Sexual Harassment Quiz
Questions: 16 · 10 minutes
1. Who can potentially engage in workplace sexual harassment?
Only a direct supervisor who controls pay or promotion decisions
People in different workplace roles, including coworkers, supervisors, clients, customers, or contractors
Only employees who work at the same physical location
Only someone who has previously received a formal warning
2. A coworker says a repeated sexual joke is upsetting. The person telling it says it was meant as a compliment. What is the soundest response?
Take the concern seriously and consider whether the conduct was unwelcome and how context affected its impact
Treat the positive intention as decisive unless the joke included a threat
Wait to respond until several other employees raise the same concern
Assume the issue is only a personality conflict because no insult was intended
3. A supervisor hints that an employee will receive a promotion if the employee agrees to a date. Which concept does this most directly illustrate?
Ordinary performance management
Quid pro quo harassment involving a work benefit and requested sexual or romantic cooperation
A consensual workplace friendship
A hostile environment caused only by repeated offensive jokes
4. During a meeting, an employee hears repeated sexual remarks but does not feel safe confronting the speaker. Which response is an example of bystander delegation?
Changing the subject to interrupt the remarks without discussing them afterward
Directly ordering the speaker to leave the meeting
Privately writing down the remarks but telling nobody who could assist
Asking an appropriate manager, union representative, or designated contact to help address the situation
5. After an employee reports unwanted sexual conduct, the employee is excluded from meetings and assigned undesirable shifts because of the report. What does this most clearly raise?
A consensual scheduling arrangement
A retaliation concern
A confidentiality requirement
A bystander intervention strategy
6. An employee wants to preserve an accurate record of concerning workplace conduct. Which note would generally be most useful?
A contemporaneous account with dates, words or actions, locations, witnesses, and any response taken
A list of rumors about how the person may have treated other employees
A broad statement written months later saying the workplace always felt uncomfortable
A rewritten version that removes uncertain details but fills the gaps with likely events
7. A senior leader repeatedly asks a junior employee for dates. The junior employee laughs nervously and changes the subject. What is the soundest interpretation?
Laughter proves the invitations are welcome
Differences in workplace authority are irrelevant to whether conduct is unwelcome
A concern can exist only after the junior employee resigns
The response should be considered in context, including the power difference and whether the employee could freely express refusal
8. A coworker declines a date. The person asking continues every week, sends romantic messages through work systems, and waits outside the coworker’s workspace. What is the best workplace-knowledge conclusion?
Each invitation must be considered welcome because it is phrased politely
Repeated conduct after a refusal may be unwelcome and concerning; it should stop, and the coworker may use available support or reporting options
It should be ignored until the coworker gives a reason for declining
The conduct is purely personal because no work benefit was explicitly offered
9. Why should a manager avoid promising absolute confidentiality after receiving a harassment report?
Information may need to be shared on a limited, need-to-know basis to respond fairly and follow required procedures
Managers should freely discuss reports so coworkers can supply opinions
Every report must immediately be announced to the whole workforce
Confidentiality is relevant only when physical contact is alleged
10. Coworkers use a work group chat to send sexual memes after hours, and one participant asks them to stop. Which principle is most relevant?
Participation in the group chat permanently waives the right to set boundaries
Messages outside scheduled hours cannot create a workplace concern
Digital content matters only when it is sent from an employer-owned computer
Work-connected digital conduct can still affect the workplace, even when sent after normal hours
11. An employee’s usual reporting contact is the supervisor whose conduct is causing concern. What should a well-designed workplace process provide?
A requirement to confront that supervisor before speaking to anyone else
A waiting period to see whether the conduct stops on its own
An alternative reporting route, such as another manager, designated contact, union channel, or external option where applicable
A rule that only coworkers may submit the concern on the employee’s behalf
12. A team member tells a supervisor about unwanted sexual messages from a coworker. What is the most responsible initial response?
Listen without blame, explain available options and limits, preserve relevant information, and follow applicable reporting procedures
Immediately confront the accused employee in front of the team
Ask the team member to resolve it privately before workplace procedures are used
Promise complete secrecy and guarantee a specific disciplinary outcome
13. Two coworkers previously went on a consensual date. One later asks the other to stop making sexual comments at work. What principle applies?
Personal history prevents either coworker from raising a workplace concern
The earlier date makes future romantic or sexual comments presumptively acceptable
The boundary matters only if it is submitted through a formal reporting system
Past consent does not make later conduct welcome; the stated workplace boundary should be respected
14. When assessing whether conduct may contribute to a hostile work environment, which consideration is generally most useful?
Whether physical contact occurred, because words and images cannot contribute
Whether the speaker admits intending to cause harm
The full context, including the conduct’s nature, severity, frequency, and effect on the working environment
Whether the conduct happened during standard office hours
15. Which description best captures the general workplace meaning of sexual harassment?
Only physical sexual contact between a manager and a direct report
Any workplace conversation that includes dating, relationships, or sexuality
Unwelcome sexual conduct, or sex-based conduct, that can affect a person’s work or working environment
Only conduct that has already been formally proven to violate the law
16. An employee repeatedly sees sexually explicit images displayed near a shared workstation, although the images are not directed at that employee. Which statement is most accurate?
The employee cannot be affected because the display did not name them
Only the person depicted in an image could raise a workplace concern
Conduct can affect the working environment even when the person experiencing its effects was not its direct target
A concern exists only if the images were sent through the employer’s email system