“Sexual harassment” means:

• Unwelcome sexual advances
• Unwelcome requests for sexual favors
• Unwelcome physical contact of a sexual nature
• Unwelcome verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature.

“Unwelcome verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature” includes:

• The deliberate, repeated making of unsolicited gestures or comments of a sexual nature.

• The deliberate, repeated display of offensive sexually graphic materials which is not necessary for business purposes.

• Deliberate verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature, whether or not repeated, that is sufficiently severe to interfere substantially with an employee’s work performance or to create an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.

The law does not permit you to:

• Discriminate against any employee in promotion, compensation, or benefits on the basis of sex where sex is not a bona fide occupational qualification.

• Engage in sexual harassment.

• Implicitly or explicitly require an employee to submit to sexual harassment aa a term or condition of employment.

• Make any employment decision based on whether an employee accepts or rejects sexual harassment.

• Permitt sexual harassment to have the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with an employee’s work performance.

• Create an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment. The law decides whether a work environment is hostile of offensive based on what a reasonable person would conclude under the same circumstances.

• Discriminate against any woman on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, maternity leave or related medical conditions.

• Discriminate because of the employee’s sexual orientation.

• Terminate an employee because he or she has opposed discriminatory practices or because he or she has made a complaint, testified or assisted in an action against you.

You are presumed liable for an act of sexual harassment if the act occurs while the complaining employee is at your office, if the employee informs you of the act, and if you fail to take appropriate action within a reasonable time.

Practical advice

The prohibited conduct listed above is fairly straightforward and should be easy to understand. In addition to the obvious, chiropractors should be sensitive to two additional areas. The first is the proclivity of some doctors and/or their patients to tell sexually explicit jokes. If these jokes offend a staff member, the doctor should curtail the joke telling to avoid violating the law.

The second sensitive area involves those doctors who seek to have a relationship of a sexual nature with a person who works for them. A doctor engaging in a relationship with an employee risks a sexual harassment complaint. In every relationship, business or personal, there is the potential for it to go bad. When the person involved is a staff person and they feel angry or hurt for any reason, the business atmosphere will become strained which can affect patient relationships. In a worst case scenario, the individual may decide that the relationship was not voluntary and accuse the doctor of sexual harassment.

Short of documenting every step in the relationship to prove that it was consensual, there is only one way to avoid this risk. A doctor should pledge to themselves that they will not get involved with someone that works for them. If a doctor is positive that it is true love, they should talk to the employee, tell them how they feel; and, if the feeling is mutual, ask them to find a new job before beginning the relationship. If the employee not want to get a new job, the doctor should take the hint and back off completely or risk the consequences.

Statute excerpts

111.32(13) “Sexual harassment” means unwelcome sexual advances, unwelcome requests for sexual favors, unwelcome physical contact of a sexual nature or unwelcome verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. “Sexual harassment” includes conduct directed by a person at another person of the same or opposite gender. “Unwelcome verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature” includes but is not limited to the deliberate, repeated making of unsolicited gestures or comments of a sexual nature; the deliberate, repeated display of offensive sexually graphic materials which is not necessary for business purposes; or deliberate verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature, whether or not repeated, that is sufficiently severe to interfere substantially with an employee’s work performance or to create an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.

Sex, sexual orientation; exceptions and special cases.

111.36(1) Employment discrimination because of sex includes, but is not limited to, any of the following actions by any employer, labor organization, employment agency, licensing agency or other person:

111.36(1)(a) Discriminating against any individual in promotion, compensation paid for equal or substantially similar work, or in terms, conditions or privileges of employment or licensing on the basis of sex where sex is not a bona fide occupational qualification.

111.36(1)(b) Engaging in sexual harassment; or implicitly or explicitly making or permitting acquiescence in or submission to sexual harassment a term or condition of employment; or making or permitting acquiescence in, submission to or rejection of sexual harassment the basis or any part of the basis for any employment decision affecting an employe, other than an employment decision that is disciplinary action against an employe for engaging in sexual harassment in violation of this paragraph; or permitting sexual harassment to have the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with an employee’s work performance or of creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment. Under this paragraph, substantial interference with an employee’s work performance or creation of an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment is established when the conduct is such that a reasonable person under the same circumstances as the employe would consider the conduct sufficiently severe or pervasive to interfere substantially with the person’s work performance or to create an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.

111.36(1)(br) Engaging in harassment that consists of unwelcome verbal or physical conduct directed at another individual because of that individual’s gender, other than the conduct described in par. (b), and that has the purpose or effect of creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment or has the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with that individual’s work performance. Under this paragraph, substantial interference with an employee’s work performance or creation of an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment is established when the conduct is such that a reasonable person under the same circumstances as the employee would consider the conduct sufficiently severe or pervasive to interfere substantially with the person’s work performance or to create an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.

111.36(1)(c) Discriminating against any woman on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, maternity leave or related medical conditions by engaging in any of the actions prohibited under s. 111.322, including, but not limited to, actions concerning fringe benefit programs covering illnesses and disability.

111.36(1)(d)1. For any employer, labor organization, licensing agency or employment agency or other person to refuse to hire, employ, admit or license, or to bar or terminate from employment, membership or licensure any individual, or to discriminate against an individual in promotion, compensationor in terms, conditions or privileges of employment because of the individual’s sexual orientation; or

111.36(1)(d)2. For any employer, labor organization, licensing agency or employment agency or other person to discharge or otherwise discriminate against any person because he or she has opposed any discriminatory practices under this paragraph or because he or she has made a complaint, testified or assisted in any proceeding under this paragraph.

111.36(2) For the purposes of this subchapter, sex is a bona fide occupational qualification if all of the members of one sex are physically incapable of performing the essential duties required by a job, or if the essence of the employer’s business operation would be undermined if employees were not hired exclusively from one sex.

111.36(3) For purposes of sexual harassment claims under sub. (1) (b), an employer, labor organization, employment agency or licensing agency is presumed liable for an act of sexual harassment by that employer, labor organization, employment agency or licensing agency or by any of its employees or members, if the act occurs while the complaining employee is at his or her place of employment or is performing duties relating to his or her employment, if the complaining employe informs the employer, labor organization, employment agency or licensing agency of the act, and if the employer, labor organization, employment agency or licensing agency fails to take appropriate action within a reasonable time.