San Diego Hostile Work Environment Employment Lawyers

Generally, for a person to be considered a victim of a hostile work environment, he or she has to have been exposed to repeated offensive and inappropriate behavior or language by fellow co-workers. There are many examples of situations which fall into the category of a hostile work environment and may include offensive situations in which a person is the target of hostility due to his or her gender, sexual orientation, nation of origin, ethnicity, race, or religion.

Examples of Actions That May Create a Hostile Work Environment Include:

• Exposure to offensive language or materials including racial slurs or sexist remarks
• Exposure to pornographic materials, including photographs and videotapes
• Sexual harassment, such as inappropriate and unwelcome sexual comments or physical touching
• Leering, i.e., staring in a sexually suggestive manner
• Making offensive remarks about looks, clothing, body parts
• Touching in a way that may make an employee feel uncomfortable, such as patting, pinching or intentional brushing against another’s body
• Telling sexual or lewd jokes, hanging sexual posters, making sexual gestures, etc.
• Sending, forwarding or soliciting sexually suggestive letters, notes, emails, or images

As the plaintiff in a hostile work environment lawsuit, you must be able to prove that you, in fact, worked in a hostile environment. For example, you must provide proof that shows that you were subjected to unwelcome “severe or pervasive” harassment and that your manager or supervisor knew about the hostile working environment and did nothing to prevent or stop it.

Many people mistakenly believe that any and all hostility in the workplace is illegal and actionable. This is not the case. A hostile environment at work generally does not create a legal action unless it constitutes a form of discrimination.

Whether the conduct of a co-worker or a supervisor is sufficiently pervasive to be actionable as a hostile work environment must be determined from the totality of the circumstances. The victim must prove that the defendant’s conduct would have interfered with a reasonable employee’s work performance and would have seriously affected the psychological well-being of a reasonable employee. In considering, for instance, whether a certain conduct is severe enough to constitute sexual harassment hostile work environment, the factors that will determine this will be the nature of the unwelcome sexual acts or words, the frequency of the offensive encounters, the total number of days over which all of the offensive conduct occurred, and the context in which the harassing conduct occurred. In determining what constitutes “sufficiently pervasive” harassment, acts of harassment cannot be occasional, isolated, sporadic, or trivial.



A “hostile work environment” might also be actionable as a contract breach if it violates company policy or goes so far that it amounts to an unsafe working condition. It is very important to hire an experienced San Diego hostile workplace lawyer immediately to ensure that every aspect of your case is handled correctly and in a timely manner. The attorneys at The Gould Firm are experienced in these types of matters and are prepared to protect your right and seek the compensation you deserve. Call us today or fill out our online contact form. We are here to help.