Hostile Work Environment occurs when an employee is subjected to unwelcome verbal or physical conduct based on race, color, religion, sex (whether or not of a sexual nature and including same-gender harassment), national origin, age, disability (mental or physical), sexual orientation, retaliation, or other legally protected characteristics when:
- the conduct is sufficiently severe or pervasive to create a hostile work environment
- a supervisor's harassing conduct results in a tangible change in an employee's employment status or benefits (e.g., demotion, termination, failure to promote, etc.).
Examples of this type of harassment can include:
- Off-color jokes, jokes about physical appearance, race
- Compliments on an individual’s appearance or dress
- Conversations between employees that take a racy turn: perhaps a wild weekend or a hot date
- Images (photos, artwork, cartoons) that employees display in their workspace or share with each other in their photos, through e-mail, or otherwise
- Taking pictures of other employees; sending pictures of employees to others