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Tag: sexual identity

Small Business Employment Law: A Guide to Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims

November 25, 2021

Sexual harassment is common in American workplaces. According to reports, five million individuals have been harassed in offices across the country annually. While this figure is alarming, the consequences for sexual harassment charges from employees are even more grave.

As such, you want to make sure your small business has measures to prevent sexual harassment around the office and deal with any claims that may arise. On that note, this article provides a comprehensive guide on dealing with sexual harassment cases around the office to avoid damages, liability, and Title VII lawsuits.

What Is Sexual Harassment?

Sexual harassment involves any unwelcome or inappropriate sexual advance or behavior exhibited towards an employee, employer, or client that has the potential to affect their employment (in the case of a staff member) if accepted or rejected, interferes with their performance, or makes them work environment hostile.

However, besides the obvious cases like company executives requesting sex from a junior staff member for a promotion, sexual harassment can also occur in several not-so-obvious scenarios.

For example, staff at a company may feel uncomfortable due to senior managers who are fond of sexually explicit jokes or one employee sending emails or IMs to coworkers that contain inappropriate sexual content.

That said, there are a couple of things you should know about sexual harassment, such as:

  • The victim doesn’t have to be a woman; men get sexually harassed in workplaces too
  • The offender isn’t always the opposite sex, as men throw unwelcome sexual advances at other men, and women do the same
  • The guilty party mustn’t be a staff; customers can sexually harass company employees
  • The victim can be a client or someone visiting the office
  • Sexual harassment can happen without the offender ( if they’re a senior staff) threatening the employee’s job

How to Prevent Sexual Harassment In The Office?

US Federal laws prohibit inappropriate sexual conduct towards employees, employers, or anyone else around the office. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act is the primary statute that provides guidelines on sexual harassment prohibition in the United States.

Therefore, with the law against it, you must create a work environment where sexual harassment can’t occur. But how do you do this? Let’s take a look:

  • Have a Sexual Harassment Policy

The first step to preventing sexual harassment in the workplace is to have specific regulations surrounding the subject. Consider having these company laws in a print and digital document and make them available to every employee.

These guidelines should define sexual harassment, state punishments or disciplinary measures for offenders, spell out procedures for filing sexual harassment claims, communicate the company’s commitments to investigating sexual harassment claims alongside specific investigative actions, and prohibit retaliation against employees who lodge sexual harassment complaints.

  • Conduct Annual Educative Training

It’d help if you train employees regularly on sexual harassment and its consequences in the office. These training sessions can occur bi-annually or annually. They should also involve reading out the company handbook on sexual harassment.

  • Conduct Separate Training Sessions for Managers and Senior Executives

Most sexual harassment complaints are usually against company executives; as such, you must hold separate meetings on sexual harassment with your senior staff. Emphasize clearly what sexual harassment is, the behaviors that constitute it, and the repercussions of such actions.

It’d be best to also educate senior managers on handling sexual harassment claims from employees since they’re typically the first point of contact in such scenarios.

How to Investigate Sexual Harassment Claims

Investigating sexual harassment cases is a complex issue, and you want to make sure your company doesn’t make any missteps in handling these claims.

That said, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) guidelines on conducting an inquiry into sexual harassment complaints advise that employees consider all the facts surrounding the situation, including the nature of the inappropriate sexual behavior and the context in which the events took place.

With that in mind, here are some tips on handling sexual harassment cases:

  • Treat All Claims With Urgency

It’s vital to treat sexual harassment allegations as a priority. Whenever an employee comes forward with a claim, ensure they know that the company will take deliberate steps to look into the matter and get justice.

  • Interview Both Parties

After receiving the victim’s complaints, interview both parties separately to get the full details of what happened. Make sure you ask for specifics, such as date, time, the nature of the sexually inappropriate behavior, and witnesses.

You should also hold talks with witnesses and corroborate their accounts with the parties involved. Document each of these discussions, as well. Finally, discuss the company’s steps during and after the investigation with the affected individuals.

  • Treat Both Parties With Respect

During the investigations, ensure you don’t discriminate against the victim. Doing this puts you at risk of a lawsuit that could be damaging for the business. Also, assure the harassed employee of their safety and ensure no other staff abuses them as retaliation during or after the investigations.

Furthermore, accord the same respect to the offender as well. Remember, they’re innocent until proven guilty; as such, don’t discriminate against them in any way. However, we recommend sending them on leave or transfer during the investigations to protect the victim.

  • Review the Result of the Investigation and Take Appropriate Action

After the inquiry, review the information gathered and decide the next step to take. The result should determine the disciplinary measure to take towards the offender or victim.

At this point, it’s vital to mention that you should probably work with your HR department or a specialized company committee for sexual harassment cases to review the investigation and make a decision.

Also, once you’ve decided on what to do, let each party know immediately.

Hire a Competent Employment Lawyer

Sexual harassment claims are serious issues that could lead to a lawsuit if you’re not careful. As such, you’ll probably need legal help to navigate these cases professionally and avoid any damaging actions.

An employment lawyer is your best bet in this regard. However, finding an experienced attorney might be a bit challenging. That said, if you’re struggling to find a lawyer to handle a sexual harassment claim in your company, we recommend you reach out to The Law Office of Sheri Oluyemi, LLC. With years of experience in employment law, we can help you navigate sexual harassment cases in your firm and get justice served.

#metoo movement – Sexual Harassment and Discrimination at Work

November 30, 2017

In a world where publicizing the intimacy of what goes on behind closed doors is both easy and pervasive, employers are urged to audit their anti-harassment processes and employees are encouraged to come forward if they have experienced or are experiencing sexual harassment at work.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission enforces federal equal employment opportunity (EEO) laws, which strive to create harassment-free workplaces by ensuring that employers fulfil their duties under federal legislation, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Among a vast array of other things, these laws require that:

  • Employers do not condone sexual harassment in hiring, firing, compensation, promotion, layoff, recruitment, training, benefits, etc.
  • Employers do post notices visible to all employees outlining their rights under EEO laws

Sexual harassment is offensive behavior towards someone based on their gender, sexual orientation or sex. Harassment can be a wide range of actions. For instance, bullying, whether physical, verbal or nonverbal; targeted pestering; stalking; antagonistic teasing; name calling; damage to person or property; threatening or derogatory comments. Add sexual assault, including unwanted indecent touching and rape; lewd gestures and exposure. These all fit under the harassment umbrella. Unwelcome sexual advances, request of sexual favors and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when:

  • Submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual’s employment
  • Submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment decisions affecting such individual
  • Such conduct has the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with an individual’s work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment

Although most people thing of sexual harassment as something that happens only to women, men can be sexually harassed as well.

Clients have reported that being sexually harassed can devastate the victim’s psychological health, physical well-being and vocational development. Women who have been harassed often change their jobs, career goals, job assignments or educational pursuits. In addition, women have reported psychological and physical reactions to being harassed that are similar to reactions to other forms of stress and abuse.

Sexual harassment, especially in the workplace has gained increasing recognition in every society, causing employers to wake up to the potential of it going on amongst co-workers, supervisors and subordinates.

Employers: audit your policies now, revise them as necessary, implement them uniformly across genders and treat every case seriously.

Employees: it can be scary to say #metoo; however, it is important that you let someone know about your difficulties before it goes too far, or before someone suffers the same abuse.