Accused Of Sexual Harassment?
The fact that you are reading this post, the title has succeeded in awakening the creative part of your brain 
. But situations like this do happen, and if we also fail to control our hormones, chances are, we might end up as the latest installment of the “scandal series” of stolen sex videos sold on adult oriented areas and the web.
While having sex in the office provides a different kind of adrenalin and excitement, “do-ing” within the company premises will cause the filing of several administrative cases that may result to dishonorable dismissal. There is a proper place for ones sexcapades, as the saying goes “don’t shit in your own backyard”.
According to some acquaintances who find this as an alternative stress reliever, as long as both parties are adults and have mutual consent, and you will not get caught, this is A-OK
However, there is an equally important law in the the Philippines wherein the “consenting adults” alibi may not hold. And it’s “The Anti-Sexual Harassment Act of 1995“.
So entrepreneurs, managers, supervisors, leaders, teachers, coaches, mentors and professional bloggers, listen!
This law was designed for people in authority, read below the definition
SECTION 3. Work, Education or Training -Related, Sexual Harassment Defined. –
Work, education or training-related sexual harassment is committed by an employer, employee, manager, supervisor, agent of the employer, teacher, instructor, professor, coach, trainor, or any other person who, having authority, influence or moral ascendancy over another in a work or training or education environment, demands, requests or otherwise requires any sexual favor from the other, regardless of whether the demand, request or requirement for submission is accepted by the object of said Act.
I don’t know how this could be applicable to blogging– sex in exchange of link or review or Ads? Hmmm?!
Anyway, we may find the below provision a good reason to keep our *ehem* in check
SECTION 6. Independent Action for Damages. -
Nothing in this Act shall preclude the victim of work, education or training-related sexual harassment from instituting a separate and independent action for damages and other affirmative relief.
On top of an administrative case with the company, a separate criminal or civil case can also be filed against the offender by the offended party.
If you are a business owner or part of management team, please do understand that you have an obligation under the law
SECTION 4. Duty of the Employer or Head of Office in a Work-related, Education or Training Environment. -
It shall be the duty of the employer or the head of the work-related, educational or training environment or institution, to prevent or deter the commission of acts of sexual harassment and to provide the procedures for the resolution, settlement or prosecution of acts of sexual harassment. Towards this end, the employer or head of office shall:
(a) Promulgate appropriate rules and regulations in consultation with and joint1y approved by the employees or students or trainees, through their duly designated representatives, prescribing the procedure for the investigation of sexual harassment cases and the administrative sanctions therefor.
Administrative sanctions shall not be a bar to prosecution in the proper courts for unlawful acts of sexual harassment.
The said rules and regulations issued pursuant to this subsection (a) shall include, among others, guidelines on proper decorum in the workplace and educational or training institutions.
(b) Create a committee on decorum and investigation of cases on sexual harassment. The committee shall conduct meetings, as the case may be, with officers and employees, teachers, instructors, professors, coaches, trainors, and students or trainees to increase understanding and prevent incidents of sexual harassment. It shall also conduct the investigation of alleged cases constituting sexual harassment.
In the case of a work-related environment, the committee shall be composed of at least one (1) representative each from the management, the union, if any, the employees from the supervisory rank, and from the rank and file employees.
In the case of the educational or training institution, the committee shall be composed of at least one (1) representative from the administration, the trainors, instructors, professors or coaches and students or trainees, as the case may be.
The employer or head of office, educational or training institution shall disseminate or post a copy of this Act for the information of all concerned.
Employers/Business owner can also be held liable
SECTION 5. Liability of the Employer, Head of Office, Educational or Training Institution. –
The employer or head of office, educational or training institution shall be solidarily liable for damages arising from the acts of sexual harassment committed in the employment, education or training environment if the employer or head of office, educational or training institution is informed of such acts by the offended party and no immediate action is taken.
So what would likely be the mimimum penalty for the offender?
SECTION 7. Penalties. –
Any person who violates the provisions of this Act shall, upon conviction, be penalized by imprisonment of not less than one (1) month nor more than six (6) months, or a fine of not less than Ten thousand pesos (P10,000) nor more than Twenty thousand pesos (P20,000), or both such fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the court.
Mutual consent may not hold water if moral ascendancy is present. For purposes of this discussion, assuming there is mutual consent and there is a relationship between a person of authority (boss or teacher or coach or mentor or professional blogger) and a follower (subordinate, student, amateur blogger). And the time came when the person in authority dumped the follower, the follower can use the moral ascendancy as leverage in the filing of a case against the other party to get even.
Winning the case is a different blog in itself, but the damage inflicted to the image to the person in authority is a done deal.
While this law is designed to ensure authority is not abused, this can also be used against the person in authority, thus, being naive of this law can be hazardous to ones career or business.
I don’t know of a legal case yet of this nature, wanna try and be the first one and be on the history books?
aside: readers outside the Philippines, please check your
local anti-sexual harassment law. Thank you
15 Responses to “Accused Of Sexual Harassment?”
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[...] Supposedly scheduled for posting is Change Management and on the pipeline as a follow-up to Sex In The Office post are How To Loose Your Job– (Part 1) Killing me softly and (Part 2) Bite the bullet. [...]
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[...] Serious Misconduct– all misconduct is wrong, but to be a ground for termination it should be willful and serious like sexual harassment, abuse of authority and alike. [...]
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This blog of 6 years is a witness to my ascendancy to executive HR position and my foolish attempt to start my own company, ha ha.
This blog used to be the depository of my thoughts about people management, social web and how to use this to build your personal brand. I have since diversified to niche blogging and decided to use this to keep my personal reflections.
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This is a common practice in the Western world.
For us here in South-East Asia, we’re still right on the doorstep. We’re there, just that, no one talks about it.
I know some people and some companies where this happen or happened :p
Maybe the reason why Asians chose to be silent is because majority are doing it? Just thinking outloud, though
thinking out loud – how about if home is the office or office is at home? …hmmmm? am i making sense?
Your title got me clicking the “Continue Reading” part before I could even read the first paragraph. Munyahahaha. X_X
People just got to know their rights and needs to be told that there is a law that protects them. Some dont want to come out in the open because they want to avoid scandal, or are being threatened or have lost confidence in the judicial system. If it is like in europe, you could make a lot of money from it by suing those bastards.
On the contrary it’s quite a common practice in europe. Consenting adults dont talk about it, they just do.
Hi,
That is the reason why I blog about these things as part of my advocacy. To avoid too much exposure and the stigma or scandal, most Pinays would rather keep quiet. But I think if they will just stand up ands stood their ground, abusive bosses will learn their lesson.
I agree @Sonnie.
But I like to add. There are some cases wherein the boss professionally separates work and personal relationships with their subordinates, but the subordinate is him/herself a “manggagamit ng tao”, can I use the word biatch? But because of their boss-subordinate relationship “inside” the office or during work, she is qualified to file a case against his/her boss, the first case a corporate office will honor is sexual harassment.
It’s really unfair the way I see it, and I think that’s one reason why everyone who’s into it are keeping quiet. Moreover, it’s taboo to talk about it in our society.
my thoughts.
@JC and ayNaku
these kind of people can harm not only the reputation of the boss, but specially the family.
They may even earn a fortune for this.
this is why it’s really important for the bosses to consider all consequences before playing with fire.
nice of you to publish this… not many know about this law…
but sex in the office is high risk… but the high adrenaline drive that you get from that is quite worth the risk… specially when you know that there are people within the office…
nice… keep it up…
Thank you Nelson
I believe that office spouse is new phenomenon emerging and is widely considered in west as pleasing and refreshing attempt.
Though i personally am not against it but equally i believe that ur partner must also be allowed the same.
There is also another phenomenon of spouse swap. This is done during vacation and continue until any of the party decline.
what do u think?
Hi Kip,
The trend in the west is a little hard to swallow given our conservative society
hello
I would like to ask for advice regarding my girlfriends problem in her workplace. I am a soldier in the Philippine Army and have a completely different view of things specially when dealing with conflict due to my nature of being combat oriented so I guess you could guide me in dealing with my girlfriend’s problem in a reasonable manner accepted to civilians and the law.
She started training in a call center. The first problem is about a senior (gay) who a couple of times treated her in a way I could say degrading like making her read a call script repeatedly in front of everyone while the senior does not listen so he make her repeat again which is very annoying. There was also a time when due to an incident in the calls the senior said in front of the training class “dumb arrogant” which although he did not mentioned the name the whole training class knows its directed to my girlfriend. I do not think that was right.
The second problem was about this man i think in his late 20s which initially was annoying according to my girlfriend because the way this guy stares to her make her feel uncomfortable. Another thing was the guy moves close to her like sitting in the front row just in front of her. Then lately there was a warning from classmate of her in the training session to stay away from the guy. The young man was not telling what he know but he persistently warned my girlfriend to stay away from the annoying guy.
Personally I really wanted to confront those people but I am sure it will end up in pure physical. Is there a complaint that we can file to protect my girlfriend?
Thanks,
Souske