Most victims of sexual harassment never come forward. Yet, many who do call attention to the treatment they receive while at work in Delaware or other parts of the United States wind up facing additional hardships after doing so. Research shows that many victims of workplace sexual harassment go on to have their employers fire or retaliate against them after coming forward about the harassment.
According to Mercury News, a study of 46,000 sexual harassment complaints lodged with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission shows that more than 60% of complainants wind up facing termination, retaliation or both after making their claims.
Sexual harassment claims and termination
While an estimated 5 million men and women face sexual harassment on the job each year, 99.8% of them never make a formal complaint about it. However, of those that do make formal complaints, 64% went on to lose their positions within one year of doing so.
Sexual harassment claims and retaliation
Sexual harassment victims are statistically even more likely to experience some sort of retaliation after making claims about the treatment they receive at work. Study results show that 68% of workplace sexual harassment victims face some type of retaliatory behavior at work after filing complaints. Retaliatory actions might include anything from a demotion or a failure to hire to a pay cut to threats.
The study described herein took place before the rise of the #MeToo movement, which may have encouraged more sexual harassment victims to come forward. Whether the #MeToo movement has an effect on the number of sexual harassment victims facing termination or retaliation is not yet evident.
