Research On Employer Responsibility In Workplace Sexual Harassment

Workplace sexual harassment is a phenomenon that has long troubled the working life of female workers.However,this phenomenon has not received much attention in the past,but disappeared in the public view.In recent years,topics such as the concept of gender equality and women’s equality have been widely spread through new media,and women’s awareness of safeguarding their rights has been generally enhanced.The problem of workplace sexual harassment,which used to be ignored by the public,has gradually surfaced.How to regulate workplace sexual harassment has become an urgent issue in law.Although Article 1010 of the Civil Code and the Law on the Protection of Women’s Rights and Interests respectively stipulate the concept of workplace sexual harassment and the subject of responsibility for workplace sexual harassment,it is difficult to effectively regulate workplace sexual harassment in practice.In the world,a relatively effective regulation method of sexual harassment in the workplace is to attribute the behavior responsibility to the unit of employers,namely the employer responsibility.However,the current regulation of sexual harassment in the workplace employer responsibility still has the following problems to solve: Firstly,in terms of legislation,the current provisions on employer liability in workplace sexual harassment are mainly distributed in the Civil Code and the Protection Law of Women’s Rights and Interests,and its content is relatively vague,which only makes clear that these relevant units have an obligation to prevent sexual harassment.Although organizations such as government agencies,companies and schools have an obligation to prevent sexual harassment,it does not mean that they must be held strictly responsible when sexual harassment occurs.The employer’s liability is a strict liability,but the occurrence of sexual harassment is neither the result of the employee’s behavior in accordance with the employer’s will and interests,nor has nothing to do with the duty behavior,so the provisions on employer’s liability cannot be applied.The employer’s liability for sexual harassment should be the fault liability,that is,only when the employer has a fault in preventing sexual harassment,which leads to the occurrence of sexual harassment and causes great damage,it should bear the corresponding responsibility.Second,in terms of judicial application,in practice,the identification of workplace sexual harassment in most cases belongs to the wrongful dismissal of employers.More importantly,courts at all levels should clarify the relationship between different causes and workplace sexual harassment.Some labor disputes and tort disputes may contain some cases of workplace sexual harassment.However,the victim only filed a lawsuit against her personal injury and illegal dismissal.All of these will lead to the workplace environment where employees are subjected to unfair treatment or sexual harassment and cannot solve their problems through the right way.Thirdly,in terms of the victim’s right to exercise,the victim of workplace sexual harassment has a negative attitude towards the right to exercise.Female workers often exercise the right to exercise or even give up the right under pressure after being sexually harassed,because sexual harassment usually occurs in the absence of a third person,and the statements of both parties often conflict.How to prove sexual harassment is a big problem.The setting of the employer’s liability does not have the intended effect.In order to effectively regulate sexual harassment in the workplace,the above-mentioned problems can be obtained from the following aspects by referring to the legislative experience of foreign countries and combining with the national conditions of our country: First,relevant laws should be improved,the regulation of sexual harassment in the workplace should not be limited to the civil law approach,and the content of the employer’s responsibility can be added to the labor law to enrich the regulation approach;Secondly,in the judicial application,clearly distinguish the types of behavior and assign the burden of proof of all parties,so as to determine the role of the employer in the workplace sexual harassment dispute and divide its responsibility.Thirdly,in the establishment of effective preventive measures,the enterprise blacklist system can be established to promote the enterprise to take the responsibility of the employer.Finally,multiple relief systems should be established,and the relief means for workplace sexual harassment can be expanded from litigation to a series of non-litigation means such as mediation within the employer unit.