Your conflating standard "harrassment" with "sexual harassmenet" they are not at all the same thing. Sexual harassment requires (by the definition you cite) th

Your conflating standard "harrassment" with "sexual harassmenet" they are not at all the same thing. Sexual harassment requires (by the definition you cite) things of a a sexual nature to be integral to the harassment. But that's not the same thing as assigning somebody busy work or whatever. That's just being an a$$hat of a colleague. Per your definition: Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment ===when=== -submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual's employment, -submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment decisions affecting such individuals, or -such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment. (29 C.F.R. § 1604.11 [1980]) Lots of people are jerks at work, and lots of people are jerks to their ex, but neither are per-se sexual harassment under the third bullet point.