Sexual Harassment via a "note"

A manager in another unit partially closed an employee's door, fumbled through his pockets and presented the employee with a note (akin to asking the employee if she worked in a nightclub, if so, where and when). We are investigating along with a witness who saw the manager in the office with the door partially closed.

If he denies the allegation, what are our options (she does not have the note as "evidence")? If he affirms the allegation, what type of discipline would you suggest as a first-time offense?

Also, in the corrective action statement to the complainant, is it necessary to detail what specific action was taken against the manager, OR should we simply reiterate the policy to include that future violations could lead to termination? THANK YOU.

Comments

  • 23 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • Did the employee complain? If so, is the complaint founded? If so, you need to interview her about the level of comfort or discomfort she has in continuing to work for this manager. It may be that one of them should be transferred. If the employee is transferred, it must be agreeable to her, otherwise the transfer appears to be punative. Transfer her manager. And yes, I would tell the employee what remedy has been decided. The problem is the disparity in the two positions. A manager 'knows better.'
  • If you end up with a "he said/she said" situation go through the "I don't know but if you did" routine. Describe what would have happened if you had the evidence and what the penalty would have been. Suggest that it would not be a good idea for something like this to happen again because then it would look like a pattern. Tell the employee that you are sorry, but without evidence it would be inappropriate to determine that it, in fact, happened. Tell her to let you know if anything else happens.
  • [font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 05-12-04 AT 12:55PM (CST)[/font][br][br]I would hestitate to let the EE know what specific action was taken. #1...it's a confidential matter between the company and that manager and #2...it implies that the EE's wishes are part of the decision-making process, which should never happen. It is enough to say that the matter was looked into and appropriate action was taken.
  • We don't get into specifics either for the same reasons Crout mentioned above.
  • Wait a second. The note was asking if she worked at a nightclub?

    Oh wait. You mean a nudie bar?

    That reminds me of a FUN situation at my last employer. Two ee's worked in a call center. Both were like 19 years old. The female ee went to some big party and took of her top while dancing upon a table. The male ee was at the same party and took a picture of her doing her thing. Then the male ee brought the picture to work to pass around.

    To be honest, I remember parts of the resolution, but not all. I do not believe the female ee was informed of the male ee's exact sentence. She was just told that action had been taken. I believe there was more to it though because I remember her getting into trouble as well.


  • is there a possibility that the ee does moonlight at a nightclub? doing what, stripping, singing, comedy act? more information is needed before a rush to judgement is undertaken. What ever happened to your place or mine? Things used to be so much clearer.
  • I don't get it. Why would it be considered harassment just because he inquired as to her working at a club? Did I miss something?
  • For HR purposes, it is irrelevant whether or not the manager's actions were harassment or merely bad taste. It is the duty of HR folks like us to take a complaint like this at face value and investigate to determine the validity of the charge.
  • I agree with Kent. Everyone seems to be having visions of g-strings, pasties and lap dances. All the guy did was ask her if she worked in a nightclub and if so, where. So we're supposed to assume she's offended and everybody scatters trying to find the note he pulled out of his pocket. Now, if he had closed the door and said something like, "Wow, you oughta be on stage at one of the Ti**ie bars down on the lower east side", you'd have something to sink your teeth into.
  • I'm with Crout on this one. The post asks how to respond to the "allegation", which implies a complaint was made. There is no alternative other than to investigate. Even if the incident was a one-time event it was in extremely bad taste, with a subject matter which could lead to charges of sexual harassment and by a manager, which is different than by a fellow employee.
  • What is the actual complaint?

    I agree that it seems a bit odd to present the EE with a note rather than just asking, but I don't think the curiosity alone means very much. EEs are involved with each other in all sorts of ways off of work. Softball teams, scrapbook clubs, etc, etc. Perhaps he was just looking for a place where his softball team could get a good deal on after game cocktails?

    If the EE is concerned that this manager will show up at a public place and see her working, so what?

    If he has somehow tied all of this into an adverse action at work, then you may have something to investigate, but based on the rather thin information provided, I don't see much here.

    I would work a little more with the offended EE to determine what it was about the exchange that made her uncomfortable. Then I would base the rest of my actions, including the possibility of educating the offended EE, about what she can do in this situation.

    Our first suggestion is for the offended EE to let the other EE know that the language or actions is inappropriate and to not do that sort of thing in the future. Obviously some situations don't lend themselves to that course of action and some EEs are completely uncomfortable standing up to people, so you have to guage your actions based on an assessment of the situation.
  • I disagree. You're putting the cart before the horse. FIRST you investigate, and THEN you decide the validity of the charge, not the other way around. Hey, don't get me wrong. This looks to me like the EE was being a tad overactive, BUT you cannot determine that until you investigate.
  • Some investigation has already been done. We were presented with some very sketchy results and a vague allegation of some sort.

    I am suggesting that either more information be provided or if not available, more investigation. Based on what was provided, I don't see an issue, that's why I think there is more to the story - perhaps the manager accompanied his note with other suggestions or other behavior that escalated the situation.
  • It is also quite possible that an investigation, by definition, actually goes no further than the conversation with the 'alleged complainant'. Investigations need not always, and rarely are handled the same way every time.

    For example, if this same female employee had said, "I have a complaint. Crout has passed my door slouching 17 times today, back and forth, back and forth, always slouching. It's offensive. I think he's up to no good, and he grins." Under Gillian3 and Crouts school of thought, I would launch an investigation. However, if I know that Crout's duties require him to be on both ends of the hall throughout the day, juggling multiple tasks and that he has always slouched when he walks, due to a hip injury falling from the window of a girl's dorm room years ago, and he has that same silly grin 24/7, I am not going to investigate. I am going to tell the complainant there is nothing to deal with and I might or might not remind her that Crout's duties require him to pass her door throughout the day. If her complaints become multiple in this regard, each progressively less hollow, I will counsel with her about that.
  • Also true, however, the post says that there was an allegation and an intent to go further, because the question was posed - what if he denies it. The investigation wasn't over.
  • Without reading the other posts, where is the sexual harassment???
  • Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, maybe it is just bad behavior, won't know until the investigation is over.
  • Until then, let's go dancin' :DD
  • >A manager in another unit partially closed an
    >employee's door, fumbled through his pockets and
    >presented the employee with a note (akin to
    >asking the employee if she worked in a
    >nightclub, if so, where and when). We are
    >investigating along with a witness who saw the
    >manager in the office with the door partially
    >closed.
    >
    >If he denies the allegation, what are our
    >options (she does not have the note as
    >"evidence")? If he affirms the allegation, what
    >type of discipline would you suggest as a
    >first-time offense?
    >
    >Also, in the corrective action statement to the
    >complainant, is it necessary to detail what
    >specific action was taken against the manager,
    >OR should we simply reiterate the policy to
    >include that future violations could lead to
    >termination? THANK YOU.

    OK, back to the original post. Read it. It appears above. An employee 'partially closed a door'. I immediately, subconsciously begin to whistle the Charlie Rich tune "Behind Closed Doors". He absolutely must have had an intention to fornicate if he 'partially closed a door' and somebody saw that, so there's no doubt. String him up!

    He 'fumbled in his pocket' (My God, do you know what all a man can do with a hand in his pocket??) He 'presented a note'. It's particularly noteworthy that the contents of the note are unstated. But, they were 'akin' to something. Try that statement in a hearing of any kind. Then fast forward a few lines to this one, "If he denies the allegation, what are our options?" What the hell are the allegations? Maybe I missed them.

    Let's investigate first to see if her door sags and always swings halfway shut and has for years! Let's question her about precisely what was asked in the suspicious line of inquiry. And where is her written account? The first thing I would have done would be to ask her to reduce to writing precisely what occured and precisely what he asked her and if there was further dialog to precisely write that down as well. That's the first place the 'investigation' got into the ditch.

    Without all of our contortionistic speculation, I'm afraid I might just have to tell this employee I really have nothing on which to proceed. And what about Crout's 'slouching'? Can't we just imagine that he only does that when he is stalking or gyrating in some suggestive sexual manner? Get real!

    If I were to say anything at all to the 'criminal perpetrator', it would be, "John, Sweet Sue said you gave her some sort of note that upset her yesterday morning. What's up with that?"

  • I DON'T SLOUCH!! I SAUNTER!
  • Unless you can corroborate the employee's statement, its a 'he said, she said' situation and i wold be very careful. If you ask him if the incident happened and he feses up, then give him a verbal warning, some training on the do's and don't of dealing with those types ofsituations (maybe all of the managers should be trained) and advise him that if, in the future, he's unsure of how to proceed, call you and ask for assistance! And tell him if anything like that hapens again he could face disciplinary action-and give him a copy of your policy asap!
  • "Fess up" to what? What has been alleged? "Tell him if anything like this happens again..."; anything like what? He is suspected of giving someone a note asking if she worked somewhere.
  • KathyA, where is the rest of the story? As you can tell, our responses range from a 'shoot first' ask questions later, to an innocent until proven guilty.

    What else happened or has happened since the incident?

    Has this manager had other incidents that lead you to believe he is guilty of something here?
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