Hello, I am new here, I have been reading all the posts and they have tons of information. But I have not come across one that might help me with my problem. I apologize in advance if I am posting on the wrong forum.

I hope that someone can help me with my problem, I am being sexually harrased at my work, I would like to write an anomusly letter to management, but I am not a lawyer and don't know if they will take my letter seriously...

Can anyone here help me "proof-read it"?

Here is a sample of it so far:
===========================================================
To Whom it may concern.


While working for the company, I/we have been the victim of a series of offensive acts that I/we believe could be constituted as sexual harassment.

I/we have been getting un requested sexually explicit emails from (his name here)
He has sent us emails or posting emails or pictures of a sexual or other harassment-related nature and offensive jokes. I/we feel that such conduct should stop.

I/we find such behavior intimidating and repugnant. In fact, it has made us feel
embarrassed, angry, offended, uncomfortable, it has also caused us to be less efficient on the job.

We want to be taken seriously, be respected and be treated as professionals.

Unless such conduct ceases immediately, and appropriate disciplinary action is taken.
I/we will contact the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to enforce our rights. I/we do not wish to take such a drastic measure. All I/we want to do is perform our job in a professional environment.

We wish to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, unless we are forced to contact the proper authorities.

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
==============================================================
All the help will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you

Dhunter, welcome. First things first: go back and edit your post to get the guy's name out! This is for YOUR safety.

Understand that anonymous letters are typically not taken too seriously. You need to stand up and be ready to identify yourself.

There are certain things you typically need to do before writing a letter. Hopefully you have done them:

1. Understand the Sexual Harassment guidelines where you work. There should be a policy in place regarding this. Read it and make sure you are clear on what the policy is.

2. Tell the person who is harassing you that their actions are not welcome and make you uncomfortable. Request that they immediately stop these actions. Be clear on what they are, whether it's dirty jokes, inappropriate comments about your dress, perfume, etc. Or they may be touching you in a manner that is inappropriate. Be clear to this person as to exactly what they are doing that needs to stop.

3. Keep a log of inappropriate contacts from this person, with dates and times. Indicate the date and time(s) when you told this person that their actions were unwelcome.

4. Contact your HR department and inform them personally of your concern regarding this employee. Let them know that you consider his actions inappropriate and unwelcome. Log the date and time that you do this.

If this does not resolve the issue you may need to contact an attorney.

Understand that retaliation is illegal. Your harasser or employer would be in a world of hurt if they attempted to retaliate against you.

But PLEASE edit out that name!

Thank you so much!! I did not realised that I had left the name in there!!!

Thank you for all the good suggestions, I will definitely start keeping the dates and all of that.

I would like to remain anonymous for the time being, if they do not do anything about it, then I will contact them personally.

What do you think of the letter? Besides the fact that they might not take it seriously, do you think it is well written?

English is my second language so is not very good, I just don't want them to disregard that letter because of that.

Thank you again!!

It's not a bad letter for where you are right now, but you are not in a position to send that, and sending it may backfire on you. If the time comes when you need to send a letter, come back so we can help you clean it up a bit.

Having said that: Dhunter, it sounds to me like this guy is a macho, insensitive clod. Often all it takes to make a clod go away is to look him in the eye and calmly say "I do not appreciate your form of humor. Please do not send me any more emails that are not related to work communication."

See if that will take care of the dummy. Go from there.

May I ask why you think I am in no position to send it? And why it may backfire on me? I have tried letting him know that is offensive and his excuse was that I was on his "mass emailing list" How would you clean up the letter?
I'm afraid I might have to quit my job if things don't change, I am desperate!

Dhunter,

I cannot offer you any advice from a position of success...I have not seen anyone successfully report and overcome this. However, I recommend you read this blog and its ensuing comments before taking action:

http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2006/11/02/dont-report-sexual-harassment-in-most-cases/

DTC

Dhunter, may I suggest that perhaps you and the other affected people write a letter to the person doing the harassing? Do this as the first step - and everyone sign their name to the letter.

In the letter, inform this person that you are offended by his behavior and that there are federal laws in place against sexual harassment. That if his behavior does not cease IMMEDIATELY, you will have no choice but to report him to management/HR.

In the mean time RECORD EVERYTHING HE SENDS, SAYS OR DOES (dates, times. places, etc.). Keep copies of emails, photos, etc. This will be your proof if you need to report him.

If your company has a written sexual harassment policy (most companies with more than just a few employees do), make sure you point him to this policy, and the consequences of violating it.

If this person is a member of senior management, you may need to mention escalating this to the board of directors or other senior managers.

Sexual harassment is against the law. These days, no one is ignorant of that fact. Letting him know that YOU aren't ignorant of this may be all that it takes to cease and desist.

You don't have to go through all of these gyrations, recording stuff, etc. Do you still have the emails? I would reply back to the latest email and cc your boss, and his boss (if not the same as yours), on the reply and say the following:

I have repeatedly told you that I find these emails offensive and consider this to be sexual harassment in that I asked you to stop and the behavior has continued. I am including both of our supervisors on this email so that this behavior will stop. It is not only offensive but you are also using the organization computer LAN to distribute this material which is against company policy. If you cease and desist, I will take this no further. If you do not stop, I will make a formal complaint and take it up the chain of command of the company.

Thank you all for all the good tips/suggestions.
@maritalbliss, thank you for offering to help me with the letter, The reason I would like to remain anonymous, is because there is more then one of us that considers this offensive, so if I send a letter like that he would not know who sent it and there will be no retaliation, and when the management sees the letter, they will talk to him and hopefully he will stop. IF he does not, then we are prepared to go personally and say something to management. When ever you have a minute, could you go over my letter and tell me what I need to change? I would like to have it ready in case I need it. That way I can send it if necessary and him one copy.
Thank you all for your support, I am glad I came here now.

Couple questions...

Are these emails coming to you through your WORK email?

Does your company monitor email usage?


First order of business is to email this person back with a "cease and desist" demand. Point out that these emails are inappropriate...not appreciated...and in violation of company policy and you will NOT tolerate it. It can be said in a professional and polite manner...

" xxxxx, this is my WORK email and I do not want you to send personal and sexually explicit emails to me. Nor do I wish to find offensive jokes, pictures, or the like, on the COMPANY computer that I use. Please consider this my official notice to you that I am requesting you stop."

I think you need to clearly state that it stop BEFORE you notify HR...but then again, I would probably cc a copy of this email and send to HR.

It is only harrassment if you have instructed it to stop and it continues.

JMHO
committed

Dhunter,

Do you work for a large company? These days, many companies have Ethics & Compliance programs and Helplines through which employees can report violations of law and company policy anonymously. Your company may have that available. Check it out.

As an attorney who practiced labor & employment law for years (I have now moved into upper management), I was very well-versed in sexual harassment. First, is this individual a supervisor? Have you told him his e-mails and comments are unwelcome? If he is not a supervisor, you must inform him that his conduct is unwelcome. You should not be afraid to report this individual to your HR department. Title VII not only protects against sexual harassment, it also protects against retaliation for having reported sexual harassment. I really like americanjin's approach.

Hi everyone... it sounds like Brits_Brat, having practiced labor & employment law, might have some real world success with this, but has anyone else offering advice here successfully navigated such a case?

I ask because I work in a supposedly "zero tolerance" environment (military). But even though they make a big deal about "zero tolerance" the fact is that it's the victims (my friends) who continue to be victimized, penalized, retaliated against, etc.

That said, I did one time have a boss who told offensive sexual stories, making the other women (and some guys) in our office uncomfortable. After a particularly graphic story, I jokingly made a comment about how none of us needed to hear all that. He replied that it sounded like I thought he was out of line. And the chorus of "that's right, Sir" from the rest of the office was enough to get him to stop.

But most times, what I learned from watching my friends struggle is that you really can't stop it- you can only remove yourself by finding another job. And from that article I posted, sounds like it's the same problem in the civilian sector.

So, though I�m not the OP, I�d really like to hear some first-hand accounts of how you addressed harassment and how your work environment changed for the better as a result.

Ok, well it did not help! I talked to him the other day and he just sent another one about pubic hair, grrrrr!!

Can someone please read the anonimously letter I want to send and proof read it for me!!! Please!!

I want to try that first and if it does not stop then I will go personally to talk to the manager (this guy is a supervisor) the hell with loosing my job, cant work like this! >:(

Forward this stuff to HR - always start at the top and work down.