Who is eligible to bring a sexual harassment lawsuit in West Palm Beach?

West Palm Beach, FL – When someone is experiencing workplace problems that may be considered harassment, there are various ways that they can get help. The victim should get legal advice so they can explain their problems in detail and find out whether legal action is necessary. 

Legitimate cases of sexual harassment tend to follow a few different patterns. It is also possible that a worker may have a unique situation that is still considered legally actionable harassment. 

Victims can be any gender

While the most common pattern for sexual harassment lawsuits is when a female worker is exploited by a male boss, sexual harassment cases can involve any gender. This means that both the victim and the person responsible for the harassment can possibly be the same gender, and the genders of the people involved do not necessarily matter. The analysis is focused on the types of conduct and actions in question.

Hostile work environments

Anyone who is subjected to a hostile work environment potentially has a claim for sexual harassment. However, this concept has a formal legal definition. The victim must be able to show that they were constantly subject to some kind of verbal or physical abuse that is pervasive enough to affect their ability to work. It is unlikely that one or two incidents would qualify as creating a hostile work environment, unless the conduct in question was egregious. However, those who are in a situation where repeated forms of abuse or discrimination happen due to their gender can likely make a claim for a hostile work environment. 

Quid pro quo harassment

The most typical pattern of harassment that people think of is actually called quid pro quo harassment by legal professionals. This is when a supervisor, manager, or someone else in a position of authority requests some kind of sexual acts or conduct from their subordinates. Often times, the person’s continued employment, pay raises, or other benefits are conditioned on their compliance with these requests. This is considered a severe form of harassment, and one incident may be enough to file a lawsuit if the victim’s boss solicited some kind of sexual behavior. 

Sexual assault 

If someone is a victim of some kind of assault in their workplace, they may be able to bring a harassment lawsuit and contact the local police to bring criminal charges. The civil and criminal cases will be handled separately, and it is possible that they may have different outcomes due to a lower burden of proof in civil cases. 

More information about sexual harassment lawsuits

USAttorneys.com is a site that has listings of sexual harassment lawyers, along with legal professionals who practice in other areas of the law. Anyone can choose their state and practice area to get more information from a local attorney.