HARASSMENT AT WORKPLACE
In today’s world where harassment of employees, especially women, have become so common that it is important for the human resources to take steps to reduce the instances of harassment because it is only then that an organization might be able to keep together all its employees and hope to flourish.
Harassment can basically take two forms under the fair employment law: 1) Where an employer, supervisor or co-worker singles a person out for harassment because of that person colour, race, creed, ancestry, national origin, age, disability, sex, arrest or conviction record, marital status and sexual orientation. 2) It’s when the content of the harassment itself relates directly to any of these protected characteristics.
The most common harassment includes unwelcome sexual advances, request for sexual favours and verbal or physical conduct of sexual nature.
You must be familiar with the Tahelka harassment case: The founder and editor in chief of Tahelka, an new delhi based magazine, Tarun Tejpal was accused of sexually assaulting a journalist, who was in 20s, while out-of-state press trip. The young journalist immediately resigned from the company and blamed the managing editor Shoma Chaudhury for resorting to intimidation, character assassination and slander when approached for help.
There are two issues at play here: first the magazine did not have a formal way to address sexual harassment at the office. After admitting to his “untowered action” Tejpal stepped from his post for just six months, acting as a judge and juror of his own crime. Ironically, Tahelka has long been known as a champion for equality. It covered delhi gang rape case extensively.
The case highlights a sad reality that a vast majority of Indian offices are ill equipped to deal with harassment. Tahelka, a forward-thinking, investigating journalism outlet didn’t have any