the behavior has to be offensive enough to alter the victims' workplace. That is, merely using words of a sexual nature does not constitute a violation of Title VII. It is imperative that there are disadvantaged terms or conditions of employment which only pertain to one gender. The second requirement is made to ensure that harmless horseplay or intersexual flirtation is not misconstrued as sexual discrimination. The behavior has to be severe and pervasive throughout the workplace to cause an alteration in the workplace that a reasonable person would find hostile or abusive.The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Guidelines define sexual harassment as unwelcome sexual advances when made a condition of employment, rejection or performance of sexual requests is used in making employment decisions or the conduct substantially interferes with the individuals work performance due to a hostile or intimidating environment. In order to show a hostile work environment one must prove five criteria. The first of the five is that the victim must be a member of a protected group or suspect class. Secondly, you must have been the subject of unwelcome advances of a sexual nature. Third, the harassment was based on the victims sex and not any other characteristic. Fourth, the victim is required to show an affect on their employment terms or conditions, and fifth the employer must have knowledge as well as failure to act on that knowledge. These guidelines will help to ensure that there are no abuses of the new broader interpretation of Title VII, however, the decision of the court still leaves a few questions unanswered. First of all, under the definition of same sex harassment, is discrimination because of sex a group or individual injury? In other words does the entire class of the effected gender have to be discriminated upon or can an isolated incident have a viable claim under Title VII and the Equal Employment Opportunity Gui...
