Sexual harassment does not have to be repeated or continuous to be against the law. It can be a one-off incident. Certain conduct may only have to occur once to constitute sexual harassment.
Sexual harassment can take various forms. It can involve conduct such as:
- unwelcome touching, hugging or kissing
- staring or leering
- suggestive comments or jokes
- sexually explicit pictures, screen savers or posters
- unwanted invitations to go out on dates or requests for sex
- intrusive questions about an employee’s private life or body
- unnecessary familiarity, such as deliberately brushing up against someone
- insults or taunts of a sexual nature
- sexually explicit emails or SMS messages
- accessing sexually explicit internet sites
- inappropriate advances on social networking sites
- behaviour which would also be an offence under the criminal law, such as physical assault, indecent exposure, sexual assault, stalking or obscene communications.
Both men and women can experience sexual harassment at work. However, it is most commonly experienced by women. A survey released by the Australian Human Rights Commission in November 2008 found that 22% of women and 5% of men have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace at some time.
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