Remote Work: A Contributor to Ongoing Sexual Harassment

With the COVID-19 pandemic still thriving in the United States and around the world, employers are still obligated to work from home. Although sexual harassment training has become a priority after the #MeToo movement, the issue has still not gone away. This shift from in-person work to remote work has made many companies reevaluate their current policies to address new concerns on workplace sexual harassment.

When workplaces went remote back in March of 2020, many had high hopes that workplace harassment would come to an end. But working from home didn’t mean an end to workplace sexual harassment. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, emerging data has continued to show that workplace harassment has escalated.

What is Virtual Workplace Harassment?

Deloitte surveyed 5,000 working women across 10 countries and found that 52% of women experienced some form of harassment or microaggression in the past year during the global pandemic. These forms of harassment range from sexual comments to being questioned because they are women.

A survey from Rights of Women also shows that many events of sexual harassment still go unreported, as women stated their concerns of reporting to management. One in three women who reported sexual harassment to their employer stated that the process has been negatively affected due to the pandemic.

Are Employers Held Responsible for Remote-Work Harassment?

Remote employees have the same rights under anti-discrimination laws. Employers must make sure they continue to enforce the following federal and state antidiscrimination laws including:

Equal Pay Act

The Equal Pay Act requires that and employer provides equal pay and benefits to all employees despite their sex.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

The Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination in the workplace based on sex, race, color, national origon, and religion.

If your employer is not enforcing these policies, they have therefore violated the law, and you may be entitled to some form of compensation through a sexual harassment lawsuit.

How Zoom Has Contributed To Online Harassment

With work moving virtual, companies turned to the platform Zoom to direct meetings and conduct interviews. While working from home seemed as a perk for many, it has been unbearable for women in the workplace.

A respondent of the Rights of Women survey stated that working from home has allowed her harassers to invade her privacy. She states “having to let colleagues into my bedroom (via video meetings) means I feel my privacy has been invaded and nowhere is safe. The men have more ammunition to mock me with.”

Another respondent stated that the director of her company would “use Zoom to take screenshots of [her] and other women” which he then shared with other colleagues to make derogatory statements to the women.

These circumstances continue to occur over Zoom everyday and there is little ability for Zoom to control the behavior that occurs on the platform.A spokesperson from Zoom responded to online harassment as “not an issue particular to Zoom,” although the platform does understand the importance of implementing safety features to help combat these issues. The feature that has become most popular is the Zoom background or “blur” feature. This allows users to change their background to hide the room they are in, which could help many feel a sense of privacy again.

So...What’s Next?

The problem with sexual harassment in the workplace is that companies were not prepared for it. Many companies still have yet to change their policies based on remote-work. Reporting harassment was already difficult for employees who experienced it, and are now faced with the struggle of reporting harassment in a virtual environment. So, what can companies do?

First, companies should begin with implementing a remote harassment policy, clearly stating the new forms harassment can take and look like in the virtual workspace. Next, companies should state who victims can go to when reporting sexual harassment. Many victims do not report harassment because they are afraid of repercussions. Make it clear that repercussions do not exist, and your company is committed to completing a full investigation.

Employees who are working remotely should take the necessary steps to keep them safe. Document behavior to build credibility to your case. And most importantly, take care of yourself and stay safe.