When you arrive at work each day in El Segundo, you aren’t thinking that you will be the victim of sexual harassment. It’s usually not at the front of our minds, but it is something that you should think about every so often. Even though there are laws in place to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace, it still happens today. Some harassment even occurs in the form of an email.
Email is the backbone of almost every single business across the country these days and California is definitely not exempt, especially with Silicon Valley. As important as email can be to running a company, it can also be its downfall. Millions of emails are sent each day for one reason or another. Many of them are inappropriate or contain inappropriate content.
Workplaces are not immune to inappropriate emails being sent around to all of the employees. Email chains can be problematic, especially those with printed jokes, inappropriate cartoons or items of a sexual in nature.
Most companies in California have policies in place that prevent workers from sharing inappropriate content via workplace email accounts, on social media and even during business hours via personal email accounts.
All that needs to happen is for one employee to find an email offensive for it to turn into a sexual harassment issue. That is why you should always read every email you receive and report ones to human resources that have inappropriate content in them.
Preventing sexual harassment at work should not have to start with you, but in many instances, it might. The minute you notice harassment of a co-worker or yourself, report it. Document everything inappropriate and save emails that should not be distributed in a work environment.
