Original Question - 60 years ago, computer terminals were showing up on desks in many industries. Adam was the division manager of a major communications company in New York City. He was always respectful of others. He was also a practical joker. He added a special routine to the company mainframe that would run only when his secretary used her access number. When she accessed the mainframe, her terminal would compliment her appearance, her hair, eyes, or dress for example. After several weeks of this, Adam told his secretary what he had done. She laughed and enjoyed the joke. Fast forward to today, would that be considered sexual harassment? Would it still be a joke or would Adam face difficulties at work? Explain.

Initial post - If this incident happened today, I believe that it would be considered sexual harassment. This action can be deemed as not only being unprofessional, but it can be seen as sexual harassment as well because it is a verbal statement that could establish a hostile work environment. In this case, any behavior that includes verbal comments that are unwelcome, or any comments made that affect the secretary's ability to do their job is sexual harassment (Perdew, 2022). Even if this was meant to be a joke, the case still stands that there is potential for this to be sexual harassment because of the unwelcoming comments. Many of these verbal comments are stated in the workplace as a "joke". However, the reality is that there is nothing funny about comments like this as it can affect people in many negative ways.

Furthermore, if this incident happened today, it can be argued that Adam would face difficulties at work. "There are federal and state laws that prohibit sexual harassment in the workplace and require that allegations of sexual harassment be filed with the EEOC before filing a lawsuit" (Perdew, 2022, p. 43). With this, it would be likely that Adam would face consequences that could lead to his termination of employment, a lawsuit could be placed against him, or he could be referred to counseling or training regarding sexual harassment. Whatever the consequences could be, it is important to take the correct actions against sexual harassment in order to have a safe and secure work environment.

INSTRUCTIONS: please reply to this initial post by following one or more of the directions below.

Ask a probing or clarifying question.

Share an insight from having read the colleague's posting.

Offer and support an opinion.

Validate an idea with your own experience.

Make a suggestion.

Expand on the colleague's posting.

Ask for evidence that supports the posting.

NOTE: PLEASE FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS TO PROVIDE AN ANSWER TO THE INITIAL POST