  • Denying an employee upward mobility for no explained reason

Social harassment’s negative consequences aren’t confined to a person’s well-being. The deliberate mistreatment of an employee can see the individual denied the right to upward corporate mobility and increased financial stability.

There can be some crossover between social harassment and racial harassment in the workplace. If you are contending with either, bring your concerns to an attorney as soon as possible.

How Can You Report Workplace Harassment?

Reporting workplace harassment is often a multi-stage process. You can begin this process by reaching out to your human resources department. Your department may choose to take action or open an investigation into a named individual’s behavior.

If a report to human resources doesn’t result in consequences for an alleged harasser, you can take your allegations a step further. You can contact a personal injury lawyer to discuss what options you may have in terms of seeking justice and/or compensation for emotional reparations. 

We can help you with a harassment claim and work with your HR department to address instances of workplace harassment.

Can You Take Workplace Harassment to Civil Court?

There are some circumstances in which you can take instances of workplace harassment to civil court. To do so, you’d need to work with a personal injury attorney to establish:

  • The identity of the person engaging in consistent workplace harassment
  • The nature of that harassment
  • Evidence of that harassment
  • Your losses in the face of that harassment
  • Evidence backing an estimate of your harassment-oriented damages

The process of reporting workplace harassment to your HR department is different than it is when you’re reporting it to a civil judge. To learn more about how to report workplace harassment via a civil claim, you can schedule a consultation with our team.

What Are The Benefits of Reporting Workplace Harassment?

It can be frightening to report workplace harassment, particularly if you’re concerned about retaliation. It is always better to bring workplace harassment to the attention of an authoritative body – or a third party, if applicable – than it is to live with that mistreatment.

It gets even easier to address workplace harassment when you have an attorney on your side. For example, Morelli Law Firm can help you:

Create a More Pleasant Workplace Environment

You’re going to get more work done when you’re not worried about harassment coming around every corner. When you have a member of our team on your side, you can more effectively go about your day-to-day responsibilities and enjoy the hard work you put in during a shift.

Protect Others In Your Workplace

It’s difficult to talk about workplace harassment if you feel alone. When you make a move to stand up against workplace harassment, you make it easier for anyone else contending with mistreatment to do the same. In some cases, there may even be enough parties coming forward to transform a personal injury suit into a class action case.

Above all else, reporting workplace harassment lets other victims know that a) there are people at their workplace they can trust, and b) the behavior they’ve endured is unacceptable. This collaborative action creates a more pleasant workplace and limits the likelihood of repeat harassment in the future.

Request Civil Compensation for Emotional Damages

Some circumstances in which your experience with workplace harassment may entitle you to financial compensation. If you’ve been struggling with lost hours or reduced paychecks, a civil suit can restore the means taken from you – and sometimes more. You can work with a personal injury lawyer to estimate the value of your harassment case.

We Want to Help You Report Workplace Harassment

Workplace harassment is never acceptable. That said, it can be intimidating to report workplace harassment, whether or not it’s happening to you. Fear of retaliation should never prevent you from taking action, though. When you collaborate with a personal injury attorney, you can rest easy knowing that our team can help you protect your right to a peaceful, safe workplace.

For more information on how to report workplace harassment, you can contact Morelli Law Firm. Our personal injury attorneys can discuss the nature of your harassment and what action you can take in light of it. Call us or reach out online to request a case evaluation today.