Greenville’s Lawyer for Sexual Harassment & Sexual Discrimination

Greenville Sexual Harassment Lawyer Jeremy R. Summerlin represents employees throughout South Carolina who have been subjected to sexual harassment and sexual discrimination in the workplace. The law is clear that employees have the right to work in an environment that is free of harassment and discrimination based on sex.

Sexual discrimination comes in two common categories. First is sexual harassment, which appears most often in the form of unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, unwelcome touching, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature, including jokes and innuendos. When the harassment becomes so severe or pervasive that it begins to impact the employee’s ability to do the job, then the employee has become subject to a hostile work environment. A hostile work environment can be created by the victim’s co-worker, supervisor, or even a customer or client.

The second type of sex discrimination is what’s called disparate treatment. That means an employee is being treated differently because of sex. Examples of where disparate treatment can happen include decisions about hiring, promotions, discipline, and termination. If you are treated less favorably or more harshly than members of the opposite sex, then you may have a claim for sexual discrimination.

One result of a hostile work environment, especially in the sexual harassment context, is the level of fear that the harasser can create in the victim’s mind. This fear of retaliation makes reporting the harassment even more difficult than it already is. While the proper step to address sexual harassment is to report the harassment to your supervisor or to Human Resources, most employees realize that retaliation is still possible.

Retaliation, under the law, is where a South Carolina employee reports sexual harassment or discrimination (or any other type of illegal discrimination or harassment) in what’s called a “protected complaint,” and then the company retaliates against the employee by demoting, firing, or suspending the employee. Retaliation is illegal, but that doesn’t always stop companies from doing it. However, if an employee is fired after reporting sexual harassment, then the employee has an additional legal claim against the company for unlawful retaliation (often commonly called wrongful termination).

The state and federal anti-discrimination and anti-retaliation laws only apply to companies that have 15 or more employees, which sometimes leaves employees of smaller companies with little or no legal options.

But you are not alone. If you have been sexually harassed at work, or subjected to sexual discrimination or retaliation, then South Carolina Sexual Harassment Lawyer Jeremy R. Summerlin is ready and able to fight back against your harassers and hold South Carolina companies accountable for their unlawful actions.