The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission tracks sexual harasssment statistics based on the number of complaints they receive. In Fiscal Year 2007, EEOC received 12,510 charges of sexual harassment. 16.0% of those charges were filed by males. EEOC resolved 11,592 sexual harassment charges in FY 2007 and recovered $49.9 million in monetary benefits for charging parties and other aggrieved individuals (not including monetary benefits obtained through litigation).
Other statistics can be found in a telephone poll conducted by Louis Harris and Associates on 782 workers revealed:
- 31% of the female workers claimed to have been harassed at work
- 7% of the male workers claimed to have been harassed at work
- 62% of targets took no action
- 100% of women claimed the harasser was a man
- 59% of men claimed the harasser was a woman
- 41% of men claimed the harasser was another man
Of the women who had been harassed:
- 43% were harassed by a supervisor
- 27% were harassed by an employee senior to them
- 19% were harassed by a coworker at their level
- 8% were harassed by a junior employee
Studies suggest anywhere between 40-70% of women and 10-20% of men have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace.
The very high percentage of sexual harassment reported as coming from a supervisor means that sexual harassment training of supervisors is vital. It's also a California requirement (through AB-1825).