San Diego Sexual Harassment Lawyer

What Is Sexual Harassment?

It is unlawful to harass an employee because of their sex, California Government Code Section 12940(j)(1).

Sexually harassing behavior includes :

• Sexual favors;
• Unwanted sexual advances and propositions;
• Verbal conduct, including epithets, slurs or derogatory comments, and comments about a person’s body, appearance, or sexual activity;
• Physical conduct including assault, impeding or blocking movement, OR any physical interference with normal work or movement;
• Visual harassing including leering looks, offensive gestures whether or not the harassment also results in the loss of a tangible job benefit;
• Your Employer Has An Obligation To Cause Sexual Harassment To Stop



Reasonable steps to prevent discrimination and harassment from occurring include:



• 1) affirmatively raising the issue of harassment;
• 2) expressing strong disapproval of harassment;
• 3) developing appropriate sanctions against harassment;
• 4) informing employees of their rights and instructing them to report harassment, 2 California Code of Regulations 7287.6(b)(2)-(3).



Appropriate corrective action is some form of discipline, however mild, that contributes or eliminates the problem at hand, Intlekofer at 778. If the employer fails to take even the mildest form of discriminatory action the remedy is insufficient, Ellison, 924 F.2d 882. Action is corrective only if it contributes to the elimination of the problem at hand. Disciplinary measures are more likely to decrease the likelihood of repeated harassment than a mere request to stop the behavior, and so discipline is what a corrective action is, Intlekofer at 778.




The mere presence of an employee who has engaged in particularly severe or pervasive harassment can create a hostile working environment…To avoid liability….for failing to remedy a hostile environment, employers may even have to remove employees from the workplace if their mere presence would render the working environment hostile…When employers cannot schedule harasser to work at another location or during different hours, employers may have to dismiss employees whose mere presence creates a hostile environment, Ellison v. Brady, 924 F.2d 872, 883 (9th Cir. 1991).