Inappropriate Touching: Know Your Rights and Options

Inappropriate touching is any physical contact that makes you feel uncomfortable. Examples of inappropriate touching may include unwanted hugging or kissing, massaging parts of your body, touching your thigh, purposefully brushing against your body’s intimate areas, or even groping or grabbing intimate areas of your body. Inappropriate touching can happen to anyone anywhere, such as at work, at school, or in a public place by a stranger. Your rights and options will differ based on the circumstances surrounding the incidents. Inappropriate touching in the workplace, for example, violates personal boundaries and can create an unsafe and hostile work environments. If you have experienced what you believe to be inappropriate touching, the first step is to document what happened. You should write down a description of the event who was involved, any potential witnesses, the date, time, and location of the incident, any evidence available such as video footage, how you reacted or how you felt in the moment, and how you feel presently.

After you’ve documented what happened to you independently the next best step is to report the incident to a trusted professional. If you’re in school, this may be a teacher, or if you’re at work, this could be a supervisor or your HR department. Inappropriate touching is a serious issue, especially if it is a repeated issue with the same individua Reporting the inappropriate touching is not only to help prevent harm to you, it can help prevent harm to others. After you’ve reported, your company has an obligation to investigate the report and implements any potential remedies. If you’ve reported inappropriate touching in your workplace or school and you believe that they either did not take the report seriously or they did not remedy the situation, you may have additional rights and options. First, you should follow up with the report for updates, and if there’s still no appropriate action taken, you may need to escalate the matter further and should seek out an experienced lawyer who can provide a free consultation regarding your rights and options.

For example, if you’ve experienced inappropriate touching in the workplace, you may have a case for sexual harassment, especially if there is a pattern of repeat behavior and no actions or limited repercussions against the perpetrator by your employer. A lawyer can help you understand these rights and options and take the appropriate actions to stop the behavior and hold the perpetrator accountable. This may include forcing your school or employer to take appropriate action or educating you around pursuing legal action such as filing a civil lawsuit against your employer, your school, or the individual themselves. They can not only help you understand your rights and options, they can ensure your rights are protected and your ability to file a claim against someone or an institution in the future are preserved should you wish to do so. If you believe you have experienced inappropriate touching in the workplace or at school, Helping Survivors can assist in helping you label the experience and understand what your next best steps are. Please get in touch if you have any questions.