4 Steps that employer have to do to protect employees from sexual harassment

posted by Daniel Stevens  |  Feb 7, 2019 5:34 PM [EST]  |  applies to California

 

1- An anti-harassment policy

Having a written sexual harassment prevention policy in place is not only a good measure for stopping sexual harassment before it happens, but California employers are also required to have an anti-harassment policy and it must be in writing. See California Code of Regulations Section 11023  In California, employers who employ at least five employees must have a sexual harassment policy regarding prevention of harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. The sexual harassment policy must be in writing and a copy must be given to all employees. If you are experiencing sexual harassment at work and your employer does not have a written sexual harassment policy, contact a sexual harassment attorney to provide guidance on how to address your concerns to your employer. 

 California sexual harassment policies have to identify the classes of individuals and /or characteristics who are protected under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act.  The protected classes include race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation and military and/or veteran status. Anti-sexual harassment policies are designed to prevent harassment based on gender and sex.  More specifically, the sexual harassment polices protect against unwanted sexual advances or romantic pursuit, and other unwelcome conduct that is of a sexual nature, including verbal comments, inappropriate touching, lewd gestures, and visuals, depiction of sexual acts or sexual content, including sexual innuendo and/or words, lewd jokes and derogatory statements directed at an employee based on gender. 

The company’s anti-sexual harassment policies must advise the employees that it is against the law for a manager, supervisor, coworker or third party to harass, discriminate and/or retaliate against an employee.  

 

2- Follow The Sexual Harassment Complaint Process

 The sexual harassment prevention policy must provide detailed instructions regarding the company’s complaint process so that the employee will know what steps to take to notify the company of the sexual harassment, who the employee is permitted to contact to voice the complaint, what action the employer will take in response to the employee’s sexual harassment complaint and what safeguards will be available to the employee to ensure protection from retaliation. 

Employees must be given the opportunity to raise their concerns regarding sexual harassment to someone other than the immediate supervisor. This is especially important when the employee’s immediate supervisor is the one about whom the sexual harassment complaint was made. The sexual harassment policy should advise the employee he or she can complain to other management, Human Resources or another department that is set up to receive sexual harassment complaints. The employee may submit a sexual harassment complaint in person, verbally, by telephone, email, writing or other means of communication.  Some companies provide a hotline number the employee may call and leave a sexual harassment complaint.  Although many sexual harassment prevention policies require the employee to report sexual harassment in writing, it is not required that the employee submit a written complaint in order to trigger the employer’s obligation to investigate and take appropriate action to prevent further sexual harassment in the workplace.  In most instances verbally reporting the sexual harassment to someone in management, human resources or to a designated department will be sufficient.  Of course, documenting a sexual harassment complaint in writing will give the employee the benefit of ensuring the details of the complaint are clearly stated and preserved. If you are experiencing sexual harassment in the workplace, you should contact a sexual harassment attorney who may be able to provide you guidance regarding how to write the sexual harassment complaint, what to include and to whom the sexual harassment complaint should be directed.

3- Action and Response

Once an employee complaints of sexual harassment or reports incidents of conduct that may be sexual harassment in the workplace, the supervisor or manager receiving the complaint should immediately elevate the complaint to human resource or the appropriate department set up to receive and address sexual harassment complaints.

Once an employee complaints of sexual harassment or reports incidents of conduct that may be sexual harassment in the workplace, the supervisor or manager receiving the complaint should immediately elevate the complaint to human resource or the appropriate department set up to receive and address sexual harassment complaints.

4- Fair and Timely Investigation of Sexual Harassment Complaints     

A California employer’s sexual harassment prevention policy must assure the employee that appropriates steps will be taken to promptly and fully investigate the sexual harassment complaint in a confidential manner and without bias. A fair investigation would be to have an unbiased person, trained in sexual harassment investigations,  interview all of the witnesses including the person who made the complaint.  The employee reporting sexual harassment should expect to be interviewed by someone who is qualified to conduct sexual harassment investigations. The investigation should include interviews of witnesses identified by the person reporting sexual harassment and/or other witnesses. The sexual harassment investigation process should ensure that all steps are taken to prevent retaliation against the person reporting sexual harassment. The sexual harassment prevention policy must expressly state that neither the person reporting sexual harassment nor the individuals who participate in the sexual harassment investigation will be subjected to retaliation by the employer or anyone else involved. The investigation would be unfair if it is turned on the person who complained of sexual harassment by using the sexual harassment investigation as a means of gathering information designed to attack the credibility and integrity of the sexual harassment victim. It would be improper to take any other action to intimidate or discourage employees from reporting sexual harassment or participating in a sexual harassment investigation. This would be deemed retaliation and is unlawful. An individual who believes they have been retaliated against for reporting sexual harassment or participating in a sexual harassment investigation, should immediately contact a sexual harassment attorney and document the incidents of retaliation.  

California employers must take appropriate corrective action if the investigation results in a finding of sexual harassment. A victim of sexual harassment cannot expect the employer to terminate the harasser. In fact, the employee reporting sexual harassment may never know what action is taken by the employer so long as the employer takes affirmative steps to ensure the employee is protected from further incidents of sexual harassment and retaliation. If you feel that your employer has not taken appropriate steps to prevent any further incidents of sexual harassment or retaliation, you should immediately contact a sexual harassment attorney.

 

Source: 4 Steps that employer have to do to protect employees from sexual harassment

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