There is often more than one way of doing things. Where there is a workplace sexual harassment, a victim can seek remedy in court (whether under civil law and or criminal law) or use non-court alternatives.
However, it is important to emphasis that sexual harassment is a criminal offence and cannot be settled, it rather should be prosecuted in court after investigation by law enforcement agencies. All other available remedies and options would not affect the right to report to law enforcement agencies and to have such cases investigated and prosecuted.
Employers are expected to have sexual abuse and anti-harassment policies and mechanisms for detecting, investigating, and resolving issues of sexual harassment. Part of those policies should include an internal reporting mechanism for sexual harassment.
Where sexual harassments are reported to an employer and the employer takes no reasonable steps, it makes the employer vicariously liable for the reported sexual harassment.
Reporting sexual harassment through this mechanism may assist in stopping the harassment and may also provide relevant information to file an effective legal claim in a civil law case. If sexual harassment is reported through these mechanisms, it is important that the reports of investigations on any sexual harassment cases are documented and given to the victim.
If a harasser is a supervisor or human resources administrator, victims should report the sexual harassment to another high-ranking individual within the organization, such as an in-house attorney. This does not affect the right of the victim to report the crime to any law enforcement agent or her right to approach any court of law to seek civil law remedies.