Sexual Harassment comes in many ways, shapes and forms.

The stigma with sexual harassment is that people tend to think that it is only women who are sexually harassed, but this is not true. Men are sexually harassed too.

A workplace should be a safe environment where all employees go to work to perform their duties, receive their income, and go home to their families at the end of the day, once the work day is over. Employees to not expect to go to work and then have to deal with issues such as sexual harassment, yet it happens more times than we realize. And why is that? Because many times the person being sexually harassed is too scared to come forward for fear of losing their jobs, or worse.

Many perpetrators use the excuse that they were only joking, so perhaps they should reconsider the appropriateness of their jokes. To help you deal with sexual harassment in the workplace, I have included a sexual harassment and bullying policy, a sexual harassment guideline and a sexual harassment complaint form, below.

These cases must be dealt with in the strictest of confidence and the employee must know that they can take the matter further if they want to also press for criminal charges.

I have personally being both someone who was sexually harassed at the beginning of my management career, about 20 years ago, and I have been a chairperson of sexual harassment cases. I always encourage employees to come forward the moment they feel uncomfortable about sexual innuendos in the workplace, so that we can stop it before it goes further, and I make sure that no-one is ostracized or victimized for coming forward.

I have also seen fabricated cases come to me, and this is never acceptable. The reputation and life of the accused is irreparably damaged at times. This cannot be condoned, and disciplinary action must be taken against the applicant who fabricated the complaint. It is taken in a very serious light. You do not get to play with other people's lives, no matter what.

Having said that, you need to be 100% sure of your facts when dealing with sexual harassment cases, and it is the employer's responsibility to ensure a safe working environment for all, where everyone is treated with dignity and respect by all in the workplace. If someone tells you that they do not like your sexual connotations, respect that. If they do not like being touched on the shoulder, stop doing it. What is fine for one person, might not be fine for another

Always respect people's personal space, no matter what.