This site contains links to information on sexual harassment and gender equity from a wide variety of sources on the Internet.
Contents
U.S. Military • Important Court Decisions • Educational Institutions
Professional Organizations • Other Sites • International
UNCG maintains a SEXUAL HARASSMENT: POLICY AND PROCEDURES site which applies to all members of the University community. Alternate University Counsel site, with policy and documentation report form. UNCG also maintains a Sexual Harassment Policy site with a complaint form available. Sexual Harassment Law and Liability is a three part site maintained by the Office of the University Counsel, on their "FAQ" site, under "Personnel Issues".
The North Carolina Office of State Personnel's official Unlawful Workplace Harassment Policy, from the State Personnel Commission. There is also a Questions and Answers section, and a History section.
The Code of Professional Conduct for North Carolina Educators is taken from G.S. 115C-295.3, of the North Carolina General Statutes, the North Carolina code of laws. This applies to any and all public educational institutions in the state of North Carolina.
Bullies and Victims - What Schools Can Do to Change Bullying Behavior is a policy document from the Safe Schools initiative of the Dept. of Public Instruction and State Board of Education, found at NCPublicSchools.org.
The North
Carolina Council for Women/Domestic Violence Commission, within the
Dept. of Administration, has a complete Council
for Women Health Manual 
and
a complete list of all North Carolina county Domestic
Violence and Sexual
Assault Programs.
The University of North Carolina General Administration, Office of the President, Sexual Harassment Policy web site.
The North Carolina Medical Board, the state-mandated medical practice watchdog, has a Disciplinary section, with lists of actions taken, and a Complaints section, with an online form.
The Guilford County School System maintains a Sexual Harassment of Staff policy site and a Sexual Harassment of Students policy site.
The U.S.
Merit Systems Protection Board has conducted
studies, surveys and general research on the problem
of sexual harassment in the federal workplace as
far back as 1980, with findings which indicated that
there was, indeed, a perceived harassment problem
at virtually all levels of the federal government.
The most recent such study, done in 1995, is Sexual
Harassment in the Federal Workplace: Trends, Progress,
Continuing Challenges, (November 1995).
This survey report also contains data comparisons
with the similar 1980 and 1987 surveys conducted
by the MSPB. The 1980 survey report, Sexual Harassment
In The Federal Workplace: Is It A Problem?,
is available in the Documents Department under the
SuDoc number, MS 1.2:Se9, and the 1987 survey, Sexual
Harassment In The Federal Government: An Update,
is available under the SuDoc number MS 1.2: Se9/2.
One early report, Sexual
Harassment In The Federal Government was published
in 1980 as a result of a congressional committee study
of the problem. The report can be found in the Documents
Department and also in many U.S. GPO depository libraries
under the SuDoc number
Y 4.P84/10:Se9.
Protecting Students from Harassment and Hate Crime: A Guide for Schools was published by the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (January 1999).
Sexual Harassment: It's Not Academic (and mirror site) is an Office for Civil Rights (Department of Education) pamphlet dealing with sexual harassment at all academic levels. It is intended to provide school administrators, teachers, students, and parents with fundamental information to assist them in recognizing and dealing with sexual harassment under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
The Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Education, has also produced current, (January, 2001) detailed policy guidance regulations entitled Revised Sexual Harassment Guidance, (from Federal Register) in order to provide educational institutions with the standards used by the Office to investigate allegations of sexual harassment of students, under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Two OCR web sites provide a Summary/Discussion and a complete copy of the 1997 OCR Sexual Harassment Guidance policy.
Nondiscrimination On The Basis Of Sex In Education Programs And Activities Receiving Or Benefiting From Federal Financial Assistance is a copy from the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 34, Chapter 1, Part 106, giving the latest Federal regulations concerning sex discrimination and federal aid compliance.
Guidance to Colleges and Universities Regarding Sexual Harassment is a key policy letter addressed to college and university presidents and signed by the Secretary of Education (January 1999).
Facts About Sexual Harassment is a brief explanation of sexual harassment as it violates federal law, from the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission), January 1997. Questions and Answers for Small Employers and the highly detailed Enforcement Guidance are two other useful EEOC sites. The Sexual Harassment Charges: EEOC & FEPA's Combined statistics site provides data on the number of such charges handled by the EEOC and FEPA, thru the most recent completed fiscal year, and the monetary settlements involved. Trends in Harassment Charges Filed With The EEOC is another statistical site with data from 1980 to the most recent year.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, prohibits sex discrimination in the workplace (of which sexual harassment is a form). Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits sex discrimination by recipients of federal funds. Also available is the Code of Federal Regulations section on Title IX, and the similar CFR section on Title VII.
The Office of Violence Against Women (OVW) handles the Justice Department’s legal and policy activities regarding violence against women. The office also offers and administers a number of substantial OVW Grants and Funding. There is an Online Publications site, as well as state-by-state information on agencies and grants.
Primer On Sexual Harassment (and the plain text version) of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS)
The Report of the Federal Advisory Committee on Gender-Integrated Training and Related Issues to the Secretary of Defense of December 16, 1997, which attempts to "assess the current training programs of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps and to determine how best to train our gender-integrated, all-volunteer force to ensure that they are disciplined, effective and ready."
Department of Defense 1995 Sexual Harassment Study presents a highly detailed summary of a 1995 DOD sexual harassment survey, with all major findings outlined. This survey documented a significant decline in sexual harassment complaints in the military. Another DOD 1995 Sexual Harassment Survey site, with a PowerPoint summary attached.
The U.S. Navy Equal Opportunity Office maintains a useful Sexual Harassment Prevention site with links to the Navy Sexual Harassment Policy, the Navy Equal Opportunity/Sexual Harassment Survey, and a complaints procedure site.
The Zero Tolerance Policy of the U.S. Navy Recruiting Command. A clear statement of the Navy's sexual harassment policy, and a good summary of the "Red Light/Green Light" Informal Resolution System manual, which was the plot of an episode of "JAG", entitled "Code Of Silence". The full publication in question is NAVPERS publication 15620, Resolving Conflict: Following the Light of Personal Behavior. One copy is available in the Government Documents collection of Jackson Library, under the SuDoc number D 201.2:C76/2.
Complaints Of Sexual Harassment from the United States Code, Title 10, Section 1561, Armed Forces, General Military Law. "Miscellaneous Investigation Requirements and Other Duties" which are the legal responsibility of commanding officers investigating complaints of sexual harassment.
Department of Defense "Defense Viewpoint" site article, entitled Survey Shows Decline in Sexual Harassment, discusses the results of a 1995 DOD survey on harassment.
The U.S. court system decided the first sexual harassment case under Title VII (Civil Rights Act) in 1976 (District Court of the District of Columbia), Williams v. Saxbe, 413 F. Supp. 654 (D.D.C. 1976). Unfortunately, the full text of this case is not available free on the Web.
Davis v. County Board of Education (1999) Schools and school districts can be held liable for student-on-student harassment, under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. "Title IX damages action may lie against a school board in cases of student-on-student harassment, but only where the funding recipient is deliberately indifferent to sexual harassment, of which the recipient has actual knowledge, and that harassment is so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it can be said to deprive the victims of access to the educational opportunities or benefits provided by the school." U.S. Supreme Court.
Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services (1998) Same sex harassment and harassment of males is judged to be legally possible and actionable, under Title VII. U.S. Supreme Court.
Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, Florida (1998) Employers are responsible for the misconduct of supervisors, even if the employer was not aware of the behavior. Also, the failure to disseminate its sexual harassment policy to each employee, failure of city officials to make any attempt to keep track of the supervisors' conduct, and not maintaining a policy and procedure that allowed employees to by-pass their direct supervisor to register complaints about improper harassment were noted by the court. However, the court went on to state that, "...Title VII is not meant to be a "general civility code." Its purpose is to attempt to draw a distinction between the ordinary tribulations of the workplace, such as the sporadic use of abusive language, gender-related jokes, and occasional teasing and actionable misconduct." U.S. Supreme Court.
Burlington Industries v. Ellerth (1998) Even if the harassed employee did not suffer any significant damages or tangible impact upon their job or person, the employer may still be held liable for the harassment, and the employee can recover against the employer. The facts of this case were determined to fall under the "hostile and abusive" work environment standard defining harassment. U.S. Supreme Court.
In the 1998 Williamson v. the City of Houston, Texas, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that in dealing with a harassment complaint, an employer cannot use its own policies to insulate itself from liability by placing an increased burden on a complainant to provide notice beyond that required by law. In other words, the complaint must be acted upon, and the city's own policy placed an affirmative duty on the supervisor to pass such information up the chain of command.
Rorie v. United Parcel Service, Inc., a 1998 decision from the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals, is similar to Williamson, above, with the court reaffirming the need for an employer to set up a comprehensive, easy to use, preventative mechanism that is published and circulated to every employee to identify and report harassment and retaliation. Such mechanism should include the Chief Operating Officer or a person similarly situated who is trained in the process for handling a complaint charging harassment.
Gebser v. Lago Vista Independent School District (1998) In a somewhat different ruling from Ellerth above, the Court ruled that a school district is not liable for harassment which it was unaware of and which was not administratively reported. "We conclude that damages may not be recovered in those circumstances unless an official of the school district who at a minimum has authority to institute corrective measures on the district's behalf has actual notice of, and is deliberately indifferent to, the teacher's misconduct." U.S. Supreme Court.
Lois E. Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co., a 1997 8th Circuit Court of Appeals decision, the nation's first, successful class-action, sexual-harassment, hostile work environment lawsuit. This decision also drastically limited the ability of defense attorneys to subpoena documents that reach all the way back to a plaintiff's childhood and thereby bring into question the moral and emotional character of the victim. An excellent monograph, Class Action : The Story of Lois Jenson and the Landmark Case that Changed Sexual Harassment Law, by Clara Bingham & Laura Leedy Gansler, was published in 2002 and is available in this library. In 2005, the major motion picture, North Country, staring Charlize Theron, was released, based upon this case and the above mentioned book.
Harris v. Forklift Systems (1993) The Court ruled that an abusive and hostile work environment is illegal even if the employee charging harassment did not suffer psychological damages. "The applicable standard, here reaffirmed, is stated in Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson (below). Title VII is violated when the workplace is permeated with discriminatory behavior that is sufficiently severe or pervasive to create a discriminatorily hostile or abusive working environment." U.S. Supreme Court.
Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson (1986) One of the earliest cases in which the Court affirmed and extended the definition of a hostile work environment ("...harassment that, while not affecting economic benefits, creates a hostile or offensive working environment...") prohibited under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. U.S. Supreme Court.
Silva v. University of New Hampshire, a 1994 U.S. District of New Hampshire decision which overturned the suspension without pay of a tenured faculty member for comments made in the classroom. This link is to the search engine for opinions of this court. Simply put "Silva v UNH" into the search window and it will bring up the complete decision. According to the Center for Individual Rights (site below), Silva won an important victory. "Subsequently, the University reinstated the professor permanently and paid substantial damages and fees (nearly a quarter of a million dollars!) to settle the case. Silva is considered the first case to address the conflict between free speech and sexual harassment at a university. The district court's opinion provides a firm defense of academic freedom against overly expansive harassment regulations."
The full Sexual Harassment Policy and Procedures of UNC-Chapel Hill is a detailed and thoughtful example of a university policy statement. (PDF scanned version).
Sandhills Community College Sexual Harassment Policy and Procedures from the college personnel manual, and the Sexual Harassment Policy from the faculty handbook.
Southwestern Community College Sexual Harassment Policy and Complaint and Procedures.
Penn State University Delaware Campus maintains this excellent and thoughtful Information On Sexual Harassment site, with example harassment situations, links to other web sites, legal aspects with examples of court cases, and a, "What If?" section covering many aspects of harassment. An very informative site.
These University of Texas sites, Policy on Sexual Harassment and Sexual Misconduct, Prohibition of Student Harassment, and Prohibition of Sexual Assault are highly informative.
The University of California San Francisco Office of Sexual Harassment Prevention & Resolution maintains a number of useful sites, including the UCSF Policy and grievance procedures.
The Women's Studies Database of the University of Maryland maintains a highly detailed Gender Issues, Sexual Harassment site, with a variety of documents, including the full text of the 1987 Merit Systems Protection Board Report on sexual harassment in the federal government, the 1993 New York Task Force Report from Governor Mario Cuomo's New York Task Force on Sexual Harassment, and the Defense Department Tailhook '91 report of the Navy investigation, among other important government and official reports and studies.
UCLA Law School Professor Eugene Volokh has created some very interesting web sites, featuring his articles, as well as other sources, which question the legality of extreme sexual harassment issues when freedom of speech and of expression is involved. A National Speech Code From The EEOC discusses the legal problems and issues involved in the EEOC interpretation of a "hostile environment" in the workplace. See also his highly thought-provoking site, Freedom of Speech vs. Workplace Harassment Law - A Growing Conflict, and his article, A Hostile Environment For Free Speech.
The The Wellesley College Centers for Women and their Center For Research On Women have an ongoing project on Sexual Harassment In Schools and a number of Sexual Harassment Publications, by subject, available for sale. Their Research, Education and Action site for Sexual Harassment and Bullying lists their ongoing projects in this area. Nan Stein, a senior researcher and project director for the Center For Research On Women, also has an important interview in the Harvard Education Letter, entitled, Sexual Harassment Erodes the Notion That School Is a Safe Place. Her Flirting or Hurting? A Teacher's Guide on Student-to-Student Sexual Harassment in Schools (Grades 6 through 12), 1994, formed the basis for the WGBY public television program of the same title, mentioned below.
Gender Harassment on the Internet is a detailed and thoughtful paper prepared for the course, "Law and the Internet" at Georgia State University College of Law. Most of the links are now dead, but the paper itself is a useful and informative piece.
The American Bar Association maintains a number of useful Practical Law web sites, including, The Law and Your Job: Sexual Harassment.
The American Medical Association site where sexual harassment issues are discussed, in the Code of Medical Ethics section, including policy opinion E-3.08, Sexual Harassment and Exploitation Between Medical Supervisors and Trainees.
The American Association of University Professors maintains a Sexual Harassment Resources site, which includes a "Sexual Harassment: Suggested Policy and Procedures for Handling Complaints". Unfortunately, their "Due Process in Sexual Harassment Complaints" is not available online.
Federal Law Prohibits Student-On-Student Sexual Harassment ~ Court's Sexual Harassment Ruling Puts Schools On Notice ~ Clarifying Cases of Sexual Harassment are all articles attempting to explain recent Supreme Court decisions. They were published in the American Psychological Association web journal, "APA Monitor Online".
The Feminist Majority Foundation maintains a Sexual Harassment Hotline Resource List which has a variety of related Internet Resources, including a site with addresses and phone numbers of state sexual harassment hotlines. There is also a detailed What To Do If You Or Someone You Know Is Sexually Harassed section. Other topical sites include "What Is Sexual Harassment", "Sexual Harassment and Workplace Issues", "Preventing Sexual Harassment in the Workplace", "Legal Remedies", and "Sexual Harassment in Schools, Colleges and Universities".
Stopping Sexual Harassment is a guide from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO. An informative site with a union/professional point of view, which includes these sections: Sexual Harassment - A Union Issue, What Is Sexual Harassment?; Some Myths and Facts; Sexual Harassment Is Against the Law; What To Do If You Are Sexually Harassed; What the Union Can Do; To Union Representatives. The APPENDIX includes: 1992 AFSCME Sexual Harassment Resolution; Sample Cover Letter For Survey; Sexual Harassment Survey; Sample Contract Language; Sample Policy Statement.
The National Organization for Women (NOW) maintains several highly detailed sites, Women-Friendly Workplace and Campus Campaign, with links to a great variety of issue papers, court cases and other information.
iFeminists.com maintains an excellent, searchable Database/Directory of women's issue materials. Simply put "sexual harassment" into the title or description search window.
The Muslim Women's League maintains many excellent and thought-provoking position papers and essays on pertinent women's rights issues, such as Honor Killing of Muslim women by male family members, Female Genital Mutilation, Gender Equity in Islam, the Economic Rights of Women in Islamic law, Sex and Sexuality in Islam, Violence Against Women, and a general Issues of Concern for Muslim Women. This is a site which interprets the Quran and Islam as a faith in a much more compassionate and liberal manner than most Islamic nations.
The Center For Individual Rights has a very useful counterpoint, suggesting that great care must be taken in many situations where sexual harassment charges clash directly with individual rights and freedom of speech. CIR contends that, "...free speech and academic freedom must not be sacrificed on the altar of 'sexual correctness'." The well known Silva vs. the University of New Hampshire case (888 F. Supp. 293; 1994) is among several interesting cases discussed in the Center's Greatest Cases site. A link to the Silva opinion is provided above, in the "Important Court Decisions" section.
FIBASH: Fight Back Against Sexual Harassment is an excellent free legal advice and assistance site with just about everything you need to know to file a complaint, a grievance, or a law suit, including finding the right lawyer, understanding the laws in force, and how to collect written and taped evidence.
WGBY (Western New England Public Television) has an interesting site concerning their program, Flirting Or Hurting? Sexual Harassment In Schools, which was produced in cooperation with the Wellesley College Center For Research On Women. A brief Quiz/Questionnaire is provided, plus an informative Teacher's Viewing Guide, and a brief set of Links.
The NOLO.COM legal encyclopedia site has a descriptive entry under Employment Law - Sexual Harassment, with four major topical sites linked.
Employer-Employee.com maintains a Sexual Harassment site with legal advice and discussion of recent Supreme Court decisions.
The Chicago Legal Net, a law firm site, has a useful Sexual Harassment Law site, with further links to Evolution of Sexual Harassment Law (a brief summary of statute law), Recent Significant Developments in Sexual Harassment Laws (the most important court decisions), and a Frequently Asked Questions About Sexual Harassment site.
Another somewhat conservative point of view will be found on the Overlawyered site, Fear Of Flirting: Harassment Law Resources, which contains links to a wide variety of legal articles on this topic, primarily focusing on excesses. As indicated by it's name, Overlawyered, "...explores an American legal system that too often turns litigation into a weapon against guilty and innocent alike..." The Diversity Training Group is a major provider of diversity training and education services which "specialize in the planning, design, and implementation of organization-wide diversity, gender equity (sexual harassment prevention), and mentoring training initiatives". Like many such organizations, they have a set of quizzes to take, references, articles, and materials from their programs. Click on Site Map and see "Harassment Prevention", "Gender Equity Quiz", and "Sexual Harassment Facts", as well as other diversity and gender related subjects.
Work Relationships is a consulting firm with lots of interesting, free information concerning sexual harassment prevention, discrimination prevention, conflict resolution, multicultural issues, and general personnel problems and issues. There is an interesting Quiz section, a free Newsletter with lots of back issues available online, and a section of articles and actual case studies. There is also a free, training module, Appropriate Workplace Behavior.
Personnel Dynamics, Inc. has created a detailed and multifaceted Preventing Sexual Harassment - User's Guide online course with tests, definitions, examples, court cases and much more. A truly amazing site which anyone seeking attitudinal information on sexual harassment should try. Their free, online, self instructional course, Preventing Sexual Harassment, is one of the most thorough available on the web.
What about online harassment - harassment via the web? A site which seeks to publicize and eliminate this type of abuse is W.H.O.A. (Working to Halt Online Abuse). W.H.O.A. also maintains an excellent Resources/Cyberstalking Laws site with pertinent U.S. state and federal laws, passed or pending, and laws from the United Kingdom, Australia and India.
Sexual Assault and Rape is a Duke University Library site listing a variety of excellent resources, primarily print, with some video. NO hyperlinked material, unfortunately.
Sexual Harassment site from Sonoma County Online, with local news and comments concerning this topic. Also a page of Sexual Harassment Links, most of which are, unfortunately, dead links.
Sex Laws of the world is an interesting set of links to the sex laws and practices of other nations and cultures, as well as those of the U.S. and some states. The site providing a detailed explanation of Islamic Law is particularly useful, given Islam's abusive and degrading treatment of women.
The Gender Equality site from Europa, the European Union Online. Equal pay, exploitation, violence and many other topics are discussed, with a large variety of links to European Union information sites. Statutes and case law, and an excellent Gender Equality Links page of gender issue sites in the European Union and other international organizations.
Women Watch is the United Nations Internet gateway concerning the advancement and empowerment of women. Includes a Women of the World site, with region and country-specific information on women's issues.
Another UN site devoted to women's issues and gender equality is UNIFEM, the United Nations Development Fund For Women. The UNIFEM Resources site contains full text access to most of their excellent published reports.
The Canadian Human Rights Commission maintains a useful "Harassment" site, with a description of the Canadian Human Rights Act. Pamphlet 12, Sexual Harassment, represents Division XV.1 of Part III of the Canada Labour Code, which, "establishes an employee's right to employment free of sexual harassment and requires employers to take positive action to prevent sexual harassment in the work place."
The British Equal Opportunities Commission maintains an excellent "Dealing With Sexual Harassment" site, and their Sexual Discrimination Law site has links to rights, the law, cases, and frequently asked questions.
Amnesty International's Work On Women site contains a list of informative articles concerning issues such as domestic violence and discriminatory laws and traditions concerning women.
African Portal provides news and information on the continent, AND maintains a topical site on Women And Gender in Africa, and a special category site on African Women, with excellent Country Profiles on Women's Rights and treatment in individual African nations. A very useful site, which takes note of the general absence of sexual harassment law, among many other women's issues discussed. Use the "Women and Gender Country Profiles" window for examples of African women living under inhumane circumstances, including the use of the infamous Islamic Shari'a law, an example of which is the recent death sentence of Amina Lawal in Nigeria for being an unwed mother.
The Japanese feminist site, Women's Online Media maintains an excellent list of issues on their Japanese Women Now site, including Sexual Harassment, Sexual Harassment on Campus, and Domestic Violence.
The Women's Aid Organization of Malaysia is an independent, non-religious, non-governmental organisation based in Malaysia, committed to confronting Violence Against Women and promoting women's rights and issues, an uphill battle in a nation leaning toward Islamic/Quranic law. Includes a very useful Links site, with access to other women's organizations in that part of the world.
Women Living Under Muslim Laws is an international organization which contains a number of very interesting issue papers on topics related to Islamic, Shari'a law and its horrendous impact upon women. Many of their Publications are free, online, and the Dossier Articles and Dossiers themselves are an excellent primary resource. Includes a useful Links section.
Equality Now is an international human rights organization which focuses upon the appalling situation of women and girls in many 3rd world, developing, and Islamic nations. Sexual harassment is only one of many serious issues of concern to the organization.
Disclaimer of Liability: This site is provided as a public service by Jackson Library. While the information on this site concerns sources of legal information, it is NOT legal advice or legal representation. Because of the rapidly changing nature of the law and our reliance upon outside sources, we make no warranty or guarantee of the accuracy or reliability of information contained herein or at other sites to which we link. We assume absolutely NO responsibility for any information, advice or services provided by any site to which we link.
