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What is Harassment?
Just exactly what is harassment? Harassment is about power, control, and intimidation. It is about someone trying to dominate or control you in a manner that has no business purpose whatsoever. Most people do not know that the United States Supreme Court in the case of Harris v. Forklift Systems has defined harassment. Noting that there is no mathematically precise test for determining whether an environment is hostile, the U.S. Supreme Court in Harris concluded that ALL the circumstances must be examined. Factors that the Court said might be relevant include:
- The frequency of the discriminatory conduct
- The severity of the conduct
- Whether the conduct was physically threatening or humiliating,or a mere offensive utterance
- Whether the conduct unreasonably interferes with an employee's work performance
Comment
Subjective perception is critical. The complainant must subjectively perceive the environment to be hostile. If the complainant does not actually view the environment as hostile, the complainant's employment conditions have not been altered (Harris), and may not be deemed as a hostile work environment.
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