"Sexual harassment on the rise in German workplace: study", 25 October 2019

More employees in Germany are experiencing sexual harassment in the workplace than four years ago, according to a…government study…

[53%] of sexual harassment was carried out by third parties…[and] 43% of victims were harassed by a work colleague - almost one in five perpetrators were superiors...

[Bernhard] Franke, acting head of the [Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency]…added that it was in the interest of German companies to intervene…by appointing…contacts that victims can approach, and by offering obligatory training courses for managers. [T]he majority of victims had verbally defended themselves, [but] many were unaware that [German] labour law puts the onus on employers to protect workers. Just 40%...approached third parties...Victims often attempted to resolve the problem with the perpetrator but were sometimes fearful of the career repercussions of reporting harassment to their bosses.

A similar study carried out in 2015 found that one-in-six women and every 14th person had experienced sexual harassment at work.