4 ms·
Excuse me, but where was it? Also, Milf can be sexual harassment. Sure. So can be telling someone "you look nice". I worked with someone that was bashed by HR
by joering2 11y ago
Excuse me, but where was it?
Also, Milf can be sexual harassment. Sure. So can be telling someone "you look nice". I worked with someone that was bashed by HR by telling a co-worker "I like your new haircut". I didn't see it as SH.
It depends on point of view.
- gommm 11y agoThere's a clear difference between "I like your new haircut" which I agree is not sexual harassment and MILF: Mother I'd Like to Fuck (which is just slightly above calling your coworker slut). The second sentence is sexual harassment.
- kristofferR 11y agoDoesn't there have to be persistence involved for something to become harassment instead of just being a single instance of a offensive/dumb/annoying comment?
- snowwrestler 11y agoNo, harassment is a violation of the norms of a professional workplace. If it only happens once, it still happened. It might not always be a firing offense, but at minimum it requires management to intervene and reset expectations.
- joering2 11y agouhm okay. So basically movies full of violence, drugs, guns, etc, and video games full of similar are fine. You wouldn't be offended if someone in your office plays Call of Duty right? But somehow telling someone you find them attractive (I'd like to Fuck) is offensive. Gee I feel bad for you... if that really offends you.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- gkya 11y agoWe don't know if the mentioned person's mother tongue is English. They may well not know that MILF is mother I like to f*ck. I'm from a non English speaking country and I can say that I haven't met anybody who'd know that. I myself didn't know that until I read a Wikipedia article. The OP should first try to see if this is the case, otherwise fire them. Some are bad at flirting, and sometimes you say silly things. We shouldn't be this generous at calling everything sexual harassment.
- beambot 11y agoIn many states, intent doesn't matter for sexual harassment -- even if the person saying "MILF" didn't know what it meant, the recipient could still construe it as harassment (and win!).
- gkya 11y agoAnd some states still execute people and until recently some didn't allow homosexual marriages. Some states kept slavery well into the twentieth century. Do we measure right and wrong with state legislations?
- beambot 11y agoI'll ignore your strawman entirely.... and just say: If the OP wants to protect his business, the offending employee's intent is immaterial when it comes to exposing himself^ and his company to undue legal risk. ^ IIRC in California managers (as company representatives) are personally liable if they knew of the harassment and didn't take corrective action. OP needs to lawyer up, deal with this, and address harassment more broadly in the company. Sucks to deal with... but is mandatory training for all medium-to-big companies.
- DanGarcia595 11y agoIf that is the case, would you, not knowing the meaning of a word, use that word in a professional environment? And also, does not understanding the meaning of the word excuse it's use?
- duskwuff 11y agoUnless you are in the porn business, describing a coworker as a "MILF" is always sexual harassment. The acronym literally declares an intention to have sexual intercourse; it has no innocent interpretation.
- tempestn 11y agoI agree with you, but depending on a person's background, it is likely not always intentional harassment. I've known people who use MILF interchangeably with something like "hot". (Which also would often be inappropriate of course, but presumably wouldn't be considered as crossing the line into harassment as a standalone incident.) Basically there are plenty of people out there who use MILF as an adjective without even considering the literal meaning of the acronym.