Q: Is this sexual harassment or something more?
A female employee walks into her office and finds a male co-worker going through her personal phone. He is taking pictures of her screen with his phone. When caught, he immediately drops her phone and when she questions him, he says that he was just looking for the calendar. When she picks up her phone, she sees that he has opened her photos and viewing pictures of her in a bikini. She immediately feels violated, embarrassed, and uncomfortable. What should she do?
A: You should first look to see if your company has a policy for reporting incidents of sexual harassment. If so, you should follow the policy and report what happened in writing. If no policy exists, you should still make a written report either to HR and/or your supervisor. Once the company has been notified of the issue, they have a responsibility to take action to ensure the behavior stops.
Justia Ask a Lawyer is a forum for consumers to get answers to basic legal questions. Any information sent through Justia Ask a Lawyer is not secure and is done so on a non-confidential basis only.
The use of this website to ask questions or receive answers does not create an attorney–client relationship between you and Justia, or between you and any attorney who receives your information or responds to your questions, nor is it intended to create such a relationship. Additionally, no responses on this forum constitute legal advice, which must be tailored to the specific circumstances of each case. You should not act upon information provided in Justia Ask a Lawyer without seeking professional counsel from an attorney admitted or authorized to practice in your jurisdiction. Justia assumes no responsibility to any person who relies on information contained on or received through this site and disclaims all liability in respect to such information.
Justia cannot guarantee that the information on this website (including any legal information provided by an attorney through this service) is accurate, complete, or up-to-date. While we intend to make every attempt to keep the information on this site current, the owners of and contributors to this site make no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of the information contained in or linked to from this site.
