Sexual harassment should never have to be dealt with in the workplace; however, it is something that occurs. Sexual harassment can really limit you in the workplace and make your job a place that you do not want to be. If you are the victim of sexual harassment, you need to avoid these three common mistakes to ensure that your voice is heard and that the sexual harassment will stop.

Not Recognizing Sexual Harassment:

Too often, employees will ignore sexual harassment because they do not recognize it as sexual harassment. The problem with this is that, as it continues, it can become worse before you actually decide that it's something you need to report. You also need to know the difference between what is considered sexual harassment and what is not, since reporting someone for sexual harassment when it is not considered sexual harassment can be awkward. Sexual harassment is unwelcome sexual advances, requests, speech, or behavior that creates a hostile environment for the victim or victims. One example of sexual harassment would be if your employer asks you to do any kind of sexual act in order to be promoted or receive a raise. It is also sexual harassment for you to be discriminated against because of your gender. 

Not Reporting the Sexual Harassment Right Away:

As soon as you have dealt with sexual harassment in the workplace, you need to report it to your human-resources department right away. This way something can be done about it before it gets out of hand. If you don't report it right away, the delay can reduce your credibility and disrupt the process of your report and case because it won't be as easy to investigate if the problems have been occurring for some time or happened quite some time ago. 

Not Hiring a Sexual-Harassment Attorney:

Rather than allowing HR to handle the case on their own, you should consider hiring a sexual-harassment attorney to ensure that your rights are fully protected. This is also the best way to ensure that your company compensates you if your sexual-harassment case has disrupted your ability to perform in your workplace, thus leading to your not receiving a raise, missing work because of fear, and so forth. Your attorney will ensure that your case is handled properly. 

When you know what three mistakes to avoid as the victim of sexual harassment, you can be sure that your case is not overlooked, and you can continue working in your workplace without feeling that you need to quit or miss work.