As employees go back to working on-site, incidents of sexual harassment in the workplace continue to escalate. According to a study by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation and pollster Gallup, 22 percent of women and 18 percent of men in the Philippines have experienced sexual harassment at work. The majority of those who have experienced workplace harassment said it happened not just once, but three or more times.
Gender-based sexual harassment in the workplace is among those sought to be addressed by the Safe Spaces Act. But what exactly is gender-based sexual harassment?
Gender-based sexual harassment is harassment based on one’s sexual orientation, gender identity, orientation, or expression. It can be verbal, non-verbal, or physical. Essentially, it can be any act that threatens another person’s personal space and physical safety.
The most common forms of gender-based sexual harassment are (1) catcalling or unwanted remarks directed towards a person; (2) misogynistic remarks or slurs or those indicative of the feeling of hating women or the belief that men are inherently better than women; (3) sexist remarks or slurs or those indicative of prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination based on sex, typically against women; (4) transphobic remarks or slurs or those indicative of fear, hatred or aversion towards persons whose gender identity and/or expression do not conform with their sex assigned at birth; and (5) homophobic remarks or slurs or those indicative of fear, hatred or aversion towards persons who are perceived to be or identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, pansexual and such other persons of diverse sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or towards any person perceived to or have experienced same-sex attraction.
How about teasing in the workplace?
In the case of Presidential Broadcast Staff-Radio Television Malacañang (PBS-RTVM) vs. Vergel P. Tabasa (G.R. 234624, 26 February 2020), the Supreme Court recognized that despite teasing’s positive effects on interpersonal relationships, it may not always be perceived favorably. The case involves an employee who sat beside and cornered his co-worker and then tickled her knee despite the latter’s protest. In his defense, the employee admitted to touching the knee of his co-worker but insisted that he was just joking.
The Supreme Court did not give credence to the defense and ruled that while the antic of touching the co-worker’s knee may be a joke to him, it was completely embarrassing and inappropriate for the recipient. Even though the employee could have the best of intentions in making a moment lighthearted with his co-worker, the latter’s reception of the joke was clearly resistive. The touching of the knee was unsolicited and uncalled for. The Court clarified that even if the act was done without malice, it is beyond all bounds of decency and decorum for a person to touch any body part of another without consent for that matter.
The Court explained that the way a person views a joke may differ depending on the situation and on how one perceives a tease — a teaser’s intentions and his/her overall interaction with the teaser. Insensitive jokes or actions could border on harassment due to the fact that targets may be unaware of the teaser’s intentions. Thus, for the protection of all employees, the Court said that a line has to be drawn before an innocent action becomes full-blown harassment.
But does this mean that teasing is no longer allowed in the workplace?
The Supreme Court clarified that it does not completely prohibit light-hearted banter in the workplace for no one would want to create a sterile working environment. The Court recognized that humor in the workplace could positively leverage work-related outcomes such as work productivity, staff motivation, job satisfaction, group cohesion, commitment, and most importantly, stress reduction.
Creating an atmosphere of playfulness in the workplace is an understandable form of social interaction. However, the Court reminded that unsolicited physical contact, even if done in jest, has no place in the workplace.
