Gainesville, Florida Sexual Harassment Attorneys

Alachua County and Gainesville Employment Lawyers
Statewide 866-608-5529
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Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature may constitute sexual harassment when the conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual’s employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.

What Gainesville, Florida Employees are protected from Sexual Harassment in Florida?

Generally, sex discrimination violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII applies to employers with 15 or more employees, including state and local governments. It also applies to Florida and federal employment agencies and to labor organizations.

Sexual harassment can take many forms. For example, sexual harassment isn’t limited to a supervisor-subordinate relationship. If the conduct creates a hostile work environment or interrupts an employee’s success, it is considered unlawful sexual harassment-even if it made by a work colleague, or a client, vendor or contractor. But, the conduct must be unwelcome to qualify as sexual harassment in Florida. One common misconception is that the victim and harasser must be of the opposite gender. This is not the case. The victim does not have to be of the opposite sex and the victim does not have to be the target of the harassment, it can be anyone affected by the offensive conduct. Moreover, unlawful sexual harassment may occur without the victim being terminated or having economic damages.

Examples of Sexual Harassment in Alachua County workplaces:

• A Gainesville contractor is in the office and pulls up a sexually inappropriate video on Facebook, and shares with some of the construction company’s employees, within earshot of a female account manager
• A female employee sends suggestive emails to a married manager who she is interested in having a romantic relationship, despite him asking her to stop.
• A male employee displays a wall calendar in his office with photos of a scantily clad, well-known pornography star
• A male employee tells a joke about homosexuals within earshot of another employee who has a gay son
• While on a company outing, a manager makes a comment to a female subordinate about how he has “never seen her in a skirt before” and that she “should wear skirts to work more often.”

It is unlawful to retaliate against an employee from bringing a sexual harassment claim

It is unlawful for a Gainesville employer to retaliate against an individual for opposing employment practices that discriminate based on sex or for filing a discrimination charge. These claims, called Qui Tam actions, or sometimes, “whistleblower” actions, allow employees to recover if they suffer retaliation for filing a claim under Title VII.

Have you been sexually harassed at work? Whittel & Melton can help.

Contact a Florida Sexual Harassment Lawyer at Whittel & Melton online now for a free consultation, or call 866-608-5529 to obtain more information about how we can assist you with your claim.

We proudly serve all of Florida, including Ocala, The Villages, Inverness, Sumter County, Marion County, Citrus County, Hernando County, Spring Hill, Brooksville, Jacksonville, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Pinellas and Pasco County, Sarasota and Manatee County, Tampa/Hillsborough County, Polk County, Orlando, Boca Raton, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Naples, Bradenton and various other Florida communities.