Work can often be challenging and stressful, regardless of the industry.
A global Gallup survey says roughly one in five employees (23%) experienced harassment or hostility in the workplace. Hostile workplaces stifle personal and professional growth, encouraging discrimination and overwork.
It could indicate a more profound issue if you dread your job due to the treatment you receive from your boss or colleagues. You might be in a hostile work environment.
What exactly defines a hostile work environment? It typically involves conditions where employees violate federal laws designed to protect their co-workers from such situations.
If you find yourself in a hostile workplace or a victim of hostile environment harassment, it’s crucial to act quickly. Understanding what constitutes a hostile work environment is the first step in determining whether you are in one.
What is a hostile work environment?
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) protects employees from hostile work environments. Despite laws designed to ensure employee safety, some businesses fail to comply, resulting in negative consequences for employees if these issues are not addressed or reported.
According to U.S. law, a “hostile work environment” is a workplace where there are serious instances of harassment and discrimination based on protected characteristics such as race, color, religion, sex and pregnancy, national origin, age (40 or older), disability, or genetic information.
EEOC clarifies that “petty slights, annoyances, and isolated incidents (unless extremely serious)” do not qualify as illegal. This means an employee might be able to file a successful lawsuit if they face regular unwelcome, discriminatory conduct (such as racial slurs), but a single off-hand insult may not be sufficient to win a legal battle.
A hostile work environment is characterized by toxic and offensive verbal or nonverbal behavior from a superior or coworkers that significantly impacts other employees, making them feel uncomfortable, unwelcome, scared, or intimidated. This behavior can render the job unbearable, hinder employees’ ability to perform their duties and harm their physical and mental health.
Telltale signs of a hostile work environment
Discrimination, shaming, harassment, and poor communication are all part of it.
- Discrimination is persistent
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination against employees based on race, color, sex, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, and gender identity (SOGI). It can manifest in several ways, including refusal to hire someone based on their sex, making racist remarks, or perpetuating the glass ceiling in the workplace.
- Shaming is part of the company’s culture.
A culture of shaming involves making others feel guilty for any reason, whether it’s not getting as much work done or taking a vacation. This culture encourages employees to segregate into cliques and further causes rifts in the company.
- Sexual harassment often happens.
Sexual harassment can be as blatant as asking for sexual favors or as subtle as unwarranted physical touches. Often, it can be difficult to tell whether someone is acting maliciously or is being too friendly in cases of subtle sexual harassment. No matter what form, sexual harassment behavior in the workplace is illegal and needs to be addressed immediately.
- Internal communication is poor.
Poor communication among employees is a trait that people don’t often realize is a sign of a toxic work environment. This includes radio silence among workers who have unresolved conflict and failure to listen to one another actively.
Businesses thrive on clear communication among employees. The company’s performance dips without it, and the workplace becomes toxic.
Once you’ve identified these signs and found them recurring during your regular operations, the best action you can take is to report them.
The effects of a toxic work environment on employees
Toxic work environments are unproductive, harmful to an individual’s well-being, and can significantly disrupt organizational stability.
Research on the effects of hostile work environments reveals that employees subjected to such conditions or experiencing hostile environment harassment are often less engaged and more likely to spread negativity among coworkers. This can drain their motivation and morale, slowing down the production process.
In some cases, a toxic work environment may indicate an excessive workload. A clear sign of this is a severe lack of work-life balance, with managers frequently contacting employees outside of work hours or assigning tasks on weekends.
The physical and mental toll of a hostile work environment
It’s not surprising that employees may develop psychological and physical health issues in a hostile work environment. Studies have found that toxic workplaces can lead to clinical depression, anxiety, and employee burnout.
A hostile work environment is characterized by severe instances of harassment and discrimination based on protected characteristics such as race, color, religion, sex, age, and disability.
This unwelcome behavior can become illegal when pervasive enough to create a significantly hostile work atmosphere.
What qualifies for a hostile work environment?
Harassing or inappropriate is behavior that not only creates a toxic work environment but is also illegal. This includes harassment based on gender identity and sexual orientation, in addition to other factors such as race.
To be unlawful, the conduct must create a work environment that would be intimidating, hostile, or offensive to reasonable people.
What is harassment?
Harassment is unwelcome conduct that is based on race, national origin, accent, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, transgender status, and sexual orientation), national origin, age (40 or older), disability, equal pay/compensation, or genetic information (including family medical history). Harassment is a form of employment discrimination prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, (ADEA), the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (as amended), and ADA Amendments Act of 2008 ADAAA. 42 U.S.C. ch 126 12101 et seq.
Harassment becomes unlawful when:
- enduring the offensive conduct becomes a condition of continued employment, OR
- the conduct is severe or pervasive enough to create a work environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive.
Anti-discrimination laws also prohibit harassment against individuals in retaliation for filing a discrimination charge, testifying, or participating in any way in an investigation, proceeding, or lawsuit under these laws; or opposing employment practices that they reasonably believe discriminate against individuals, in violation of these laws.
What are some examples of inappropriate conduct that may meet the definition of harassment?
Harassment based on sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, transgender status, and sexual orientation), also called “sexual harassment,” includes, but is not limited to:
- Unwelcome sexual advances
- Requests for sexual favors
- Making repeated attempts to establish an unwanted relationship
- Making offensive comments or asking questions about someone’s sexual history, orientation, or gender identity
- Intentionally misusing a person’s requested pronouns
- Sharing sexually inappropriate images or videos, such as pornography, with others in the workplace
- Sending suggestive letters, notes, texts, or emails or displaying inappropriate sexual images in the workplace
- Telling lewd jokes or sharing sexual anecdotes
- Making inappropriate sexual gestures
- Staring in a sexually suggestive or offensive manner or inappropriate whistling
- Making sexual comments about appearance, clothing, or body parts
- Inappropriate touching, including pinching, patting, rubbing, or purposefully brushing against another person.
Harassment based on race, ethnicity, color, and national origin includes, but is not limited to:
- Making derogatory epithets, slurs, remarks, stereotypes, labels, jokes, or innuendos related to a person’s race, ethnicity, culture, or national origin
- Making comments, jokes, teasing someone about a person’s dress, personal appearance, hairstyle, speech, or other practices that are related to their race, ethnicity, culture, and national origin
- Displaying racist or discriminatory symbols or imagery
- Engaging in a pattern of unwelcome or inappropriate verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or otherwise negative prejudicial slights and insults toward an individual or group, including but not limited to individuals from historically excluded groups. These may also be called microaggressions,* such as touching someone’s hair or skin, commenting on the ability to speak English, stating and perpetuating stereotypes, etc.
Harassment based on physical, cognitive, or mental disability or “regarded as” having a disability includes, but are not limited to:
- Making derogatory remarks, stereotypes, labels, jokes, or innuendos related to people with disabilities
- Sending inappropriate letters, notes, texts, or emails and displaying inappropriate images in the workplace of people with disabilities
- Telling inappropriate jokes or sharing inappropriate disability-related anecdotes
- Making inappropriate or mocking disability-related gestures
- Staring in an inappropriate or offensive manner
- Making inappropriate comments about appearance, assistive equipment, or body parts
- Inappropriate touching, including pinching, patting, rubbing, or purposefully providing unwanted assistance, including with service animals
- Making offensive comments or asking questions about someone’s medical condition, history of a medical condition, and whether they are a person with a disability
Harassment based on religion or creed, includes, but is not limited to:
- Sharing inappropriate images or videos with others in the workplace of a person’s religion, creed, or a person’s choice to abstain from religiosity
- Sending inappropriate letters, notes, texts, or emails or displaying inappropriate images in the workplace of a person’s religion, creed, or a person’s choice to abstain from religiosity
- Telling inappropriate jokes or sharing inappropriate religion-related anecdotes
- Making inappropriate or mocking religion-related gestures
- Making offensive comments or asking questions about someone’s religion, creed, or a person’s choice to abstain from religiosity
Harassment based on age (40 or older), includes, but is not limited to:
- Sending inappropriate letters, notes, texts, or e-mails or displaying inappropriate age-related images in the workplace
- Telling inappropriate jokes or sharing inappropriate age-related anecdotes
- Making inappropriate or mocking age-related gestures
- Determining and assigning tasks or duties based on a person’s age
- Staring in an inappropriate or offensive manner
- Inappropriate touching, including pinching, patting, rubbing, or purposefully providing unwanted assistance
- Making offensive age-related comments or inappropriately asking questions about someone’s age
Harassment based on genetic information, includes, but is not limited to:
- Unlawfully obtaining or sharing genetic information, as well as any information related to it, with others in the workplace
- Sending inappropriate letters, notes, texts, or e-mails related to genetic information or displaying inappropriate images in the workplace related to genetic information
- Making offensive comments or asking questions about someone’s genetic information or related medical condition, history of a medical condition, and whether they are a person with a disability.
Inappropriate conduct may also meet the definition of harassment.
Inappropriate conduct is a separate, broader category of misconduct that may not meet the definition of harassment. However, this type of conduct raises concerns about a safe and respectful workplace.
Inappropriate conduct includes any comments or conduct that disparages or demonstrates hostility or aversion towards any person that could reasonably be perceived as disruptive, disrespectful, offensive, or inappropriate in the workplace. These may also be referred to as microaggressions*. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- Actions or behaviors that adversely impact operations, productivity, and/or work environment
- Rude comments, ridicule, disrespectful jokes, or insults
- Inappropriate yelling or emotional outbursts, using expletives, throwing objects, or banging/slamming doors
- Inappropriate touching or any form of physical intimidation or aggression (e.g., holding, restraining, impeding, or blocking movement, following, inappropriate contact or advances, bullying, or any other forms of inappropriate touching)
- Engaging in a personal relationship with someone in an inherently unequal position where there is a natural or perceived authority or influence over the other’s conditions of employment can impact the other’s career progression directly, and not disclosing the relationship and taking steps to mitigate the risk to all parties. This may include formal and informal supervisory relationships.
- Inappropriate or rude gestures, expressions, pictures, or graffiti
- Threats against others or engaging in other threatening behavior
- Psychological bullying or intimidation, such as making statements that are false, malicious, disparaging, or derogatory with the intent to hurt another’s reputation
- Engaging in behaviors that may have a dampening effect on reporting workplace concerns, such as those that can be perceived as intimidating or retaliatory against individuals who report concerns or participate in an administrative inquiry or other protected activity
What are the signs of a toxic workplace?
- There are no boundaries around work.
- People don’t trust each other.
- There’s no room to make mistakes.
- People treat each other with contempt.
- The interpersonal relationships aren’t healthy.
- There is no support for employee growth.
- People frequently feel gaslighted.
- People regularly experience physical symptoms of work stress.
- People are disengaged, and turnover is high.
According to the Office of the Surgeon General, constant stress, like what one may experience in a toxic workplace, can lower sleep quality, raise muscle tension, and increase the chances of developing illnesses.
Reporting and proving a hostile work environment
Taking the initiative to report your hostile workplace can be intimidating. But know that it will benefit you, your colleagues, and other victims. Follow the five steps below to prove a hostile work environment.
- Document and gather evidence.
Take note of every hostile act that happens in the workplace, even the minor ones. Document the incident’s date, time, and context in which it occurred. You should also gather evidence about the occurrences, from messages and emails to recordings and photos.
Other documents you can use are performance reviews or work assignments you received from your job. If you consulted with a therapist for mental health issues or a doctor for physical health concerns from your job, you could note those, too.
These can highlight how much your hostile work environment impacted your work. Your documentation will be invaluable and strengthen your case.
- Use the company’s internal complaint process.
File an official complaint to your human resources personnel. Many believe this can get them in more trouble. Federal laws protect employees who file such complaints. Look into your company’s complaint procedure to learn how to report a hostile work environment.
- Reach out to witnesses and other victims.
If you notice the toxicity of your workplace affects multiple people, contact them to help you strengthen your case further. It makes your claims far more credible, showing that such actions weren’t random.
Ask for their consent before using their names and contact details. Working together to find solutions for the hostile workplace can reduce pressure.
- Arm yourself with knowledge of the laws that apply
It helps to research the laws that could apply to your case, even if you’ve already contacted a lawyer. It will make you even more prepared should you appear before a judge. Research federal, state, and provincial laws to help you understand your legal concerns.
A few laws you should be aware of include the following:
- Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
- Age Discrimination in Employment Act
- Americans with Disabilities Act
It helps to recognize what behaviors and factors constitute hostile work environment harassment. Doing so will help you identify if you’re working on one and how to begin acting against it. Learning what hostile work environment behavior can help you know what is and isn’t appropriate in a professional setting.
- Seek legal advice.
You should consider contacting a legal professional if your employer fails to resolve the issue.
It’s best to seek the guidance and assistance of a credible lawyer specializing in labor law. They will help you understand your legal rights and explore the subsequent actions you can take to resolve the issues of your hostile workplace.