Sexual Harassment
donicek
47 Posts
We have an employee who complained about a mgr.trying to kiss her,she has not told us the name and at the meeting brought her boyfriend.in 5 days we have communicated via voice mail & she says she is bringing him to a meeting, off site, with VP of HR. msg. to her, only the two of us, let us know. Still no names and she is not working this week, per our recommendation, but she is paid, outside sales rep.we cannot investigate as we do not have any facts.Any others ever had this? and how did you handle it? Thanks.
Comments
>has not told us the name and at the meeting brought her boyfriend.in 5
>days we have communicated via voice mail & she says she is bringing
>him to a meeting, off site, with VP of HR. msg. to her, only the two
>of us, let us know. Still no names and she is not working this week,
>per our recommendation, but she is paid, outside sales rep.we cannot
>investigate as we do not have any facts.Any others ever had this? and
>how did you handle it? Thanks.
As you have said, you have nothing to investigate until you have facts. I agree that the boyfriend should NOT be a part of any meeting you have. I would also warn you that if you allow this EE to continue to have paid time off without providing you viable information to begin an investigation, what will keep other EEs from making such claims without substantiated evidence, take a week or so off and then decided not to continue the complaint.
My understanding of your post is that you are trying to arrange an offsite meeting. Did this happen? If not, call her, send her an email, voice mail whatever, and instruct her to report to work on a specified date. If she fails to return, deal with it per your company policy.
Advise her to come into your office to discuss this matter. No boyfriend is allowed in the meeting. This is a confidential personnel matter that does not involve him. I would lay my cards out and state that I am more than willing to investigate this matter, but I do have to have certain facts such as the name of the person who reportedly harassed her. There is absolutely nothing you can do if she refuses to divulge this name. Make sure you document this conversation thoroughly and get her to sign the documentation form if she will (she probably won't).
I don't see what else you can do without more facts.
I would not, under any circumstance, allow the boyfriend to be a part of the proceedings. This is an internal matter that will surely turn into a debacle by allowing outside/uninterested parties to become involved.
Call the sales rep in to a meeting immediately and lay the cards on the table. The short of it is that if she wants you to pursue an investigation, then you need the facts laid out before you. I would not agree to meetings outside of work on her own terms.
Good luck! Let us know how this develops.
Gene