Severe or Pervasive: An Analysis of Who, What, and Where Matters When Determining Sexual Harassment

Abstract

This Note empirical analyzes the 1994 MSPB sexual harassment survey, specifically respondents' beliefs as to what conduct constitutes sexual harassment, in order to inform the "severe or pervasive" standard that harassment victims must meet when proving hostile work environment harassment. First, the empirical results show that women are much more likely than men to believe certain unwanted conduct constitutes sexual harassment, suggesting that courts should adopt a reasonable woman standard when determining whether unwanted conduct is severe. Second, the results show that individuals are much more likely to believe certain conduct constitutes harassment when a supervisor is the harasser, supporting consideration of the supervisor status of the harasser when determining what conduct constitutes actionable harassment. And finally, the results show that women are more likely to experience sexual harassment in male-dominated industries, supporting the argument that hostile work environment standards should depend on the sex-integration of the workplace.

Keywords: sexual harassment, MSPB, discrimination, reasonable woman, employment discrimination

JEL Classification: K31, K41