A Legal question about sexual harassment and the EEOC

[aluminumdisc]

If a paid teaching assistant was sexually harassed by a professor would it fall under the EEOC rules?

What if the TA was an unpaid student, would EEOC rules still apply?

Thanks!

[Duckster]

Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitutes sexual harassment when submission to 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.

– snip –

It is helpful for the victim to directly inform the harasser that the conduct is unwelcome and must stop. The victim should use any employer complaint mechanism or grievance system available.

When investigating allegations of sexual harassment, EEOC looks at the whole record: the circumstances, such as the nature of the sexual advances, and the context in which the alleged incidents occurred. A determination on the allegations is made from the facts on a case-by-case basis.

Source: http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/fs-sex.html

Assuming this is in a university or college setting, there should be ample local resources to help.