So, following on from the research that we commissioned on sexual harassment,
my name is Claire Dawson I'm a principal lawyer at Slater and Gordon,
and I'm here to give some tips
on what to do if you're experiencing sexual harassment in the workplace.
So, I think the first thing is that, understandably,
most employees, if they are being subjected to sexual harassment,
by a colleague find it quite distressing
and they don't always feel like they're in a position to speak up,
but sometimes the simplest way of dealing with it is actually do something quite simple,
which is to say to the person who is responsible for the conduct
that it's unwanted, it's unwelcome and you'd like them to stop.
And sometimes that is surprisingly effective.
So, making it clear that the conduct is unwanted,
however, there may be some cases where either that doesn't work or where
it wouldn't be appropriate for you to approach the individual directly
if you don't think that they're going to be receptive to that.
In which case you should speak to somebody else. Perhaps HR, perhaps your line manager.
Obviously, if it's your line manager who is responsible for harassing you
then that may not be the right person to speak to.
The other thing to bear in mind is that it's important to have paper trail.
or a diary of what's been going on.
If you do need to eventually raise a formal grievance
or if you want to bring a claim.
So, it's important to note things down as you go along.
And when I say note things down things down I mean
date, time, place the words spoken,
any inappropriate the gestures or touching and what that involved
and indeed if there were other people present - who they were.
Isolated incidents often seem trivial
unless you put them in the context of a pattern of behavior
and that's why it's so important to be able to show what passion has been.
Thirdly, if informal action on your part
isn't effective in and ensuring that the harassment is dealt with or stopped
you may want to raise a formal grievance.
You should look at your employer's grievance policy or its bullying and harassment policy,
some employers call it a dignity at work policy
and it will give you details of how to do that
and you should include in that formal grievance,
which is essentially a letter complaining about what has happened,
details of every incident and act that you are concerned about.
If your employer is not able to
resolve matters through the grievance process
then you may want to bring an Employment Tribunal claim.
If you're going to do that, you do need to act quickly
because most Employment Tribunal claims need to be brought
within three months of the act
complained about. So, if you're complaining about an act of sexual harassment
that took place last week, if you don't bring a claim
within three months of that act you may not be able to
pursue a claim in the Employment Tribunal at all in relation to it.
My most important tip for everybody
is that it is important to have some kind of support in place
because it can be a very difficult process
even if you just trying to deal with it informally
or you're going through a grievance process at work.
So you may want to seek advice from an employment law solicitor,
a trade union rep or citizens advice.
Or indeed, from family or friends who can help you through the process.
If it's affecting your health I would also suggest going to see your GP.
There are some particularly extreme
types of sexual harassment which could give rise claims
that aren't just employment related claims. They might be
criminal offences or indeed other civil claims.
that you could pursue and where you're being
subjected to very extreme behaviour, it may be that you need to go to your employer
and ask for the person responsible for that behaviour to be removed
from the workplace while it's being investigated or to ensure that you
don't have to
come into contact with that individual.