Abstract
Sexual harassment continues to be a serious problem in the work place in terms of the number of claims being filed, the new types of claims filed, and the cost to the employer. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) reported that in fiscal year 2003, it received 13,566 sexual harassment claims. Employers tend to think that these claims are only filed by women but there are an increasing number of men who are also filing claims. For example, in fiscal year 2003, 14.7% of the sexual harassment claims filed with the EEOC were filed by men. In addition, employees are now allowed to bring claims against persons of the same sex. These claims can be very costly. The Federal Government reported in 1994 that it had paid $267 million for sexual harassment adjudication for the previous two years, and in 1997 that amount had increased to $327 million for the previous two years. The EEOC reported that in fiscal year 2003 it obtained $50 million in settlement dollars for persons who filed complaints with the EEOC, and this figure does not include monetary awards obtained through litigation.