The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System are firmly committed to ensuring that employees work in an environment free from discrimination and/or harassment because of an employee’s race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, veterans status, familial status, marital status, genetic information, and sexual orientation. 

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) defines sexual harassment as “unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when submission or rejection of this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual’s employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.”

How to Prevent Workplace Harassment

Please use the following tips to prevent harassment in the workplace:

• Become more sensitive about the opinions and concerns of others.
• Be familiar with the Equal Opportunity Policy Statement and Workplace Harassment policies.
• Be friendly and helpful, without using sexually referenced jokes, comments, or touching.
• Respectfully let others know when their behavior is inappropriate.
• Think how your interactions with co-workers may be perceived by others.
• Support and encourage everyone in the workplace to report inappropriate behavior and harassment.
• Honor the confidentiality of any sexual harassment investigations in which you may become involved.
• Respect others’ feelings about personal space.
• Make sure others are comfortable with your conduct and behavior.

How to Report Workplace Harassment

If you feel you have been subjected to or witnessed workplace harassment:

• Do not ignore the behavior.
• Document all relevant actions and exchanges. Include the date, time, place, and names of possible witnesses.
• Report the behavior to a supervisor or manager. If a supervisor is the harasser (or if your supervisor fails to report the behavior), go to his/her supervisor or contact Human Resources or Organizational Equity.