SEXUAL HARASSMENT – IT IS UNFAIR DISCRIMINATION

Sexual harassment(hereunder referred to as s/h) at the workplace is a species of unfair discrimination which is prohibited in terms of the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998 (hereinafter referred to as the Act).

The Code of Good Practice on the handling of Sexual Harassment Cases in the Workplace of August 2005 (hereunder referred to as the Code) was enacted to add flesh to the skeleton provisions of section 54 (1) (b) of the Act. The Code seeks to, inter alia, eliminate s/h at the workplace, provide the procedure on how to deal with cases of s/h at the workplace and to encourage and foster the development of policies and procedures to combat and deal with s/h at the workplace.

Item 4 of the Code defines s/h as sexual conduct which has a tendency of undermining or infringing the dignity, privacy and integrity of the victim. The conduct must be an impediment to the achievement of equity at the workplace. Conduct that is otherwise normally categorized as s/h will not constitute s/h if such conduct is mutual and welcome or committed against a willing participant.

S/h can happen in a variety of ways such as; physical s/h, verbal s/h, non-verbal s/h, victimisation which emanates from the refusal by an employee to submit to sexual advances, quid pro qou s/h which occurs for example when owner, employer, supervisor undertakes or attempt to influence or influences the process of employment, promotion, dismissal, salary increament or other benefits of the employee or job applicant in exchange of sexual favours.

Most of the different forms of s/h can lead to both a criminal prosecution as well as a misconduct disciplinary hearing leading to dismissal, compensation or even imprisonment depending on the gravity of the infringement of human dignity involved.

Any one of the following persons can qualify as either perpetrators or victims of s/h; owners, employers, managers, supervisors, employees, job applicants, clients, suppliers, contractors and others having dealings with the business.

Don’t be a perpetrator or victim of sexual harassment.
Maybe you are already a victim or a perpetrator of sexual harassment.

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