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Sexual harassment is also illegal at schools and colleges. Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the California Education Code sections 200 - 231.5 prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, including sexual harassment, in education programs and activities. The essential elements of such a claim for sexual harassment are:
- plaintiff suffered severe, pervasive and offensive harassment that effectively deprived her of the right of equal access to educational benefits and opportunities;
- The school had actual knowledge of the harassment;
- The school acted with “deliberate indifference” in the face of such knowledge; and
- The deliberate indifference by the school caused plaintiff to suffer injury, damage, loss or harm.
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The term "deliberate indifference" means that the district's response to the alleged harassment was clearly unreasonable in light of all the known circumstances. A response that is merely inept, erroneous, ineffective, or negligent does not amount to deliberate indifference. However, an official cannot simply turn a blind eye and do nothing. The official must respond in a prompt, timely and reasonable manner to a Plaintiff’s allegations of discrimination and sexual harassment. For deliberate indifference to occur where one student harasses another student, the harassment must take place in a context subject to the defendant’s control, and the individual defendants must have disciplinary authority over the person who is harassing the plaintiff.
In schools, children may regularly interact in a manner that would be unacceptable for adults. Consequently, a plaintiff cannot recover damages for harassment for being subjected to such simple acts as teasing and name-calling, even where these are comments target differences in actual or perceived sexual orientation.
Not only is sexual harassment illegal. The law also prohibits:
- Racial harassment
- Religious harassment
- Age-based harassment
- Harassment based on disability
- Harassment based on ethnicity or national origin
- Retaliation
Most people are familiar with workplace sexual harassment claims. Harassment in professional, business, and educational relationships are also illegal.