Appropriate, or not?

ScorpioHR

I work in a medical setting, in our clinics we have a policy that a male technologist may not be alone in a center with a female patient unless at least one other female is present( front desk staff, another technologist etc). Since this does not happen to often that a tech is alone in the building with a patient, this has been fairly easy to regulate.

That being said, I was made aware of the fact this morning that one of our female staff technologists was alone in our Center with a male member of management this weekend (her Direct Report). Had I known that this meeting was going to take place I would have cautioned the manager and questioned why the work could not be done during regular work hours when other people are present. Am I being overly cautious? Should I also add that this tech has started wearing lipstick since this manager came to work for us? My feeling is, why borrow trouble? And my gut says this is a bad plan. Any insight would be appreciated.


scorpio

LivindonSouth

At first I thought you meant a male doctor could not be alone with a female patient, etc. So, the policy is that a male and female staff member cannot be alone in the building without escort or presence of the same sex? I think that's a fairly sticky policy to enforce and would wonder why it's necessary. I've not heard of such in any other industrial setting. Is it something about medical related personnel that signals they are so horny they cannot be trusted alone with a member of the opposite sex?

What if you were to go in to work on a Sunday or Saturday afternoon for an hour and found out there was a male at the other end of the building filing folders or reviewing x-rays? I think the policy needs to be scrapped if it's in writing.

ScorpioHR

Livin :-) Let see, no, in this case it is a manager and an employee in a building on a weekend by themselves. As for the horny medical people part, I don't know, truly. We do not allow our male techs to be alone during an exam with a female patient. Quite frankly, I see it as good sense and a powerful deterrent to a female patient claiming a tech was "inappropriate" during an exam. We have no one there as a witness should this happen.

When I go to my doctor, who is a male, a nurse is present if I am not fully clothed. Maybe it is a common practice in medical settings, not industrial.

Thank you for your comments though!


scorpio

LivindonSouth

That's why I asked you to clarify. It's no doubt universal that a male doctor is not alone with a female patient and vice versa for examinations below the belt or the chest area of females (I know these complex anotomical terms).

But, if you are talking about employees, I think the policy is worth examination.




Disclaimer: This message is not intended to offend or attack. It is posted as personal opinion. If you find yourself offended or uncomfortable, email me and let me know why.

marc

Doesn't everyone know that male technologists are not to be trusted with female patients? But of course, male management members (or do I mean members of male management - I just cannot say that without the pun), can be trusted with female subordinates.

Your policy as presented does not preclude the situation you described. And the fact that someone discovered the wonder of lipstick does not mean that an affair is going on and thus causes your speculation about the need for an anti-dating policy.

Did the meeting result in OT pay for the female technologist? If so, then the discussion of having these meetings during normal working hours would be a natural outgrowth and would serve to subtly put the manager on notice.

You could also schedule your annual sexual harassment training update and forget to invite anyone except these two.

I am being a bit facetious because I see you stretching to head off a situation that may only be in your mind. But this is your worksite and you have brought forward a variety of interesting and unusual situations in the past. This could be one more chapter in your book.

I tend to be blunt in these situations - accordingly, I might approach the management guy and just warn him about being in a compromising situation that can easily be avoided. AFter all, the ocmpnay does not want any litigation nor should he want to deal with some sort of he said, she said situation. But that may be to blunt for your company and/or your relationship with the manager.

lorrie

I understand your policy about male technicians and female patients. This is appropriate for obvious reasons.

I think the male/female coworkers (even if one is a supervisor) is a little different. In general, I would not spend much time worrying about what they might or might not do, and assume they can work together without problems. However, your gut can be a pretty good guage, and if you feel there was not a good reason for the weekend hours, then I would certainly ask the manager about it. If you are comfortable with his answer, fine, if not, you can proceed from there.

Hunter1

Yes, you are being overly cautious. I see the need for your policy regarding patients. That makes sense, but if every time one of our managers came in to work during non-work hours he/she had to run screaming from the building if he/she found an employee of the opposite sex here, no one would come in at those times. Certainly there could be something going on here, but your policy on harassment and subordinate relationships should cover that.

njjel

Unless you have a written policy that ee's are not permitted to date/be involved w/one another, I would not worry about it unless it affected either's job performance. Remember keep the focus on job performance and you'll be ok!

Crout

Usually where there's smoke there's fire, but in this case it looks to me like you're inventing the smoke. And applying the patient policies to your employees doesn't make a lot of sense.

Gillian3

I agree with the others. Most employers don't get concerned about a male and a female working alone unless there is a supervisor relationship, and then the concern wouldn't arise unless there were more than an observation of one meeting. If you do have a concern, talk to the manager about appearances, like Marc suggests.

deniseE

Then what do you do if you find that you have someone who is gay on your staff? No one of the same sex can be alone together?

Patients are one thing, but co-workers should be able to do just that without a lot of legislating or policy-making.

LivindonSouth

How much further can we run this invisible rabbit?




Disclaimer: This message is not intended to offend or attack. It is posted as personal opinion. If you find yourself offended or uncomfortable, email me and let me know why.

ScorpioHR

Thank you all for your responses.


scorpio