SEBA President

Senior Field Representative
Nancy Tate

Additional Staff Links:

President, William Abernathie
Chief of Labor Relations, M. Eagleson
Senior Field Representative, Nancy Tate
Senior Field Representative, Mary Blanco

April 2008

Hostile Work Environment

There are two types of harassment. One type is “hostile workplace” harassment. A work environment is hostile if it is both objective and subjectively offensive such that it interferes with the employee’s ability to do his or her work. The harassment must be so severe or pervasive that it creates an objectively hostile or abusive work environment - an environment that a reasonable person would find hostile or abusive. Likewise, the person must subjectively perceive the environment to be abusive. Important factors to be considered are the frequency, severity and the level of interference with work performance.

Whether an environment is hostile or abusive must be determined on a case-by-case basis. Factors to consider are:

The frequency of the harassing conduct;
The severity of the harassing conduct;
Whether the harassing conduct is physically threatening or humiliating;
Whether the harassing conduct is welcome;
Whether the harassing conduct unreasonably interferes with an employee’s work performance or alters other conditions of employment; and
Whether a member of the protected class would consider the harassment hostile or offensive.

           A work environment is unlawfully hostile or abusive if there is a concerted pattern of harassment of a repeated, routine or a generalized nature. Occasional, isolated, sporadic, or trivial acts of harassment do not comprise a hostile work environment. Generally, one offensive utterance would not render a work environment hostile.

           An employee’s work environment can be unlawfully hostile if the harassment is directed specifically at the employee, or if the employee personally witnesses unlawful harassment of another employee in his or her immediate work environment.

           It is illegal to harass an employee because of or based on:

Race or Color
Religious Creed
National Origin or Ancestry
Physical Disability, Mental Disability
Medical Condition (including cancer, record of cancer, and genetic characteristics, diseases, disorders, or other inherited characteristics)
Martial Status
Sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or medical condition related to pregnancy or childbirth)
Gender
Age
Sexual Orientation
Opposition to Unlawful Harassment
Association with a person that has any of the protected characteristics
Perception that a person has any of the protected characteristics

As always, if you have any questions regarding Hostile Work Environments or any issues, please contact your Field Representative.

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President, William Abernathie
Chief of Labor Relations, M. Eagleson
Senior Field Representative, Nancy Tate
Senior Field Representative, Mary Blanco