Sexual Harassment or Not?
Rockie
2,136 Posts
Scenario:
On a Monday morning, an employee complains that while attending a movie on Friday night, he was sexually harassed by a female co-worker. The employees were not on a date, and the outing was not a company sponsored function?
How would you guys handle this?
On a Monday morning, an employee complains that while attending a movie on Friday night, he was sexually harassed by a female co-worker. The employees were not on a date, and the outing was not a company sponsored function?
How would you guys handle this?
Comments
In my opinion, and without knowing all the details, I wouldn't cry harassment yet - is it interfering with your EE's ability to do his job? This gets into that realm of policing what goes on after work. You may just want to send out a nice, kind memo from HR reminding people of any anti-fraternization policies you may have, and that actions that happen outside the scope of the office may become inside the scope of the office if they begin to interfere with work.
Tell your EE that if the behavior occurs during work time or begins to interfere with his ability to do his job, to let you know and you'll address the matter further. Otherwise, it is outside the scope of employment and you don't need to be getting involved.
That's just my opinion - with more info, I may change my tune.
I think you need to get the additonal information before you can decide what action to take, if any.
Your position if she is someone who works on the same floor and asked him out is completely different than if it was his supervisor making explicit suggestions.
You need to know what happened. If it doesn't sound like much then you can ask him to make sure he lets you know if anything more happens, especially if it is at work. I mean, if she just asked him out and he didn't like her so was offended, he is seriously over reacting. However, if she is asking him out everywhere he goes and he felt she may have followed him to the theater, that might be another thing. You need more facts to make a good determination.
Good luck!
Nae
Anytime an employee comes to you with a complaint of sexual harassment, you should be conducting an investigation immediately, regardless of whether the alleged harassment occurred on or off the job, and regardless of what your suspicions are about the seriousness of the alleged harassment. Sure; it may be that the behavior didn't rise to the level of actionable sexual harassment under the law, but you don't know until you investigate. And since the employee has come to you with a complaint, you should assume that the employee considers the behavior serious enough to potentially to interfere with things at work.
Perhaps it helps to think of it this way: if you do the investigation, you're playing it safe. If you dismiss the employee's complaint without investigation, and the employee files a charge of discrimination, the employee can argue that he put you on notice that harassment may have been occurring, and you failed to fulfill your duty to investigate and/or take prompt corrective action. You're better off going with Option 1.
Kimberly A. Klimczuk, Esq.
SKOLER, ABBOTT & PRESSER, P.C.
Editors of the Massachusetts Employment Law Letter
(413) 737-4753 Email: [email]kklimczuk@skoler-abbott.com[/email]
This message is not intended as legal advice and does not establish an attorney-client relationship. Readers of this email are encouraged to contact their labor and employment counsel for further information.
>Anytime an employee comes to you with a complaint of sexual harassment, you
>should be conducting an investigation immediately, regardless of whether the
>alleged harassment occurred on or off the job, and regardless of what your
>suspicions are about the seriousness of the alleged harassment. Sure; it may
>be that the behavior didn't rise to the level of actionable sexual harassment
>under the law, but you don't know until you investigate. And since the
>employee has come to you with a complaint, you should assume that the employee
>considers the behavior serious enough to potentially to interfere with things
>at work.
>
Kim,
Would you give the same advice in regard to any type of harassment/hostile claim? Example, an employee reports to another supervisor that his/her supervisor is using racial slurs. The supervisor asks the ee if they want to file a compliant. The ee responds that they don't find it offensive and they don't want to file a complaint. They just thought somebody ought to know.
Thanks,
joannie
>A couple even stated explicitly more information is needed to really give a
>good answer. Seems we are all saying essentially the same thing.
While I recognize that several people suggested looking into the issue further, what concerned me was quotes like, "If you are certain that nothing happened while they were on the clock and not on company premises, there isn't much you can do" and the suggestion that if the alleged harassment didn't happen at work, then the employee's "only course of action would be to file a police report." That does not accurately reflect the employer's legal obligation in response to an allegation of off-the-job sexual harassment, and I wanted to make sure that people did not get the impression that it did.
My struggle would be with this happening outside the workplace and at a non-company sanctioned function. That potentially opens a Pandora's box for employers.
I can understand getting involved if it continued and was brought into the workplace but have mixed views when it's the situation as stated. Would also need to understand how closely the two interact at work as part of their job duties.
As others have commented, it would be good to have a frame of reference for what was said or done as the advice could differ.
2. It was outside the scope of employment, not a "hostile work environment" as I see it.
3. Investigate, yes, to create a file. Can not ignore any complaint even the 'silly' ones.
4. Did the male employee allege the act was "untoward" or "unwelcome"?
how was the movie, otherwise???
The Colonel
"Does she have a sister?" is NOT an appropriate follow-up question, Rockie! Shame on you!
The way it was actually handled was I asked the employee if this behavior was going on in the workplace and they felt they were being harassed at work? They said they did not and it had only happened outside of work this one time. I advised ithis was outside the scope of the workplace and it did not occur at work or if she did not feel threatened at work, then it did not appear to be harassment. I advised her if this behavior continued outside the workplace and she felt threatened by it, she should consider taking it up with law enforcement.
I called the alleged "harasser" in and advised that it had been reported that he had harassed this employee outside of work and if it carried over into the workplace, there would be an issue. I also advised him there may be an issue if this employee decided to press charges against him. I suggested to him if he was engaging in this behavior, he needed to cease it for his own good.
that's probably not good!
The Colonel