What is a hostile work environment?

We’ve all heard the term “hostile work environment,” but do you know what it means? Unless you are an attorney, you may not fully understand all of what constitutes a hostile environment under the law. The problem is that many people need to learn what this means and why it is important to you as an employee. A hostile work environment creates liability on the part of the employer for employee lawsuits, harassment claims, and other legal matters. In addition to these serious problems, it can also lead to lower productivity, a high turnover rate, and highly dissatisfied employees. Let’s take a look at what makes an environment hostile and what can be done about it.

To start, let’s review some of the areas that do not make up a hostile work environment. Most people think of a hostile environment as including things like a rude co-worker, a bad supervisor, or a single incident. However, these areas do not make for a hostile work environment. The US Equal Opportunity Commission, or EEOC, lists a hostile work environment as the following:

Involve “unwelcome conduct based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 years or older), disability, or genetic information”; Prayed

It occurs when “substance to the offensive conduct becomes a condition of continued employment” or the conduct creates a work environment “that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive.”

Now that you’ve read what the EEOC says defines a hostile work environment, let’s take a look at what that really means to you as an employee.

Here are some general examples of offensive conduct in the workplace:

1. Offensive jokes, including racial or sexual jokes,
2. Insults, including racial slurs, epithets, and other offensive names,
3. Physical threats or assaults based on race, color, sex, etc.
4. Bullying by race, color, sex, etc.
5. Ridicule or make fun of any person in the workplace on the basis of race, sex, color, etc.
6. Insults and contempt for color, race, sex, etc.
7. Offensive images and objects based on gender, race, color, etc.

All of these elements constitute a hostile work environment and can be from a co-worker, supervisor, agents of the employer, or even non-employees such as a vendor or customer. The conduct may not always be offensive to the employee or person targeted, but it may be offensive to individuals or employees who observe the actions.

The best way to ensure that you are not contributing to a hostile work environment is to take an active role in preventing any of these areas on your part as an employee. If you have concerns or feel unsafe or offended in any way, please use the appropriate channels at your workplace to report it to a supervisor and document any issues, threats, issues or other offensive behavior when they occur.