Sexual harassment is one type of hostile work environment. Many people think that a hostile work environment is any workplace that is unpleasant. That is not the case under the law. An unlawful hostile work environment is one in which the hostility is directed at an employee because of a legally prohibited discriminatory or retaliatory motive. Most sexual harassment cases involve statements or actions that are explicitly sexual in nature.
However, sexual harassment can also involve statements or actions that are not explicitly sexual but are directed only at employees of a particular sex. For example, if a supervisor screams at female employees when they make mistakes but does not do that to male employees, that can be sexual harassment.
The conduct must be severe or pervasive. Under New Jersey law, even a single incident of sexual harassment is unlawful if it is serious enough. Under New Jersey law, whether sexual harassment is bad enough to create a hostile work environment is judged based on how a reasonable person of the same sex as the harassed employee would feel. So, if the harassed employee is female, a reasonable woman standard will apply, and if the harassed employee is male, a reasonable man standard will apply.
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