Sexual harassment

Q: One of my members works in a small office, mainly with men. Three of her male colleagues keep downloading pornography onto their computer screens. They don’t try to show her the images but she knows it is happening.

It makes her uncomfortable though she hasn’t dared say anything until now. Is this sexual harassment?

A: Under section 4 of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, “a person subjects a woman to harassment if he engages in unwanted conduct that is related to her sex or that of another person and has the purpose or effect of violating her dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for her”. This definition should apply to the facts of your case and your member can complain of sexual harassment.

Even though the men in her office are not deliberately directing their behaviour towards her, they have created a humiliating and offensive environment for her. It is well known that it is difficult to complain about such behaviour, and the fact that she hasn’t complained previously, is no reason to think the conduct was not “unwanted”.

It is also worth checking the employer’s internet and harassment policies to see if there is an explicit prohibition on such behaviour.