What is a Hostile Work Environment?

The term “hostile work environment” is one that is often misused and misunderstood. Not every bad or unpleasant work environment is hostile; but when you are targeted and harassed, you may very well be the victim of a hostile work environment. When that happens, it goes from just being anxiety-inducing and stressful to illegal.

The good news is that California is known for having some of the strongest workers’ rights laws in the United States, and that means you have legally enforceable rights as an employee. If you’re dealing with harassment, discrimination, or intimidation at work, it’s important to talk to a hostile work environment attorney. Call Taylor & Ring to discuss your workplace experiences with our award-winning trial attorneys.

What legally counts as a hostile work environment?

A hostile work environment exists when an employee is subjected to unwelcome, offensive conduct that is based on a protected characteristic and is severe or pervasive enough to interfere with their ability to perform their job or create an abusive working environment. This treatment must also be based on an employee’s protected characteristic. For example, employees are protected from harassment due to gender, race, ethnicity, religion, disability, and sexual orientation, among other characteristics.

One misconception is that workplace hostility must come from a supervisor or manager. However, this type of treatment from a coworker or subordinate can easily rise to the level of causing a hostile work environment.

Examples of behavior that may cause a hostile work environment

As noted, harassment based on an employee’s protected status may create a hostile work environment. Common examples of behavior that is considered hostile include:

• Repeated sexual jokes, advances, and innuendos
• Racial and ethnic slurs
• Physical intimidation
• Inappropriate touching or proximity
• Mockery based on an employee’s age, race, sexual orientation, or sex
• Open hostility towards a person’s religion, gender, racial background, or disability
• Sharing of offensive materials in the workplace or using workplace resources and platforms

How to identify a hostile work environment

Many people worry about overreacting to workplace harassment and claiming a hostile work environment when there isn’t one. But the fact is that many people underreact to workplace harassment, wrongly assuming that it’s just part of navigating the modern workplace. You don’t have to endure harassment and vitriol. If any of these scenarios sounds familiar, you may have a valid hostile work environment claim:

 

• You are exposed to offensive language and jokes on a routine basis. This is especially true if those jokes target your gender, age, race, sexuality, or disability.
• Your supervisor or coworkers make unwelcome sexual advances. This also includes inappropriate jokes, innuendos, or questions.
• If you are consistently excluded from important meetings or communications because of a protected characteristic (especially when accompanied by other forms of mistreatment). Those who are targeted because of their sex, sexual orientation, or other protected trait are often affected in ways that negatively impact their ability to do their job, make professional connections, and aim for promotions. If you are left out of important circles because of who you are even though your job performance is satisfactory, you may be the victim of a hostile work environment.
• You dread going to work everyday because of how you are treated. This goes beyond simply bearing the occasional snide comment or rude coworker. If being at work leaves you feeling so emotionally unsafe that you struggle to clock in each day, a hostile work environment may be to blame.
• You’ve reported issues before but nothing has changed. Those who endure a hostile work environment often report it to management or human resources, only to find that nothing changes—or worse, they are reprimanded or punished.

 

Three types of harassment that can create a hostile work environment

There are three general categories of workplace harassment that may create an uncomfortable work environment:

• Verbal harassment: When someone’s language makes you feel unsafe or leaves you unable to perform your job, you may be the target of verbal harassment. Common examples of verbal harassment include inappropriate or offensive jokes, derogatory insults targeting a person’s appearance or intelligence, threats, and lewd comments.
• Physical harassment: Physical harassment, including hitting, shoving, unwanted sexual touching, and physical intimidation, can leave an employee traumatized to the point that they no longer want to return to work each day.
• Non-verbal harassment: Non-verbal harassment doesn’t involve harassing speech or physical contact, but it still creates an unsafe work environment. Examples include displaying offensive or sexual material, deliberate isolation and exclusion, suggestive facial expressions, offensive hand gestures, and intentionally undercutting or sabotaging someone’s work.

Employers’ legal obligations

Employers have extensive legal obligations to their employees. They are required to create a workplace that is free from discrimination and harassment. This means creating and enforcing anti-harassment policies, training employees to recognize and report harassment, investigating complaints in a timely manner, and taking appropriate action when harassment is verified.

How Taylor & Ring can help yo

At Taylor & Ring, we understand that reporting workplace harassment can be challenging—especially if you’ve already tried once and failed to see any positive changes. At Taylor & Ring, we have a long track record of successfully advocating for victims of harassment. Our approach is what makes us different. We know that workplace hostility can be traumatizing, and being forced to go through it in a legal setting can reawaken those experiences in a painful way. We handle these cases with compassion, discretion, and a trauma-informed approach. Our goal is to help you find closure and hold your employer accountable for what you’ve experienced.

Contact us to schedule your confidential consultation

If a hostile work environment has left you unable to work comfortably, you have legal options. Let’s talk about your experiences and next steps during a consultation. Call us or fill out our online contact form to set up a time to talk now.