I see it all the time - an employee feels like he or she is
being picked on in the office and complains to a supervisor:
"I'm the victim of harassment!" Or the disgruntled
worker might take it one step further - "That guy is creating
a hostile work environment!" These words conjure up fear in
the mind of any human resources professional because of the
possibility of an ensuing lawsuit. But how worried should employers
be when these words are thrown around? And how bad does it have to
be in order to be truly considered "harassment?"
In order to maintain a claim of harassment, it's not enough
to prove that someone did something mean or rude or distasteful to
you. Instead, the courts will look at the frequency of the conduct,
its severity, whether it was physically threatening or humiliating,
and whether it unreasonably interfered with the worker's
ability to do the job. So, the employee who thinks that supervisor
is glaring at her in a mean way is not the victim
