When to contact Michigan sexual harassment lawyers

If you’re one of the many Michigan employees struggling to go to work because you cannot stand the sexual harassment you’re subjected to, you should do something about it. It’s not fair to suffer every day when your right to a safe workplace is fully protected under state and federal laws. You should talk to a lawyer and see if your situation meets the criteria for sexual harassment as defined in The Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act and Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Both laws make it crystal clear that employment discrimination based on sex is illegal, whether the victim is male or female. Also, although not explicitly mentioned in the state Civil Rights Act, a Michigan court has established that same-sex harassment is equally covered by said law.

Scheduling a consultation with experienced sexual harassment lawyers is important because you need to know if the facts in your case amount to sexual harassment or not. It might be quite obvious to you, but you need to make certain it’s equally obvious in the eyes of the law.

Basically, there are two types of sexual harassment in the workplace. The first type refers to those situations where a supervisor asks an employee for sexual favors. Some might go as far as to pretend they have a crush on you, while others are more straight to the point. If you won’t agree to have sex with them, they’ll let you know they can make your life miserable or fire you. These are known as quid pro quo cases and you need to do your best to document the abuse. If there were witnesses to your supervisor’s sexual overtures, write them down. Employment lawyers dealing with such cases will want to hear their testimony.

The second type of sexual harassment refers to the creation of a hostile work environment. This is defined as a situation when the victim has to put up with lewd comments, obscene jokes and messages, as well as inappropriate touching.

Once again, make sure to document all the incidents. What you need to understand is that in order to convince a judge there was a hostile work environment you’ll have to prove that the incidents of a sexual nature were pervasive enough as to impact your job capacity and cause you mental suffering. In other words, if one colleague makes a passing remark about your looks, dress, etc, it does not amount to sexual harassment if it was a one-off thing. On the other hand, you might have a case with just one incident if it was of a serious nature, and you felt threatened.

Michigan sexual harassment lawyers can assist you in writing a complaint and filing it with the state Civil Rights Commission. You’ll need help with that if you want to maximize your chances of getting the kind of damages you deserve. 

In most cases, you can obtain damages through negotiations mediated by the Civil Rights Commission or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. If you’re not satisfied with the mediation you can always take your case to court.