17 Preventing Sexual Harassment in the Workplace for Illinois Professionals, 2nd edition: Summary
ILLINOIS PUBLIC ACT 100–0554 On November 16, 2017, Governor Bruce Rauner signed Illinois Public Act 100-0554, which was directed to respond partly to a growing anti-sexual harassment movement in the workplace. The act (passed by legislators in 2018 as Public Act 100-0762) bans members of the General Assembly from using any public funds, including their member office allowances, as “hush money” to keep silent persons who say they have experienced sexual harassment or as part of a settlement to stop an allegation or investigation into sexual harassment accusations. Additionally, as part of this law, starting on January 1, 2020, professionals licensed by the state of Illinois must complete at least one hour of sexual harassment prevention training. The state of Illinois defines sexual harassment within two main types: hostile work environment and quid pro quo (literally, something for something). • Sexual harassment is unwanted, deliberate, or repeated sexual behavior. Sexual harassment can include the display of sexually suggestive objects, signs, magazines, or pictures or the sending of sexually suggestive emails or text messages to persons who do not want this attention. • Sexual harassment can also be a subtle or direct requirement that a sexual or social relationship is part of your job, housing, or educational performance, for example, making any part of your job (such as wages, promotions, references, or working conditions), any part of your housing (such as your rent, your security deposit, or lease renewal), or any part of your educational performance (such as grades, honors, course work, or scholarships) contingent on submission to the sexual behavior. Regarding employment specifically, the state of Illinois defines sexual harassment as “any unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or any conduct of a sexual nature when:
INTRODUCTION Anyone can be sexually harassed regardless of sex, gender identification, or age. Both men and women can be targets of sexual harassment, and it can be peer against peer, supervisor against employee, and even subordinates against supervisor. Data on the lifetime prevalence of sexual harassment vary, likely due to variances in reporting and how individuals define harassment in their life. Stop Street Harassment’s nationally representative 2018 online survey indicated that 81% of women and 42% of men over the age of 18 reported experiencing sexual harassment in the workplace sometime during their lifetime. According to a Marketplace-Edison research poll, those in the South (25%) were the most likely to have experienced sexual harassment at work. The Northeast was the next highest at 21%, and the West and Midwest were the lowest at 18% and 17%, respectively. Between fiscal years (FY) 2018 and 2021, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) received 98,411 allegations charging harassment in the workplace. Of these, 27,291 (35.4%) alleged sexual harassment. Women filed 62.2% of these harassment charges and 78.2% of all sexual harassment charges in FY 2018-2021. Of note, in the two years following the #MeToo movement going viral (October 2017), the number of sexual harassment charges received by the EEOC temporarily increased from 6,696 (FY 2017) to 7,609 (FY 2018) and 7,514 (FY 2019), only to then decrease in both FY 2020 (6,587) and FY 2021 (5,581), below pre-#MeToo numbers. This basic-level course will help Illinois healthcare professionals identify sexual harassment in the workplace, prevent it, and take appropriate action if it occurs.
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