It’s hard to work in the restaurant industry. You have to be able to work quickly and accurately while maintaining a friendly face for customers and clearly communicating with front of the house and back of the house personnel. But your job can be made even more difficult when you’re subjected to sexual harassment. This behavior can include unwanted sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, being subjected to demeaning statements and even facing jokes that are incessant and that make you uncomfortable. If left unchecked, sexual harassment can leave you fearful of work and at risk of being retaliated against for failing to submit to your harasser’s requests. Also, if you don’t appropriately take action, then an employer could hit you with an adverse employment decision simply for reporting the harassment.
Therefore, if you’re being subjected to sexual harassment, now is the time to act to protect your safety, your psychological well-being and your job. We know that’s easier said than done, which is why in this post we want to look at steps you can take to ensure you’re shielded as much as possible.
Where to look for evidence of sexual harassment in the restaurant industry
If you plan on brining sexual harassment to the forefront in an attempt to hold your employer accountable, you have to know where to look for evidence. Here are some key places to find evidence that may support your position:
- Witness observations: If you’ve been harassed, then there’s a good chance that your co-workers have seen it. You need to gather their statements to support your claim. The more witness accounts you have, the better. After all, you may be going up against someone who holds a significant amount of power over you and who carries a lot of credibility with your employer, so you need to ensure your assertions are backed up by powerful evidence.
- Your own recollections: Sexual harassment is rarely an isolated event. Instead, harassment usually continues for a significant period of time. Once you’re ready to act on the harassment to which you’ve been subjected, it may be hard to recall the details of each instance of harassment. This can make it challenging to build a compelling legal claim. Therefore, it’s a good idea to write down as many details as you can about your harassment as soon after it occurs as possible.
- Security footage: Many restaurants have cameras throughout the establishment that may have caught the harassment in question. It might take a little legal legwork, but you should see if you can get your hands on that footage to help support your case.
- Communications with your employer: While a sexual harassment claim is about the egregious behavior to which you’ve been subjected, it should also focus on your employer’s response to your complaints. So, try to reduce everything to writing and retain your employer’s responses.
Find accountability for the damage caused by sexual harassment
Sexual harassment can completely upend your career, your finances and your mental well-being. You can’t sit back and let your employer take advantage of you like that. So, if you’ve been subjected to sexual harassment, don’t make the mistake of thinking that the power imbalance puts you at a disadvantage or that having to work for tips means that you have to give in to whatever disgusting behavior is pushed your way. Instead, use your fear, anger and frustration as motivation to seek accountability and recover the compensation to which you may be entitled.