Remote work has transformed the working environment, offering flexibility for employees and employers alike. While remote work provides countless benefits, this shift has introduced new complexities for managing workplace conduct. While harassment may seem less likely outside of a traditional office environment, remote workers are not immune. They remain entitled to legal protections, and employers must adapt workplace harassment policies to address the unique challenges of managing remote employees.

How Harassment Presents in Remote Work Environments

While the lack of physical proximity eliminates some forms of workplace harassment, remote work creates opportunities for other inappropriate behaviors. Examples of remote work harassment include:

• Sexual Harassment. Sexually harassing messages, such as unsolicited comments about a colleague’s appearance, repeated requests for dates after being declined, or sending sexual jokes, memes, or images.
• Discrimination. Messages that contain derogatory comments about a person’s race, religion, gender, age, disability, or other protected characteristics, questioning someone’s qualifications based on their membership in a particular class, or excluding someone from work communication based on protected characteristics.
• Bullying or Intimidation. Repeatedly criticizing someone’s work in harsh or demeaning terms, threatening someone’s job security to coerce behavior, public humiliation, or ganging up on someone in a group chat or team channel.
• Cyberstalking. Excessive monitoring of a colleague’s online activity and commenting on it, sending unwanted messages after being asked to stop, inappropriate use of work systems to track someone’s location, or creating fake accounts to contact a colleague who has blocked communication.
• Retaliation. Sending threatening messages after someone reports misconduct, spreading rumors or false information after someone raised concerns, or excluding someone from important communications after they have complained.

Remote Harassment Can Be More Detrimental Than In-Person

Many people believe that the physical distance involved in online harassment means its psychological impact is less severe. However, this is not necessarily the case. While in-person harassment is profoundly detrimental, the end of the workday offers an escape. The pervasive nature of digital communications means cyberbullying and digital stalking can extend beyond the workday, serving as a constant stressor that prevents victims from escaping the trauma.

When remote workplace harassment occurs on a public platform, it can increase the harm to the victim if it happens in front of peers and supervisors. Online workplace harassment can leave behind a digital trail that is difficult to erase, meaning it can be revisited as an enduring threat to the victim’s personal and professional life.

Key Legal Protections for Remote Employees

The same laws that protect employees from in-person workplace harassment extend to remote workers. Employers are responsible for ensuring a workplace that is free from harassment, even in virtual settings. They must take reasonable steps to prevent harassment and address inappropriate communication that occurs through digital tools or other remote work channels.

Challenges to Addressing Remote Work Harassment

While the legal framework for addressing workplace harassment is the same regardless of whether it occurs in person or online, remote work presents unique enforcement challenges.

• Depending on the circumstances, employers may attempt to claim that they are not responsible for certain types of harassment, or that they cannot control what their employees do outside of work.
• Remote work can blur professional boundaries, creating opportunities for harassment in informal settings like virtual happy hours or group chats.
• While online harassment leaves a digital trail, retrieving and preserving evidence can be challenging when communications are deleted.
• Victims of remote work harassment may be hesitant to report incidents, fearing they will not be taken seriously because of the lack of physical proximity or direct confrontation.

What To Do If You Experience Harassment as a Remote Employee

Remote employees who experience workplace harassment have the same legal remedies as their in-office colleagues. A remote employee who experiences workplace harassment should:

• Clearly communicate that the behavior is unwelcome and must stop.
• Document the offensive conduct by saving emails, messages, and voicemails, and create a journal of the harassing incidents, including dates, times, locations, what occurred, and any witnesses.
• Promptly seek legal advice from an employment attorney who can provide more specific advice about filing complaints internally with the company, or externally with governmental agencies.
• File a complaint with the company’s HR department or use other reporting mechanisms identified in their employer’s policies.
• Contact the workplace harassment attorneys at Madsen, Prestley & Parenteau, LLC, who can prepare and file a complaint with the EEOC and provide advice and legal guidance about whether to file a lawsuit for workplace harassment.