Vanderbilt Research Results

Recent research, conducted by a team at Vanderbilt University Law School, has revealed that employees who work in industries where the risk of sexual harassment is high are paid more than those individuals in other occupations. Joni Hersh, professor of law and economics at Vanderbilt, employed a computer software system to sort through 50,000 sexual harassment complaints, filed with the federal and state authorities between the years of 2000 and 2004, to find that women in such high-risk fields earned an additional .25 cents an hour, and men earned double that amount.

While it is uncommon for industries that are not associated with the threat of injury or death to offer premiums, the companies where the employees are susceptible to sexual harassment have begun to do just that. For instance, women who work in mining, construction, agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting were found to have filed the most reports of sexual harassment. Consequently, women in these industries are offered a higher income on average since it is more difficult to attract and retain quality and qualified employees for such jobs. Those fields which boasted the least amount of reports by female employees were education and health services. Men, who experience strikingly less sexual harassment overall, had the greatest amount of reports in the information industry, with three report complaints filed per 100,000 employees.

Possible Explanations

Those areas of employment where women seem to experience the most instances of sexual harassment appear to be those that are traditionally and stereotypically dominated by men. They also seem to involve more physical labor and irregular work hours. In drawing such inferences, one may conclude that women miners and construction workers, for example, are at a higher risk of sexual harassment since they are likely surrounded by more men, more often than other female employees.

While this theory is not intended to place the pervasiveness of the sexual harassment problem on men, it is intended to suggest that if the stage for sexual harassment is set, and the players are present, the performance is more likely to occur. Further, the fact that these jobs involve manual labor, may provide male employees with more opportunities to comment on their female counterparts bodies and physical movements. Any employee who believes that he or she has been the victim of workplace sexual harassment should seek out employment lawyers in Los Angeles.

Is the Promise of a Higher Salary a Good Thing?

While it may seem commendable that employers who are aware that their female employees are at a high risk of sexual harassment pay them more, the promise of a higher salary for such occupations may actually be perpetuating the problem. It may be true that sexual harassment should be in the same league as death or injury in regards to “danger pay”. Victims of sexual harassment have been shown to possess self-esteem issues and to suffer other psychological problems, and nearly ninety-five percent of women who are sexually harassed consequently experience some type of incapacitating stress reaction. Further, the fact that an employer pays a higher salary to obtain qualified workers does not release it from the requirement of implementing and enforcing an anti-harassment policy.

On the other hand, individuals who are making more money may be less inclined to leave those jobs and may instead choose to tolerate sexual harassment, thus making the problem worse. Also, in today’s poor economy, victims may also be less likely to report incidents of unlawful behavior because they fear that they will be retaliated against. Therefore, what may seem like a blessing (a fatter paycheck) may actually be a curse (the continuous decline of the workforce). In order to prevent the latter, employees, including those in high-risk occupations, should consult a competent attorney, such as an employment lawyer in Los Angeles, to discuss their case.