Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: Guidance for Employers

Anti-Harassment Policies and Complaint Procedures Your employment attorney can assist you with the wording for an anti-harassment policy, especially if you are currently dealing with harassment issues in your business and are seeking legal counsel. Writing Anti-Harassment Policies What should you include in a sexual harassment policy? According to the EEOC, all kinds of harassment can occur in the workplace and sexual harassment is a specific type of discrimination. You want your policy to be broad enough to cover all types of harassment that violate federal law. Harassment involving any type of discrimination is illegal in the workplace. Therefore your policy should state that the employer does not tolerate any harassment based on the following: Race Sex Religion National Origin Age Disability Genetic information Harassment based on opposition to discrimination or complaint proceedings Retaliation against anyone complaining of harassment or participating in an investigation Harassment Complaint Procedures Establishing a procedure for dealing with harassment complaints is vital to protect employees and also to protect your business. What elements should your complaint procedure incorporate? First of all, as the employer, you should encourage your employees to report harassment. Doing so can help you prevent harassment from becoming severe or widespread. You should appoint more than one official to take complaints and make sure the officials are accessible for employees — readily available and in locations where employees can contact them. You can decide and designate which officials are appropriate to hear complaints and also make sure that the supervisors hearing complaints report them to management. Make sure that supervisors and other management personnel protect the confidentiality of the employee who...

Representative Conyers: Claims Mounting About Sexual Misconduct

Since multiple allegations of sexual misconduct emerged regarding Harvey Weinstein, during the past month, other women have come forward in Hollywood and other industries to make their claims of sexual harassment known. A recent example is Democratic Representative John Conyers, who is resigning amidst accusations of sexual misconduct by multiple women. Confers announced his decision to retire while in a Detroit hospital during an interview on “The Mildred Gaddis Show” on 102.7 FM. and said he plans to back his son to replace him. Sexual Misconduct Allegations According to The Washington Post, former staff member Deanna Maher came forward with claims that on various occasions from 1997 through 2005, Conyers sexually harassed her. She said she never came forward earlier because he was too powerful and she believed no one would want to take her claims seriously. However, there was a previous staff member who also alleged sexual misconduct claims, and in 2015 a settlement was reached between Conyers and the staff member for $27,000. The settlement was over the staff member’s claims for what had occurred when she worked for him in the 1990’s. These claims recently led to a House ethics investigation of Conyers (age 88), the longest serving member of Congress. He denied the claims. However, as a result, House of Representatives leader Nancy Pelosi made a statement saying that the claims were believable and requested that Conyers step down, which he has done. CNN reported that Representative Jim Clyburn also asked Conyers to resign and said it was in his best interests. Clyburn is the assistant Democratic leader and holds the highest-ranking position by an...

Companies Accused of Discrimination or Harassment: What Can You Do?

When accusations of discrimination or harassment emerge, employers should consult with an employment law defense lawyer as soon as possible. Aside from seeking counsel, what actions can you take right away and what mistakes can you avoid? The American Bar Association  suggests avoiding the following mistakes. Failing to investigate immediately. Waiting for an employee to submit a formal statement about harassment or discrimination or waiting for witnesses to submit written statements is the most common mistake made by employers. Any investigation delay can make it appear like you’re ignoring the situation or not taking it seriously. Inserting cross-examination into the process. Conducting an investigation without bias is important for avoiding claims of unfair investigation against your company, even when you suspect a complainant, witness or the accused individual is lying. A better approach is to ask in a respectful manner that the person explain contradictory statements or ask for evidence that refutes the statements. Not maintaining confidentiality. You must keep the investigation confidential along with the information obtained during the investigation. If witnesses suffer backlash from the investigation because their identity is made known or for any other reason, as the employer, you may become subject to claims of retaliation. Not interviewing all witnesses with knowledge of the alleged events. The investigator should interview all the witnesses because it will help determine whether information is consistent. Failing to make known the company’s policy against retaliation. Retaliation is a common problem, according to the EEOC and comprises about one third of the cases the EEOC handles. It is important to reinforce the company policy by reminding all parties that retaliation...

How Prevalent Is Sexual Harassment in the Workplace?

As an employer, being knowledgeable about sexual harassment and the types of challenges you can potentially face is to your advantage. With proper insight, you can take preventative measures against having harassment arise in your work environment. EEOC Study on Sexual Harassment In 2015, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) received an estimated 28,000 charges that alleged sexual harassment from employees who worked for private employers or state or local government employers. Of all the harassment charges filed, the greatest percentage (45%) was based on sex. Other discrimination harassment incidents broke down percentage-wise as follows: Racial — 34% Disability — 29% Age — 15% National Origen— 13% Religious — 5% Sexual Harassment Definition and Examples The EEOC did not limit its investigation to workplace discrimination that would be legally actionable because it geared the study to understanding why the behavior was occurring and sought to come up with preventative strategies. The study considered unwelcome or offensive workplace conduct based on sex (sexual orientation, pregnancy and gender identity), race, color, national origin, religion, age, disability and/or genetic information. It also considered behavior that was detrimental to an employee’s work performance, professional advancement and/or mental health. Examples included (but were not limited to): offensive jokes, slurs, name calling, undue attention, physical assaults or threats, unwelcome touching or contact, intimidation, ridicule or mockery, insults or put-downs, constant or unwelcome questions about an individual’s identity and offensive objects or pictures. Study Findings The EEOC Select Task Force discovered that women who experienced sexual harassment ranged from 25% to 85%. The main difference in responses was because some workers did not label the experience...

University Policies to Deal with Sexual Harassment Issues

Recently, a sexual harassment case involving a Chicago professor became high profile in the news. While you can view the case from the perspective of the victim and the alleged abuser, there is also the viewpoint of educational institutions to consider. What preventative actions can they take to protect themselves against lawsuits? The New York Times  reported that a well-known molecular biologist, who was a professor at the University of Chicago resigned after the university recommended he be fired. The administration based the termination recommendation on violations of the college’s sexual misconduct policy. Professor Jason Lieb allegedly made unwanted sexual advances toward several female graduate students during an off campus retreat attended by graduate students and several faculty members. As a result of the allegations, Lieb resigned. An incident of sexual misconduct also arose when Lieb worked at the University of North Carolina. However, an investigation at that time revealed no evidence to support the claim. When Lieb left the University of North Carolina and Princeton interviewed him for a position, Lieb gave permission for Princeton staff to examine his UNC personnel file. The University of Chicago also examined his UNC personnel file and found no evidence that proved him guilty of the allegation. Consequently, the Chicago department of human genetics voted unanimously to hire him. Weighing the responsibility to protect sexual harassment victims versus false sexual harassment allegations can be difficult. Obviously, background checks are vital for educational institutions when hiring personnel. Also, these types of incidents bring up questions about whether the standards universities currently use to evaluate candidates during the hiring process are adequate. At Stephen...

Are Your Employees Trained to Prevent Sexual Harassment?

Sexual harassment is a form of discrimination. It’s one thing to understand that managers and other employees in your business must not discriminate and to establish good business practices that prohibit discrimination. It’s a whole different challenge to train employees and see that they apply their training to situations. Training Today addresses the employee training issue and provides specific guidelines for training employees about sexual harassment, such as: Define sexual harassment Review the laws that prohibit sexual harassment in the workplace Give examples of sexual harassment Give examples of actions that aren’t sexual harassment Cover the specific types of sexual harassment Explain the tangible employment action (a significant change in employment status through hiring, firing, promotion, demotion, undesirable reassignment, significant benefit changes, compensation decision and work assignment— EEOC) Explain hostile work environment (work environment that violates an individual’s dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that individual – EEOC ) Cover who can commit sexual harassment Explain who can experience sexual harassment Explain conditions under which sexual harassment can occur If harassment occurs, inform employees what person handles the complaints Explain when employers are liable Outline objectives of a workplace sexual harassment policy Explain everyone’s role in achieving the policy objectives Explain employee’s responsibilities Train employees to use reasonable care in making a good faith effort to avoid sexual harassment and to use internal complaint procedures Outline manager’s and employer’s responsibilities to address harassment Explain steps taken to ensure a thorough invetigation of a sexual harassment complaint Explain what to do when an employee doesn’t cooperate with the investigation Stephen Hans & Associates helps...