According to the Nevada Fair Employment Practices Act, employers are prohibited from discriminating against anyone due to their sex or their sexual orientation. The Act covers any company with more than 15 employees. It is also illegal for anyone to discriminate against an individual due to their gender expression or identity, which includes their expression, appearance, or gender behaviors, whether they are in tune with their sex assigned at birth or not.
Discrimination is when someone is either not recognized for their efforts or they aren’t hired due to their gender, but there are all sorts of sexual misconduct behaviors that can be both discriminating and harassing. Examples of sexually-harassing behaviors include unwelcome sexual advances, sexual jokes explicit material, and nonconsensual touching. Sexual misconduct can be any verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature that makes someone uncomfortable.
To prove that you are a victim of sexual harassment, the misconduct needs to be pervasive and repetitious. It isn’t just based on one comment or remark but is a systematic pattern of behavior that makes someone feel uncomfortable and threatened in the workplace. It also has to be shown that the actions would make any reasonable person uncomfortable. The theory of “reasonability” in legal terms means that any “reasonable” person under the same conditions would also feel threatened, intimidated, or offended. If someone is repeatedly making you feel intimidated, then they are creating a hostile work environment, which is also considered sexual harassment.
There are other times when sexual harassment can be based on one incident. For instance, if your employer makes a sexual advance while also making it either implicitly or explicitly clear that your work advancement is contingent upon you acquiescing, then that is a form of “quid pro quo” sexual harassment. In a different example, if your employer or boss offers you advancement within the company based on performing a sexual favor for them, that would also be grounds to file for sexual harassment.
