SEXUAL HARASSMENT – CREATING SAFE & RESPECTFUL PROFESSIONAL ENVIRONMENTS

Being called ‘sayang’, ‘abang’ or flirting at the office are actions that are disapproved or frowned upon at the workplace. But do these conducts actually attribute to sexual harassment?

With 62% of 1,010 Malaysian women reporting that they experienced some degree of sexual harassment in the workplace, the survey conducted by the Women’s Aid Organisation highlighted the need for employers to address this problem at the office. Employers can no longer afford to be ignorant towards these allegations and should equip themselves with the best tools and knowledge to effectively manage these grievances to ensure a conducive working environment.

This article will first explore what constitutes to sexual harassment in the eyes of Malaysian laws before exploring ways on how companies can limit and even stop these awful conducts through company-wide rules and regulations.

Defining sexual harassment based on the Employment Act of 1955.

Sexual harassment is defined in the Employment Act 1955 (“EA 1955”) as “any unwanted conduct of a sexual nature, whether verbal, nonverbal, visual, gestural or physical, directed at a person which is offensive or humiliating or is a threat to his well-being, arising out of and in the course of his employment.”

The following examples may come within the definition mentioned in the EA 1955:

• Constantly asking a colleague out on a date despite being rejected multiple times;
• The touching of a colleague’s thighs; and
• Making lewd or disparaging jokes/remarks about a colleague of the same or opposite gender.

Who can make a sexual harassment complaint?

Section 81A of the EA 1955 states that anyone can make a sexual harassment complaint, whether it is:

• by an employee against another employee;
• by an employee against any employer; or
• by an employer against an employee.

What accounts to sexual harassment?

Code of Practice on the Prevention and Eradication of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace in 1999

The Code of Practice was published by the Ministry of Human Resources to act as a guide for both employers and employees and has been widely utilised by the courts in interpreting what constitutes to workplace sexual harassment. This Code of Practice provides provisions to both males and females and the language used to define sexual harassment reflects that of the EA 1955 in which “Any unwanted conduct of a sexual nature having the effect of verbal, non-verbal, visual, psychological or physical harassment.” constitutes as sexual harassment.

This condition entails that sexual harassment might:

1. on reasonable grounds, be perceived by the recipient as placing a condition of a sexual nature on her/his employment; or
2. on reasonable grounds be perceived by the recipient as an offence or humiliation, or a threat to her/his well-being, but has no direct link to her or his employment.

This definition is further divided into two categories:

“Sexual coercion”: – In which the sexual harassment act/conduct results in some direct consequence to the victim’s employment.

“Sexual annoyance”: – In which the sexually related conduct is offensive, hostile and/or intimidating to the recipient, but nonetheless has no direct link to any job benefits. This definition also extends to sexually related conduct by the company’s clients towards employees.

Preview Q3 Solutions’s Power & Sexual Harassment at Workplace Workshop

We also conduct workshops on Sexual Harassment at Workplace, either in public or in-house training. By the end of the Sexual Harassment at Workplace Workshop , participants should be able to understanding basic civil rights protections in the workplace, recognize the different types of power and sexual harassment in workplace, create a respectful workplace culture, develop approaches to minimise and avoid workplace harassment & to know ways to best investigate harassment claims.

For more information about this workshop, you can click the link here.