Top employment lawyer urges male victims of harassment to speak up
5 September 2007
MEN are just as prone to sexual harassment as women, a survey has revealed.
The Fair Treatment at Work survey, published by the Department for Trade and Industry found that 2.1 million British employees had personally experienced unfair treatment, bullying or sexual harassment at work in the last two years.
3,396 employees took part in the survey, which found that nine in every 1,000 employees had experienced sexual harassment and while more women had reported it (1.1 per cent) compared with men (0.7 per cent), incidents of sexual harassment against men accounted for two fifths of the reported incidents.
The shocking fact that came from the study was that only just under half of employees who had experienced incidents of sexual harassment sought advice or guidance from a professional. Men came out as more likely to report incident of sexual harassment against others but much less likely than women to seek advice if the sexual harassment involved them personally.
Sadiq Vohra, a partner and employment law specialist at Preston law firm, MWR Solicitors, said: “We have seen cases of sexual harassment incidents against males who are too embarrassed to report it. We have also seen cases of harassment by males against other males, on the grounds of sexuality.
“Where many businesses fall down is having a system in place which allows any victim of harassment to report incident and/or failing to deal with the situation once it has been reported.
“It is important to understand that sexual harassment can take many forms and there are laws and regulations in place which protect everyone from this growing workplace issue.”
