Is a hug sexual harassment? What if hugs are given by a male supervisor to female staff? What if the male supervisor hugs male and female staff alike (although females more than males)? If a male supervisor hugs a female staff member over 100 times–over a period of 12 years–is that a hostile work environment?
This was at the heart of a recent court case: Zetwick v. County of Yolo. The undisputed facts are that Sheriff Edward G. Prieto repeatedly hugged the plaintiff, corrections officer Victoria Zetwick, over a period of 12 years. Prieto hugged lots of people–not just Zetwick. He did hug women more often than he did men.
Prieto and Zetwick didn’t work together on a regular basis, but over a period of 12 years, Prieto hugged Zetwick somewhere around 100 times. That sounds like a lot, but when you break it down, it’s less than once a month. There was also an incident when Prieto tried to kiss Zetwick on the cheek and she turned her head, which meant he kissed her partially on the mouth. This is not the main complaint; however, it does add to it.
To keep reading, click here: Court: Hugging Could Be Sexual Harassment
Suzanne, remember when Ask a Manager had that letter about the receptionist who turbo-hugged everybody and wouldn’t stop? I think the OP asked her to and she wouldn’t. It wasn’t sexual, but could that still be considered harassment?
Shrugs not Hugs! 🙂
I’d say that the approach to hugging should be similar to asking out a coworker. It’s not sexual harassment to ask a coworker on a date, but it becomes problematic if you don’t take no for an answer, retaliated for being turned down, or are creepy or inappropriate in how you ask them out. And you don’t ask out people you have power over.
So – don’t hug your subordinates, don’t hug anyone who says they don’t want to be hugged, and no intense, full body, or lingering hugs.
And I would say that if someone disproportionately hugs one gender (or age group) over another, it pushes it a lot farther towards being sexual harassment (like mostly hugging the younger women), but that same gender hugging is not automatically free from sexual overtones or uncomfortableness.